Privacy Advocates Hijack 300 Facebook Groups

Protesters say it's too easy to gain access to personal information

By Nick McMaster, Newser Staff

Posted Nov 10, 2009 3:29 PM CST

(Newser) – A group advocating for social-networking privacy has hijacked nearly 300 Facebook groups over the past few days to point out weaknesses in the site’s control of personal information. The protesters renamed all the Facebook groups “Control Your Info,” pointing out that after administrators of groups step down, anyone else can take over. "We control a certain part of the information about you on Facebook," said a posted message.

"For example we could rename your group and call it something very inappropriate and nasty like 'I Support Pedophiles' Rights,'” the message said. Two users who posted those messages from hijacked groups have been booted from Facebook, despite claiming they were only advocating for better awareness, CNN reports. Not all fellow users saw it that way: "It's pretty inappropriate that you hijacked a Facebook group for Palestinian rights to selfishly promote your little conspiracy theory page," one user wrote.

The Logo for Control Your Info, an online privacy advocacy group. (CYI)

The Facebook logo is displayed at a news conference in New York in this November 6, 2007 file photo. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle, file)

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COMMENTS

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Showing 3 of 4 comments

maevealleine

Nov 11, 2009 8:30 AM CST

You know, everyone is SO Worried about Facebook. Let me tell you something about OUR LOSS OF PRIVACY. When we go to Facebook, that is most of us, we know about every single piece of information we put on that site. We also know that it's getting shared A LOT. So most people don't post anything that they would care if the ENTIRE WORLD saw. I really think it's companies like GOOGLE we really need to be taking a serious look at.

super_soft_wizard

Nov 11, 2009 2:32 AM CST

yup.

reasonator

Nov 10, 2009 10:23 AM CST

Hey, the administrator of the Palestinian rights group stepped down and they just took over the position. They were pointing out that anyone could do it, and it's a problem with the way FB is designed. They were doing you a favor, they didn't do anything that FB software didn't allow them to do. Maybe it's a little inconvenient that your group was renamed to something else. Then blame FB, not the people trying to stop it from happening in the future.

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Privacy Advocates Hijack 300 Facebook Groups

Protesters say it's too easy to gain access to personal information

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Recognize that face in an ad? It could be your friend—or you.

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New rules will call for improvements on social networking sites

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