http://www.h-online.com/security/news/item/Facebook-vulnerability-allowed-silent-webcam-recording-1776927.html

exploited by an attacker to record video from a victim's webcam and then post it to their timeline without requesting their permission. The social network operator doesn't seem to have been in any great hurry – security researchers Aditya Gupta and Subho Halder say that they informed the company of the problem four months ago.

Well, since it's hit home, now, let's see if the Facebook PTBs decide to get real with the privacy settings, making them much easier for the average user to use.

http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/randi-zuckerberg-stung-by-facebook-privacy-settings-in-photo-flap-20121227-2bwv8.html

Randi Zuckerberg stung by Facebook privacy settings in photo flap

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2012/121912-facebook-timeline-265257.html

Facebook bans developer of timeline-cleaning browser extension

Creator of FB Purity says he's about to be booted from the social network.
The developer of a browser extension that lets Facebook users block some types of content from their newsfeeds called Fluff-Busting Purity says the social network's legal department has banned him from the site, accusing him of violating the terms of service.

there were a lot of annoying features that I didn't like about the site, so as a web developer by trade, decided to fix them via the magic of a Greasemonkey User Script, which is basically a small program that you load in your browser that alters the way specific web pages look or behave," he explained to Network World in an email.

The fact that Fernandez's extension doesn't use Facebook's official API means this isn't his first clash with the site's administrators. He was banned in February, though he regained access to his account two weeks later. In April, Facebook began to block links to his website, calling it "spammy or abusive."

"The original reason I developed the extension in the first place was to make it easier and less annoying to use Facebook for myself, the fact other people liked it too was just a bonus," he says. "They need to accept that users are going to use browser extensions on their site, and there's not much they can really do about it."

http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2232573/instagram-will-soon-start-sharing-user-data-with-facebook

Instagram will soon start sharing user data with Facebook

Policy takes effect from 16 January
The update policy reads, "We may share User Content and your information (including but not limited to, information from cookies, log files, device identifiers, location data, and usage data) with businesses that are legally part of the same group of companies that Instagram is part of, or that become part of that group ("Affiliates").

http://instagram.com/about/legal/privacy/updated/

http://mashable.com/2012/10/26/facebook-user-emails-5-dollars/

Blogger Buys 1.1 Million Facebook User Emails for $5
Bulgarian blogger Bogomil Shopov wrote Tuesday that he had purchased a spreadsheet containing 1.1 million Facebook user IDs and email addresses for $5. The data was allegedly scraped by third-party applications and offered for sale on a website called Gigbucks by a user named “mertem.” Shopov verified that the emails did correspond to the Facebook user IDs, most of them private. He had even identified people he knew in the list. The next day, he was contacted by Facebook’s Platform Policy Team.

“Now we would like you to send us this file, delete it, tell us if you have given a copy of it to someone, give us the website from which you bought it including all transactions with it and the payment system and remove a couple of things from your blog. Oh and by the way, you are not allowed to disclose any part of this conversation; it is a secret that we are even having this conversation.”

While the seller’s listing for the data has been removed by Gigbucks, you can view a Google cached version

http://readwrite.com/2012/10/26/facebook-asked-blogger-who-purchased-user-data-to-keep-quiet

http://talkweb.eu/openweb/1819

https://blog.mozilla.org/futurereleases/2012/10/22/help-us-test-the-social-api-with-facebook-messenger-for-firefox/

Help us Test the Social API with Facebook Messenger for Firefox.

We think we’ve built something really cool. When you turn on social integration, you get a sidebar of social news and chat which stays put as you browse around the Web – no need to switch between or open a new tab. You also get the ability to share the page you’re visiting with a single click in the address bar. The site can even let you know when you have new notifications, all without leaving the page you’re visiting. Of course, when you need to focus, you can also hide it away.

hope you like ):-

http://www.ehackingnews.com/2012/11/facebook-hack-vulnerability-allows.html

Facebook Hack: vulnerability allows attacker to launch DOS attack against any user
Chris C. Russo, Security expert, has discovered critical vulnerability in the Facebook Chat module that allows an attacker to launch Denial of Service (DOS) attack against any Facebook users.

The researcher notified the Facebook before 6 weeks but fb team replied that there is no flaw, So he published the details in seclists.

I Was Just Friended By Myself On Facebook (And It Only Gets Weirder From There)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/09/fake-facebook_n_2104102.html

http://news.techworld.com/security/3409145/several-hacker-groups-claim-attacks-against-imageshack-symantec-paypal/

Several hacker groups claim attacks against ImageShack, Symantec, PayPal
Anonymous goes on a hacking spree on Guy Fawkes Day
Different hacker groups claim to have breached servers belonging to ImageShack, Symantec, PayPal and other organisations.
On Sunday, a hacker group called HTP claimed to have compromised Web servers, MySQL databases, routers and management servers used by the ImageShack and yfrog image hosting services.
"ImageShack has been completely owned, from the ground up," the hackers wrote in a Pastebin post. "We have had root and physical control of every server and router they own. For years."

Anonymous says it will bring down Facebook – today

http://www.listener.co.nz/commentary/the-internaut/anonymous-says-it-will-bring-down-facebook-today/

Hacktivist group threaten a Guy Fawkes day attack on the social media site.

How will people talk to each other? More importantly, how will they share photographs of weddings, babies and animals?

The statement from Anonymous, which came in a video message quickly disabled by YouTube, was transcribed by Wired:

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-10/30/anonymous-zynga-facebook-take-down

http://www.multiupload.nl/DELBKM7I2I

http://www.cnbc.com/id/49534803

Zynga Hits Earnings Target, Announces Stock Buyback

Good for Amnesty International - though I have now permanently deleted my Facebook account, as I do not like the way Facebook operates in terms of privacy issues.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/digital-living/7869286/Sentenced-on-Facebook

Sentenced on Facebook

Amnesty International is launching a Facebook application that will illustrate to users of the social media site how their posts could see them tortured, imprisoned or even killed in other countries.

The application, called Trial By Timeline, scans a person's Facebook page and determines what crimes they might have committed in other countries simply through listing their occupation, gender, relationship status or liking posts that an
oppressive regime may deem offensive. The application then lists what the punishment for that 'crime' is likely to be in particular countries.

Amnesty IT manager Vivian Chandra says the application is part of a new branding for the organisation, which has the tagline 'Protect the Human'.

http://www.trialbytimeline.org.nz/
Amnesty International Aotearoa New Zealand

http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2012/10/16/facebook-to-exclude-phone-numbers-from-reverse-lookup/

Facebook to exclude phone numbers from reverse lookup - for users of two-factor authentication, anyway
A week or so back, we wrote to warn you about the privacy of your phone number on Facebook.

If you give Facebook your phone number, and mark it "visible to me only", then forward lookups are, as you would expect, blocked.

I can't go from your profile to your phone number.

But to receive those SMS codes, you have to give Facebook your mobile phone number. So to improve security, you have to expose your phone number to the vagaries of the Facebook search system.
Catch-22.

My mobile phone is,basically,a pre-paid phone.If I am a bit delayed in adding air time to my phone the service will remove my phone number from my FB.FB then sends me an e-mail saying that a phone number has been removed from my security setting & that I need to add a phone number.Needless to say,this e-mail can & often is ignored.

I don't see any reason for FB to have my phone number for any kind of security reasons since I don't have Login Approvals activated.

http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2011/05/13/facebook-announces-new-security-features-but-do-they-do-far-enough/

Facebook announces new security features - but do they go far enough?
* Clickjacking protection * * Self-XSS
This is a geeky way of saying "Pasting JavaScript into your own address bar."
Partnership with Web of Trust (WOT)

http://gizmodo.com/5945993/no-your-private-message-are-not-public-on-facebook/

You might have read somewhere today that Facebook made your pre-2009 private messages public on your own Timeline. And on your friends' Timelines! This would be a huge scandal, except it's not true at all.

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/top-privacy-tips-facebook-timeline-applications/

The Top 5 Privacy Tips For Facebook Timeline Applications

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/remove-spam-apps-ensure-app-privacy-weekly-facebook-tips/

How To Remove Spam Apps & Ensure App Privacy [Weekly Facebook Tips]

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/roundup-5-mustknow-critical-facebook-privacy-tips/

ROUNDUP: 5 Must-Know Critical Facebook Privacy Tips

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/facebook-friends-lists-interests-circles-facebook-hack-tip-week/

Using Facebook Friends Lists For Interests Or Circles [Facebook Hack Or Tip Of The Week]

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/3-things-you-need-to-know-about-photo-tagging-in-facebook/

3 Things You Need To Know About Photo Tagging In Facebook
Moreover, you can control Who sees tag suggestions when photos that look like you are uploaded. This is key because Facebook has a powerful face recognition software that will recognize you in new photos based on old photos your face was tagged in. If you do not ever want to be tagged automatically, set this to no one.

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/permanently-delete-facebook-account-weekly-facebook-tips/

How To Permanently Delete Your Facebook Account [Weekly Facebook Tips]

http://www.jackcola.org/blog/123-how-to-delete-and-start-your-facebook-from-scratch

How Do You Delete Your Facebook Account And Start From Scratch
By following this tutorial, you will be able to use your same email address, Facebook username, and password, but you will lose everything such as status updates, posts, comments, pictures and friends.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/facebook-the-antisocial-network-branded-disingenuous-and-immoral-8206123.html

Facebook: The antisocial network branded 'disingenuous and immoral'

Company pays only £238,000 in corporation tax on UK earnings of up to £175m

Although industry experts estimate the company made £175m in revenue from its UK businesses last year, Facebook is able to avoid paying millions in corporation tax by diverting most of its sales via Ireland.

Annual accounts published yesterday at Companies House showed Facebook UK Limited declared turnover of £20.4m using the entirely legal scheme. Yet Enders Analysis, an independent research firm, has estimated Facebook's likely UK sales at £175m last year as the world's biggest social networking website has continued to attract advertisers.

Facebook is just one of a number of online giants that divert much of their UK profits through offices in Ireland or parts of Europe with lower corporation tax rates. One analysis earlier this year suggested that the five largest online companies – Apple, Amazon, Google, eBay and Facebook – managed to save as much as £650m in tax through such schemes. Amazon, which launched in the UK in 1998, is the UK's most popular retail website, with more visitors than Argos, Next and Tesco. Last year it had UK sales of £3.2bn in UK profits. But by registering its European headquarters in Luxemburg it has managed to avoid paying vast sums to the Treasury. Despite accountnig for one if four of all books sold in Britain, it paid no UK corporation tax.

Internet giant Google paid just £6m in corporation tax in 2011 on revenues of £395 million

http://www.v3.co.uk/v3-uk/news/2215992/rsa-europe-2012-facebook-use-has-eroded-online-privacy-forever-claim-security-experts

RSA Europe 2012: Facebook use has eroded online privacy forever, claim security experts
LONDON: The huge use of social networks like Facebook means internet users have already lost any chance of online anonymity, according to security experts from Symantec, RSA, Jericho and Qualys.

Symantec chief technology officer Greg Day said that users who have already posted basic information on Facebook would find it tough to remove it in the future.

"People are realising what they're posting online and want to retract back. People want to remove their date of birth from their Facebook page, but it's already out there," said Day, speaking at the RSA Europe conference on Wednesday.

Qualys chief technology officer Wolfgang Kandek went on to warn that the ongoing presence of the data online can allow companies and criminals to learn other key details.

"If you have date of birth, sex and postcode you can identify the person from 85 percent in the Western world," said Kandek.

RSA programme chairman Herbert Hugh Thompson added the data could cause lasting damage to social network users outside of the digital space.

"It's fascinating when you think about hiring discrimination especially in US, where you can't discriminate on key things like sex, age, race," said Thompson.

"If you start to search for someone, you naturally find out some of these things. It's such a slippery slope."

Thompson went on to warn that the issues around social network privacy come as a part of wider concerns regarding European data laws.

http://www.v3.co.uk/v3-uk/news/2215664/rsa-europe-2012-privacy-regulations-blamed-for-hampering-antihacker-fight

RSA Europe 2012: Privacy regulations blamed for hampering anti-hacker fight
LONDON: Well-meaning activists and laws designed to protect people's privacy are hampering businesses and security vendors' ability to defend against cyber attacks, according to security vendor RSA.
RSA executive chairman Art Coviello claimed that well intentioned policies have stopped security experts making adequate changes to their defence models to protect their data, while simultaneously punishing them when breaches do occur.
"The CIO of a leading manufacturing company in the EU told me the government has laws that state he must protect personally identifying information in his possession or run the risk of strict fines and penalties," said Coviello.
"However, if he implements the policies he needs to protect that info, he could inadvertently break laws designed to protect his workers' privacy. He can't win."

http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/gadgets/7797712/Like-A-Hug-Vest-inflates-when-you-get-a-Facebook-like

Like-A-Hug Vest inflates when you get a Facebook like

There's nothing like a bear hug from a loved one at the end of a long day. But if you live far away from your family, you now have a man-made alternative. Scientists at MIT have created a vest that inflates when your Facebook friends "Like" your posts, mimicking the sensation of a hug.
Dubbed "Like-A-Hug," the puffy vest inflates so its wearer can "feel the warmth, encouragement, support or love that we feel when we receive hugs,"
While it's definitely a cool idea, it sure doesn't beat the real thing.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/digital-living/7787725/Facebook-testing-want-button

Facebook testing 'want' button

Facebook is testing a feature that lets users of the social network create "wishlists" of home furnishings, clothing and other retail products, laying the groundwork for what some believe could be an eventual push into e-commerce.

Facebook said it is working with seven retailers, including Pottery Barn and Victoria's Secret, to test the new feature that will allow certain users to flag images of desired products by clicking a special "want" button.

Interesting read - Thanks

I don't know non-US media outlets, but in the US I doubt you'd find many, perhaps none at all that would publish anything that said people are turning away from Facebook -- they'd either ignore it or say the original report said something it didn't. I think that's chiefly because saying people are leaving or abandoning Facebook might upset remaining Facebook fans, & that could cut down on their readership or viewers. It's a strict taboo to even hint at offending anyone unless they belong to a select list of groups -- then it's politically correct.

Personally I also found a couple of other paragraphs especially interesting:

But while some fear the middle class could be squeezed "out of existence", there is also a recognition that negative sentiment, rather than reality, is driving the national mood.

One participant compared the global economy to a hospital, saying: "Europe's on life support, the US is in the general ward and Australia is in the ward for hypochondriacs."

Both are are huge topics this election cycle, & everything written or on TV portrays the extremes... it's interesting to me to see how other parts of the world see this stuff.

I don't like Facebook primarily because of its privacy intrusions.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/digital-living/7763239/Australians-beginning-to-turn-on-Facebook

Australians beginning to turn on Facebook

Australians are beginning to turn on Facebook, with an increasing number of users rejecting the culture of "narcissism and self-absorption" they say it promotes, according to the latest snapshot of the nation's mind and mood.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-57507648-83/spam-from-friends-is-actually-result-of-facebook-hole/

Spam from 'friends' is actually result of Facebook hole

Facebook has fixed the problem and says spammers are using friend lists they scraped before the fix to send new e-mails.

http://techday.com/netguide/news/facebook-faces-child-porn-probe/124120/

Facebook faces child porn probe

Facebook has been accused of negligence over child pornography after users, some of which underaged, were encouraged to post naked pictures of themselves on the website.

Australian watchdog group The Watchers made the accusations following the creation of new pages which are in direct breach of Facebook’s ‘no nudity’ policy.

The group has accused Facebook of allowing the creation and distribution of child porn to go unsupervised with online safety groups criticising the websites reactive actions.

“These pages started a couple of weeks ago and there are clearly underage children on there,” says Kate Drury to The Age, member of The Watchers.

“It’s disgusting and it’s illegal, and these children need to understand that once it’s up there it’s up forever.”

As well as Facebook, Drury has taken her concerns to Crime Stoppers, the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Communications and Media Authority.

Thanks, Graylox. :)

-----
05, Sept. 2012.
BTW, TwistedBrush Pro Studio 17 (the "natural media" painting program) is free for the next few hours on BitsDuJour website.

See here:
http://www.bitsdujour.com/software/twistedbrush-pro-studio-17/

About TwistedBrush Pro Studio (21 mb)

Description:
Digital painting program.

Developer's Homepage:
http://www.pixarra.com/

Product Page:
http://www.pixarra.com/product.html

List of notable program features:
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— Editable Paintbrushes
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— Undo/Redo Command
— Support For Multiple Image Formats (Including PSD)
— Drawing Tablet Support
— Visual Effects Filters And Support For *.8bf Plug-Ins
— Connect To Photo Scanner
And more.

Today's free Bits deal has 2 hurdles to jump over:

1. You have to log in to Facebook and like BDJ.
2. The programme works only with IE.

(I don't know what's worse...)

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graylox

01.09.2012

http://venturebeat.com/2012/08/16/deleting-facebook-photos/

Finally: Facebook will now delete those embarrassing photos within 30 days

After a steady stream of complaints, Facebook will now delete photos from its servers within 30 days of getting a request instead of letting them languish for people to access later.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/7395483/Dotcoms-Facebook-victory

Dotcom's Facebook victory

IDENTITY CRISIS: Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom has had trouble convincing social media giants Facebook and Twitter that he is real.

Kim Dotcom can claim a victory.

The Megaupload founder, who once attracted four per cent of all internet traffic, was struggling to get a Facebook page because the social media giant wouldn't recognise "Dotcom" as a legal name.

"@Twitter declines to certify me. I faxed an ID. They think it's fake. A search for my name shows imposter as the first result. Might quit!" he wrote in a post of his own to his Twitter stream.

Unfortunately for Dotcom, born in Germany as Kim Schmitz, others have latched on to his persona to create fake accounts including @KimDotcomTruths, @KimDotComFree and @KimDotComPR.

In a final attempt to have his screen name authenticated, he told Twitter in a follow-up Tweet, "Hey ... it's really me. Please certify my account and disable the imposter."

Sadly enough, it's not just Zynga that uses these policies but almost all developers with multiple Facebook titles. EA Games bought Playfish (Restaurant City, My Empire, Pirates Ahoy, et. al) and ruined every one of those games, then they got rid of half of them when they released Sims Social.

Games I think have always been a bit different that other types of software, from the history of abusing the coders that work for whatever game company to extreme DRM to basing entire games, or game companies on the question of how do we get the most $ possible out of customers. Zynga & some game sites/companies have the sole aim I think to get customers/users hooked, or if that's too strong a word, here in the U.S. companies sometimes give away samples, hoping that you'll want to pay for more. They do offer varying degrees of free stuff, with technically no obligation to pay for anything, but everything is geared towards making you want to open your purse or wallet. Unfortunately nowadays it's so easy to track stuff that the more often you pay the more often you're asked to pay. And they can easily tell what is & isn't making money, along with what has the most potential for making money, expanding or killing off whatever very quickly. Attracting investors can also play a part -- to help convince someone(s) a company is going to make more money in the future execs like to point to changes they're making as concrete evidence... it might in fact be a really stupid change, but many investors don't dig that deep to find or figure that out.

Apparently it gets worse...

Facebook Fail: E-mails lost; contacts changed elsewhere too [Update]

http://www.neowin.net/news/facebook-fail-e-mails-lost-contacts-changed-elsewhere-too

Facebook e-mail mess: Address books altered; e-mail lost

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57464415-93/facebook-e-mail-mess-address-books-altered-e-mail-lost/?tag=cnetRiver