Data off of Facebook is now available to any person with the Facebook torrent which was created by a hacker with a lot of free time. 171 million Facebook users had their information stolen by a web sprawling code made by Ron Bowes. This torrent file is about 2.8 GB and is accessible to any person online. Facebook said the Facebook torrent is no big deal — it just contains information on users anyone can get from a Facebook search. Facebook skeptics argue the torrent just shows how bad privacy is when using Facebook.
Facebook torrent exposes 171 million Facebook users
Profile URLs, names, and user IDs of 171 million Facebook users are now being displayed for any person who wants to get the info. Pirate Bay is where Bowes, who heads Skull Security, has decided to place this torrent for the world, reports the Daily Tech. As of the morning of July 28, the Facebook torrent had about 13,000 active downloads on Pirate Bay. Details Facebook users didn’t hide with privacy setting is shown here. The torrent doesn’t consist of, luckily, those who have privacy settings set to friends only.
Privacy a problem for Facebook
The Facebook torrent comes at a bad time when Facebook is already suffering the losses from their change on privacy settings to allow commercial use. BBC News has a statement from Facebook saying nobody is going to be hurt by the privacy changed since personal info people “agreed to make public” on their own. Tech Crunch thinks that in light of recent events, it would probably be a good precaution to change all your settings on Facebook so they’re “friends only.” You aren’t going to be happy when people put all of your info into a package and let it loose for those who want it just because you set your settings to “everyone”.
Personal data on Facebook torrent can never be deleted
Facebook said the personal information mined and distributed within the Facebook torrent can be found by any person on Google, Bing or Facebooksearch. Future reminds us that the Facebook torrent will last forever since it is just a quick shot of one time on Facebook. The information can never go away, even when users delete their accounts or change their privacy settings.
Facebook torrent and what it targets
Not only is there one fifth of Facebook users already exposed, but the torrent consists of the programs used to get that details. Bowes said he wants to try and get everyone on Facebook soon, reports Tech Crunch. Until Facebook switches to friends only by default, which is unlikely, users opt out-
Go to Account and Privacy Settings and Applications, Games, and Sites (link near the bottom, in a box) and Public Search and (Uncheck box).
Additional reading
Daily Tech
dailytech.com/Info+on+100M+Facebook+Users+Harvested+and+Posted+in+Torrent++Legally/article19198.htm
Tech Crunch
techcrunch.com/2010/07/28/hacker-proves-facebooks-public-data-is-public/
Future of the Internet
futureoftheinternet.org/facebooks-ocean-of-names-becomes-a-torrent
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