Student forces Facebook to improve security
Monday, December 26th, 2011 5:34:52 by Awais Khan
A Viennese law student, Max Schrems, 24, hacked into 1222 Facebook pages and housed the date in a CD. The younsgter managed to divide the personal data into 57 categories such as hobbies, tastes, religious views, and so on.
The data accumulated during his three years in the social network, including information and conversations that had been erased, but not eliminated from Facebook definitely and were still preserved in the digital files.
"When you delete something from Facebook, all that happens is that you hide it so you do not see it," said Schrems. "Every time you write to someone else, you do actually three, Facebook is always there," he says.
The social network has systematically analyzes all the data without asking for the consent of people, including views when they press the "like" button. It is not only possible on the social networking website but also on any digital page with the "plug-in".
"Facebook knows more about us than the Stasi and the KGB (the political police of communist Germany and the Soviet Union) knew about any normal citizens," he reflects.
Schrems stated that what the company does when it offers-to-download for users as their "personal folder" is not all what is sounds. He stated that it holds information about them, but only that data which conforms to local laws.
Howbeit, this can be made to work in the hackers favour by insistently sending numerous emails that allows it to take all the information that is required: a mistake that exposes the company.
After a three-month investigation by the Irish authorities, the social network on Wednesday pledged to improve privacy of the estimated 500 million plus users who rely on the company’s offices in Dublin.
Facebook is applying improvements that include greater transparency in the management of personal information. It included preventing the user to use an image for commercial purposes without the consent of the copyright owner and delete information that
the network obtained using the "like" button, among other aspects.
It has also limited the time that Facebook can retain information on user navigation, for example, searches you make when you use other "plug-ins."
Tags: facebook, like button, Max Schrems, privacy, security hoax, vinnese student
Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=7380
Posted by Awais Khan
on Dec 26 2011. Filed under Entertainment, Latest News, Sci-Tech.
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