Facebook Suzie January
2, 2012
I don't write much these days. The network computing
concept seems to be developing nicely. iPhones and iPads are doing
well. Android phones and tablets are doing well. Cellular 4G
technologies are developing well. And the operating systems / applications
playing field seems pretty fairly divided between Microsoft, Apple, Google, RIM,
and the various smaller players. So there isn't that much to write
about. Except... Facebook! Facebook
seems to be rapidly developing into the kind of monster Microsoft was in the
1990s. And using the same methods. They lie, they cheat, they make
crooked deals... They sell your privacy. Etc. And now the
already wealthy owners are preparing to become mega-wealthy through an initial
public offering. Well, it seems like it's time to pick
up the pen! So, this past weekend, I decided to do a little
experiment. The experiment was to become a 16-year-old girl, create a
Facebook account, and view as many profiles as possible. To
my surprise, it was far easier than I imagined. First I created an
imaginary email address - suzieque@ncns.com.
Then I went to Facebook and created an account. I entered my first name -
Suzie, my last name - Que, my email address suzieque@ncns.com,
my password, my sex - female, and my birthdate - 06/01/95. And I pasted a
wig on an old photo of me and uploaded it as my primary photo. (Of course
I could have used your daughter's photo from Facebook instead!) Facebook
did not question any of it. And before I had even opened their "email
confirmation" I was already able to browse through thousands (millions?) of
accounts and download photos, read posts, view their friend lists, etc. 
So
anyone can pose as a 16-year-old girl and create an account without any
verification of any kind? Ridiculous! Note that
when I visited various profiles, it still showed at the top of the page that I
had not yet even verified that the email address I gave was valid. It
seems to me that it is, or should be illegal for Facebook to allow minors to
join without any parental permission. And I note that even Hotmail
requires parental approval for a minor to create a hotmail email address. Is
everyone out there lost in La-La Land while their kids are giving up their
privacy on Facebook? Well, just
call me Facebook Suzie! After all, I'm certainly not going to post my real
information on Facebook.
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