Political scams on facebook

[Christa]

MAFIA WARS on Facebook is being used to promote false political numbers against health care reform and other issues that really do matter...in the millions.
Mostly paid for by the large corporations like Blue Cross Blue Shield, etc.

Hmmmm....wonder why they need to trick people into supporting their political/financial agenda?

http://www.videosift.com/video/Rachel-Maddow-Political-Scams-on-Facebook

[Drunken Irishman]

1. So sick of people asking me to join their mafia or farm or cafe. Gah!

[Christa]

4. Join this group, and please spread the word

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=718699065#!/pages/I-dont-care-about-your-farm-or-your-fish-or-your-park-or-your-mafia/207382931457?ref=mf

[Lasher]

6. Folks should be careful if they sign up.

Socializing websites can grab your address book and spam all your contacts. I've been told some are more forthcoming than others about this. I've also been told there's a way to opt out of address book sharing but my only direct experience in this is from being an occasional spamee.

[tbyg52]

8. I am very glad I dipped my toe into Facebook with a fake name.

I just joined FB to play MW, so I didn't see any point in putting personal info there. After having been through a few rounds of "improvements" that looked to me geared toward scamming people into making more info public, I'm very glad there's no info to gather on me!

[MattSh]

13. Uh, is there a link for this???

Or just some rumor floating around the internet?

Just how would they "grab your address book" anyway?

ON EDIT: You don't need to sign up for any website to have stuff stolen from your computer. Just failing to use common sense precautions will accomplish the same thing.

.

[Statistical]

15. It is an urban legend.

Facebook will ask to use your email account to find more "friends". It matches email addresses in your contacts & sent items against its database.

However common sense will tell anyone that to do so they need your username & password.

They clearly ask for that information, indicate it is optional, and that it will help find "friends".
If you decline then obviously lacking your username & password they will have no method to go through your email information.

Of course urban legends rarely require any common sense.

[Lasher]

17. You are one hundred percent wrong.

I was sharing my experience, which I described as limited. I did not anticipate an expectation of supporting links or a a writ of habeas corpus. But OK, you're on.

Facebook's spam machine

I want to premise this post by saying that, of all the social networking sites, Facebook is probably my favorite. I like its clean and functional user interface, and in particular, the — once controversial — ‘mini feed’ which aggregates you and your friends’ Facebook activity. The site’s explosive growth suggests that I’m not alone, so much so that many are complaining of Facebook fatigue, with Jason Calacanis declaring Facebook bankruptcy over the weekend.

I can’t keep up with the friend requests, the requests to confirm how we know each other, the requests to tell you I like you, the requests to tell you I want your to tell me what movies you want to tell me about, etc.

I have a certain amount of empathy with Calacanis; I too am getting more friend requests and other notifications from Facebook than any other social network I’ve joined. Though, not on the scale of Calacanis — I’m just not that well known. Or rather, my email address isn’t that well known. That’s because the first thing Facebook asks you to do when you join the site, is spam everybody in your email or IM address book. It even offers to import those email addresses (all you have to do is hand over your log-in details for Gmail or AIM or whichever service you use), and with the touch of a button everybody you’ve ever exchanged contact details with will be spammed a friend request. And even though I’ve never taken Facebook up on this offer, I’ve been on the receiving end of the social network’s spam machine, plenty of times. This explains why I’ve had friend requests from people I’ve only ever contacted once, people that I have no idea who they are, people I’ve lost touch with (sometimes on purpose!), and people I’ve never met. The list goes on.

http://blogs.zdnet.com/social/?p=266

Social Networking Spam

Social networking spam is spam directed at users of internet social networking services such as MySpace, FaceBook or LinkedIn. Users of social networking services can send notes, that may include embedded links to other social network locations or even outside sites, to one another.

This is where the social network spammer comes in. Utilizing the social network's search tools, he/she can target a certain demographic segment of the users, or use common fan pages or groups to send notes to them from an account disguised as that of a real person. Such notes may include embedded links to pornographic or other product sites designed to sell something.

Some social networking sites also ask users to let them access their address books and contact lists and use email invites for viral marketing. This is controversial as it requests the permission of the address book owner but not the owner of the email addresses within it. This situation is made more complex by users not reading what the information will be used for. The social networking site Quechup, run by iDate corporation is a recent example. Quechup was criticized by many users for misleading them and hiding the nature of the feature in the 'small print' of the site's terms. However, text that provided an unclear explanation of how the feature worked was part of the sign-up process, but failed to state exactly what would happen. This raises the issue of 'click happy' users 'opting-in' without first reading what they are accepting.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_networking_spam

Now if you want to continue preaching to me about how I should follow your common sense example, maybe I'll make it easier for you by pretending I don't have social networking spam in my fucking email junk folder right now.

[Statistical]

18. Did you EVEN READ IT

"It even offers to import those email addresses (all you have to do is hand over your log-in details for Gmail or AIM or whichever service you use), and with the touch of a button everybody you’ve ever exchanged contact details with will be spammed a friend request"

That is from the article you quoted as "evidence" (despite it actually disproving your claim).

Facebook WILL ASK YOU FOR THE LOGIN INFORMATION TO YOUR EMAIL ACCOUNT. If you don't provide it then it DOESN'T HAVE ACCESS TO YOUR EMAIL. It is commonsense that without your login information facebook can't access your sent mail or contacts. People who claim "facebook stole my contact information" are the same people who months prior gladly GAVE facebook access to their email to "find friends" and now forgot about it.



The point is facebook has no ability to access anyone's email account without the username and password. If someone provides facebook the username and password it isn't exactly a grand conspiracy on how facebook gained access.

[Lasher]

19. Every single word.

After your title, "It is an urban legend", your subsequent qualifiers were meaningless. You were reacting to my post in which I advised:

Folks should be careful if they sign up.

Socializing websites can grab your address book and spam all your contacts. I've been told some are more forthcoming than others about this. I've also been told there's a way to opt out of address book sharing but my only direct experience in this is from being an occasional spamee.

Where do you get from my post, which I will call Point A, to Point Doofy? I challenge you to prove that Post #6 in this thread could be reasonably assigned to the realm of "urban legend". You certainly have not done that so far.

[Statistical]

21. Saying facebook can GRAB your contacts is dishonest.

Facebook ASKS to access your email.
Then Facebook ASKS for both email USERNAME and the email PASSWORD.

If you give Facebook both then yes it can "grab" your contacts.

The equivalent in the analog world is like saying "thieves can break into your house without a trace".
Step 1: thief asks for a key to your house
Step 2: you give key to thief after thief explains he will use the key to rob your house.
Step 3: you are shocked that you to find out your house has been robbed and police report no sign of forced entry.

Facebook can not access your email account unless you give facebook your email username and password.

[Lasher]

26. Then you're dishonest because you just said it.

You just said,

If you give Facebook both then yes it can "grab" your contacts.

Damn that contact grabber Facebook!

Get a grip. This is a message board. Every post doesn't come replete with footnotes.

In my initial post I didn't set myself up as an expert. I said that I had been told there is a way to opt out of address book sharing. I didn't specifically mention Facebook, only "socializing websites" in general. But here you go on and on about Facebook, being irrational like somebody said something mean about your mommy.

Maybe you need to get out 'in the analog world' more often.

[Statistical]

27. Hence the "quotes". Social websites don't grab anything

You were posting alarmist nonsense, got caught on it, and threw a temper tantrum.

If you give social websites your email information and ask them to use it then ..... DRUMROLL .... they will.
No conspiracy and no need for alarmist nonsense.

In related news if you press ignore on DU then it will hide posts from people who are stupid.
"OH NOES. PANIC. DU IS CENSORING INFORMATION".

[Lasher]

28. You have a vivid imagination.

And you're funny. 'Alarmist nonsense', Hee hee. There, I thought of something good to say about you. Well it looks like you've decided to cover your ears after having declared victory. Boo hoo, how will life ever go on out in the analog world?

If you have to insist that you've won an Internet argument, you've probably lost badly. - Danth's Law

[greyl]

23. Google "Google Buzz" nt

[tbyg52]

2. Well, I was wanting to quit MW anyway...!

Here's some text info for those on dialup like me:
http://www.businessinsider.com/health-insures-caught-paying-facebook-users-virtual-currency-to-send-letters-to-congress-opposing-reform-bill-2009-12

Edited for a link to better info than the first one I found.

And to a story on Zynga's (MW's parent company) CEO. Nice guy. I really should change games, and do some research first!
http://games.slashdot.org/story/09/11/12/0512235/Mafia-Wars-CEO-Brags-About-Scamming-Users

[Mojorabbit]

16. I play mafia wars

and am very careful with any info I give out. I have never used any extra way to make points. It is just a game.

[tabbycat31]

22. same here

I get points only when I level up. I have not bought them using paypal or gotten them for free for sending anti HCR letters.

[tbyg52]

24. I haven't bought any points either, for money or surveys

I'm thinking about quitting an entity that would run those Astroturf "polls," whether I took one or not.

[tabbycat31]

25. I'm quitting Farmville once I beat the game

it's way too time consuming. Mafia Wars I use about 10 minutes a day.

[tbyg52]

30. I spend more time than I should on MW, but then I am playing on dialup.

I've finally decided to spring for cable internet, even though I hate the thought of giving Comcast the business - it's all I can get here.

[tnlurker]

3. For later

[Political_Junkie]

5. Thanks.

I'll be spreading this news.

[mopinko]

7. can you explain this a little more.

i fb, but i don't do the games at all.

[tbyg52]

9. Here's a first-person explanation

http://blog.trailertrashy.org/2009/07/23/mafia-wars-and-healthcare-reform--the-sinister-connection.aspx

Edited to add that I've got some other text links upthread.

[Christa]

10. You have to watch the video ... nt

[snot]

11. Amazing. And this was bcast bef. x-mas; can't believe I hadn't heard of it before.

[tbyg52]

12. Same here. And there's very little info on the web.

The few links I posted here were basically all I could find.

[Echo In Light]

14. These fascists are at various forums/blogs hoping to sell their poison jive

[Mari333]

20. you can hide those people who send you that shit

and still see their responses. just hide the applications.
i hid every damned one of them.

[pipi_k]

29. That's what I do all the time

I don't hide the people, I just hide the applications they're using.

One guy I knew from High School "friended" me. I thought, OK...I'll confirm him as a friend even though the only connection we ever had was graduating in the same class. Well, the only (and I do mean ONLY) stuff I ever saw from him for months were updates on his Mafia Wars status.

And then there were the semi-offensive references to how many "sucks" were left on Tootsie rolls or whatever.

I hid the Mafia Wars application and don't see it anymore. I also never see any more updates from him. Nothing about what's going on in his life...what he thinks about anything. Nothing. Apparently his whole life revolves around Mafia Wars, which is sort of sad to think of...