FaceBook Users Beware: Remove ALL Your Personal Details Now
How Many Hours You Spend on FaceBook Daily?
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Is Your Life Complete WITHOUT FaceBook?
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You Are Proud Having Thousands of Friends List Who You May Not Even Meet or Know?
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If you are an active FaceBook user, please exercise extreme caution when contacted over the Internet by people who you do not know.
FACEBOOK have issued a statement after teenager Nona Belomesoff’s death urging users to exercise “extreme caution” making contact with people on the internet.
The police believe teenager Nona Belomesoff befriended her killer through the Facebook, social networking websites.
Belomesoff’s body was found at a creek south of Sydney on May 14, two days after she embarked on an excursion with a man she met on the website, who told her that they were going to rescue hurt animals.
Nona Belomesoff, 18, was found dead after leaving home to meet unknown Facebook friends
The suspect, Christopher James Dannevig, the 20-year-old man charged with the murder, is alleged to have established a fake Facebook profile and claimed on it to work for an animal welfare organisation.
The social networking giant, FaceBook, urge people not to meet anyone they have been contacted by online unless they know for certain who they are, as there are unscrupulous people in the world with malevolent agendas.
The Australian police are urging teenagers to take their personal details off social networking websites, after an 18-year-old woman was murdered.
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Australia warns Facebook users
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Australian police are urging teenagers to take their personal details off social networking websites, after an 18-year-old woman was murdered.
Police believe teenager Nona Belomesoff befriended her killer through the Facebook website.
Belomesoff’s body was found on May 14, two days after she embarked on an excursion with a man she met on the website, who told her that they were going to rescue hurt animals.
Christopher James Dannevig, the 20-year-old man charged with the murder, is alleged to have established a fake Facebook profile and claimed on it to work for an animal welfare organisation.
He is believed to have offered Belomesoff a job and to have encouraged her to take the camping trip with him.
Belomesoff’s body was later found at a creek south of Sydney.
But as Al Jazeera’s Alison Rourke reports from Sydney, many teenagers are oblivious to the risks going online can bring
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Facebook location check in consequence
A teenager used to checked in Facebook everywhere she went to. A bad guy monitoring her locations and finally she get kidnapped.
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Internet affairs a home wrecker
By RACHAEL KAM and SEREAN LAU
KUALA LUMPUR: Online social networking sites can be a good place to meet new friends or even seek life partners but they have also become a breeding place for divorces.
Marriage counsellor Yvonne Lee said the Internet had been cited as one of the reasons for divorces of late.
“The Internet can trigger marital problems or worsen a couple’s existing problems. It has opened up more choices for those looking for partners, regardless of whether they are single or married,” explained Lee, a premarital programme trainer at the National Population and Family Development Board in Kuala Lumpur.
Lee, a director of Enrich Counsel-ling and Therapy Centre, said that while the Internet could be one of the causes for divorce, it was still the quality of the relationship that determined the outcome of a marriage.
One in 30 new clients the centre counsels every two months has cited the Internet as one of the reasons for their marital break-up.
A victim of an “online” affair, Ann discovered that her husband, Jason, had registered himself with some foreign match-making and social networking websites to meet other women.
“I thought Jason was having an affair with a woman from China but apparently there were several of them,” she said, adding that they would exchange lurid sex talk and even nude pictures online.
Jason, an engineer, has since left his wife and two children for a married woman he befriended online.
Hillary, 33, from Kuala Lumpur, was pregnant with her third child last year when she discovered her husband’s affair with another woman, a Malaysian working in Hong Kong.
She not only found suggestive emails on his smartphone and computer but also photographs of the mistress with her husband.
Albert, a psychologist, admitted having affairs with at least six women he met on Facebook and three others on Skype before his wife found out about his infidelity and divorced him.
He had joined social networking sites to locate his former university mates and soon added anonymous women as his friends.
Sometimes, it is not the husbands who cheat.
Susan, 42, a mother of a 12-year-old girl dropped a bombshell on her husband recently — she wanted a divorce to marry a Frenchman of African origin whom she befriended on Facebook. The couple run a small retail outlet in Malacca.
Consultant psychologist Valerie Jaques said most couples who cited Internet love affairs as the reason for divorce were already facing some problems.
She added that these problems, whether physical, emotional, psychological or social in nature or a combination, could result in loneliness.
“A lonely person who receives attention via the Internet or face-to-face will be extremely vulnerable, and this can develop into a more serious relationship,” said Jaques from Integrated Psychological Network Sdn Bhd.
“People fall for nice words. Lonely people will be more vulnerable to nice but empty promises.”
fr:thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/7/4/nation/6605188&sec=nation
Cuepacs advises workers against browsing during office hours
By R.S.N. MURALI
KUALA TERENGGANU: Gentle reminder to civil servants browsing Facebook or other online content during office hours — your heads of department are watching.
In fact, some of the bosses have complained to the Congress of Unions of Employees in the Public and Civil Services (Cuepacs) that some civil employees were spending too much time online and were distracted from work.
“We don’t want to see a circular being issued by the Chief Secretary to the Government. Therefore, I am giving pre-emptive advice to civil servant to minimise the time spent on Facebook when at work,” said Cuepacs president Omar Osman.
He added that there had also been complaints that the time spent on Facebook and other online content during office hours had escalated since the FIFA World Cup began.
Omar said some heads of department were also monitoring content posted on Facebook by their subordinates, ranging from politics to office gossip.
“This may lead to a negative perception of the said employees, and could even lead to disciplinary actions,” he said after opening the Cuepacs’s Terengganu chapter delegates triennial conference here on Tuesday night.
On another matter, Omar took to task some heads of department for punishing subordinates just to “show power.”
He said Cuepacs had received complaints from members that the heads of department had transferred them outstation without giving reasonable grounds for the action.
Other actions included piling on extreme workload on the targeted employees.
Omar said Cuepacs had received an appeal from 12 staff from the Perak Fishery Department, who claimed they had been transferred out without valid reasons.
fr:thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?sec=nation&file=/2010/7/1/nation/6585724
Germany takes legal steps against Facebook
BERLIN: A German data protection official said Wednesday he launched legal proceedings against Facebook, which he accused of illegally accessing and saving personal data of people who don’t use the social networking site.
Johannes Caspar, head of the Hamburg office for data protection, said it had initiated legal steps that could result in Facebook being fined tens of thousands of euros for saving private information of individuals who don’t use the site and haven’t granted it access to their details.
“We consider the saving of data from third parties, in this context, to be against data privacy laws,” Caspar said in a statement.
Facebook has until Aug. 11 to respond formally to the legal complaint against it. Its response will determine whether the case goes further.
The company, based in Palo Alto, California, confirmed in an e-mail to The Associated Press that it had received a letter from Caspar.
“We are currently reviewing it and will readily respond to it within the given timeframe,” Facebook said.
Germans are protected by some of the world’s most strict privacy laws, which lay out in detail how and how much of an individual’s private information may be accessed by whom.
Germany also has launched an investigation into Google Inc. over its Street View mapping program.
In April, Facebook changed its privacy settings to allow users to block access to the contacts listed in their e-mail, but Caspar argues that the previously saved contacts have not been erased and are being used for marketing purposes.
“It is a system that is designed around making it possible for Facebook to expand, for its own benefit,” Caspar said in a telephone interview.
He said his office had received complaints from “many” people who had been contacted by Facebook after it obtained their names and e-mail addresses through people listing them as a contact.
He could not give a specific number, but said that it indicated third parties’ data had been obtained by Facebook had been saved for future use.
“Given that several million people in Germany alone are members, this is a very unsettling notion,” he said.
Germany’s consumer protection minister, Ilse Aigner, said last month that she plans to give up her Facebook account, arguing that it still wasn’t doing enough to protect users’ data.
fr:biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/7/8/business/20100708092146&sec=business
MOL to sell Facebook credits
KUALA LUMPUR: Electronic payment firm MOL Global, a unit of MOL AccessPortal Bhd, will start selling Facebook credits at retail outlets across Asia in the coming months.
The partnership, MOL said in a statement, would make it easier for “millions of people across Asia” to purchase virtual goods and play online games on Facebook’s social networking site.
“In the coming months, Facebook users will be able to obtain Facebook credits using MOL points purchased through MOL’s network of more than 500,000 outlets, mainly in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, India, Australia and New Zealand,” the statement said.
Facebook credits enable users to buy and spend virtual currency on more than 150 applications on Facebook from many leading developers, eliminating the frustration of having to enter payment details separately for each application.
fr:biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/7/10/business/20100710093215&sec=business
Beware the online con
By SEREAN LAU and CHRISTINA TAN
PETALING JAYA: It is important for women to check the background of a person they meet over Internet social networking websites to avoid being cheated.
“You need to check the background of the person to know whether the person is genuine or just a sweet talker. Whatever is posted by the man should be vetted thoroughly like calling up a company to see if he really works there,” said Wanita MCA Cupid Space project executor Peggy Lim (pic).
She also cautioned women not to rush into making a commitment.
“You need at least eight months to know a person. There is no need to rush into things,” she added.
“Feelings are a huge emotional trigger and for a woman, it is important to control these feelings when the courtship has only been going on for a short while.”
She said that among the reasons that women were scammed by online Casanovas was due to loneliness and desperation as they were afraid they would not be able to find a companion and accepted “any man who fancies them”
“The essential tools to sustain a relationship are patience and to earn the trust needed,” she said.
In June, a 47-year-old housewife said that she lost her savings and money she borrowed from her family and friends totalling RM1.2mil to a con man that she befriended on the Internet.
The man had claimed to be a Briton.
Meanwhile, MCA Public Services and Complaints Department head Datuk Michael Chong said he received complaints from 18 women on cheating scams with losses amounting to more than RM2.4mil since 2007.
He urged women to be wary of such con men.
Chong said the complaints that he received had a similar modus operandi – the men would get to know the women via Internet and send them expensive gifts before demanding for money.
Chong added that most of the victims were single mothers, divorcees and unmarried women.
“The con men also introduced themselves as businessmen, sons of senior politicians and professionals like engineers,” he said.
Chong said he believed the men involved in the scam were foreigners although some may have had the help of locals.
fr:thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/7/12/nation/6647290&sec=nation
The dark truth about a sweet-talking Casanova
By ONG HAN SEAN
KUALA LUMPUR: He is neither good looking nor young, but this sweet-talking Casanova has managed to cheat at least seven women of nearly RM400,000.
The 41-year-old Singaporean, known as Dennis Lim, has a habit of preying on women through the social networking website, ahmoi.com.
One of his victims, Qi Qi, lost RM294,662 within the seven months of their “friendship.”
“I was not really attracted to him. He was really aggressive and he made the first move online,” said the 34-year-old businesswoman from Penang, who sought the help of MCA Public Services and Complaints Department head Datuk Michael Chong at his office yesterday.
She said Lim claimed to be a factory manager and knew how to take advantage of her weakness.
“He used sob stories to get my sympathy.
“For instance, he claimed his stepmother was admitted into ICU; that his ex-boss had delayed his business reimbursements and that he had met with a road accident before Chinese New Year.
“I felt sorry for him and wanted to help,” she said, adding that she allowed Lim to use her credit cards when he visited her in Penang in October last year.
Qi Qi started getting suspicious in March and lodged two police reports in Penang and another two in Singapore.
She later traced Lim’s caller history from a sub-line she started for him, and found six other women in Malaysia whom Lim had cheated for money and sex.
“His modus operandi is to get acquainted with lonely, single women online and then slowly work his way into their pockets with his sob stories,” Qi Qi said, adding that the victims had refused to make police reports against Lim.
Chong urged the other victims to come forward so that he could assist them.
“I will take this case to the Malaysian Interpol and relevant authorities,” he said.
He also reminded women to be wary of meeting strangers online.
fr:thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/7/13/nation/6655020&sec=nation
Monitor kids’ web surfing habits
SERI KEMBANGAN: Parents should monitor the web surfing habits of their children to prevent them from browsing pornographic sites.
Deputy Education Minister Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong, who said this, assured the people that students were not able to access pornographic sites in schools as the SchoolNet network and computers filtered those sites.
“So it is important that parents supervise their children as they can still access pornographic sites from home or at cybercafes,” he told reporters after launching a language campaign at SJK (C) Serdang Baru (1).
Dr Wee, who is MCA Youth chief, also advised parents to inform the school if their children were “addicted” to such websites.
Dr Wee was asked to comment on a post by former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad on his blog regarding pornography and moral decay among youths.
On the language campaign, he said it was a pilot project in Selangor aimed at helping pupils from vernacular schools master Bahasa Malaysia and English.
Dr Wee expressed hope that pupils would continue to improve their Bahasa Malaysia and English when the MBMMBI (Policy for Upholding the Malay Language, Strengthening the Command of English) is introduced in schools next year.
On another matter, the deputy minister said MCA had been conducting town hall meetings to get the community’s feedback on the proposal to scrap the Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) and Penilaian Menengah Rendah (PMR) examinations.
“We will report our findings at the second roundtable discussion on UPSR and PMR next week,” he said.
fr:thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/7/21/nation/6702443&sec=nation
Facebook users hit 500 million
SAN FRANCISCO: Facebook now has some 500 million active users, a milestone that strengthened its position as the world’s largest and popluar social networking website, said the chief executive officer and the co-founder of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg.
“As of Wednesday (July 21) morning, 500 million people all around the world are actively using Facebook to stay connected with their friends and the people around them,” China’s Xinhua news agency quoted Zuckerberg as saying, adding that the number of Facebook users doubled in the past year.
Its users hit the 250 million mark in July 2009.
To celebrate the new milestone, the website is launching a new application called Facebook Stories where users can share their stories and read hundreds of others, categorized by themes and locations around the world, Zuckerberg announced in the blog post.
Founded in February 2004, Facebook is now a privately held company and is headquartered in Palo Alto, California.
fr:thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/7/22/nation/20100722105216&sec=nation
Social networks posing security threat
By SYAHRIR MAT ALI
THE Internet is a lot more than just a means of staying informed. It has evolved into something much more than what it was originally intended to be.
For some, it is an avenue to avoid the long queues at banks and service counters. For others, it is a place where you can work collaboratively.
But for most, the Web is a communication tool that connects them with family and friends via the many social networking tools.
Most Internet security experts conclude that cyberattacks on social networking sites will increase over the years. Since 2008, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn, and other such sites have been in the limelight as social networking grew and grew.
These services compete with each other to increase their user base by coming up with mobile tie-ups, applications and games.
All these efforts are worthwhile because social networking sites are the biggest thing on the Internet at the moment, and perhaps for many more years to come. Unfortunately, this trend has also been attracting all sorts of security threats.
New year, new threats
In its 2010 Threat Predictions report, McAfee Labs said it anticipates an increase in threats related to social networking sites such as Facebook.
It also said that criminal tool kits will be evolving rapidly this year to capitalise on new technologies that increase the sophistication of the attack on unsuspecting users.
And, as a result, there is a good chance of an increase in rogue services that exploit Internet users’ eagerness to download and install the various and freely available Web 2.0 applications.
According to a Sophos survey in December 2009, 60% of the respondents believed that Facebook presents the biggest security risk compared to other social networking sites – way ahead of MySpace, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Cisco Systems’ 2009 Annual Security Report mentioned that the Facebook user base has tripled from 100 million users in 2008 to 350 million in 2009.
There is no doubt that such a huge increase in the number of users within a year’s time is phenomenal, and it is attracting cybercriminals from all over the world to migrate their attacks to Facebook.
Mitigating threats
In order to stay safe while using social networking tools (or in fact, other Internet-based applications), users are urged to observe the following practices:
1. Never click on any URL links in unsolicited e-mail (i.e. e-mail that you are not expecting nor asked for);
2. Never log in your online credentials through pages opened up by the URL links you get from any e-mail. In order to be safe, type the URL yourself in the browser. If you have been using shared PCs, be sure not to click on the links provided by the browser bookmarks;
3. Never jot down your online login credentials in an e-mail, even if you think of it as a note to yourself. e-Mail is not the proper place to store your online login credentials. This is to minimise the risks should your e-mail system be compromised;
4. Always verify the validity of the services or links you get via e-mail, even if it appears to be sent by a social networking tool you subscribe to. Google it or better yet, e-mail the service administrators and ask them. Pay extra attention to the given URL as a slight difference would mean a different site altogether;
5. Change the passwords of your online credentials from time to time and do not use the same password for all of them. For a secure password, use a combination of uppercase and lowercase alphabets and numbers, and try to use words that do not exist in any dictionary; and
6. Do not arbitrarily download any updates for your applications. If you really need them, visit the official website and get more information.
Conclusion
It is imperative that Internet users understand that the threats and security issues which come with social networking tools aren’t necessarily caused by vulnerabilities in the software or the user’s PC at least, not all the time.
Software vulnerabilities are reported from time to time and they will always be the cornerstone of cybercriminal activities. But for them to work, they have to be initiated by the users themselves in one way or another.
(Syahrir Mat Ali is senior executive of the cybermedia research department at CyberSecurity Malaysia – the national cybersecurity specialist under the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation. These are his personal views expressed here.)
fr:techcentral.my/columns/industryviews/story.aspx?file=/2010/7/21/it_col_industryviews/20100721153614&sec=IT_Columns_IndustryViews
Ban online gambling and anime cartoons
I would like to draw the attention of the authorities to another serious social problem that we are facing now.
Besides the easy availability of porn websites, another very sad state of affairs is the easy accessibility to online games, online gambling and addictive anime cartoons.
Many youngsters become so addicted to this online entertainment that they neglect their studies, play truant to visit cybercafes and have bad relationships with their parents because of their addiction and refusal to do anything else except sit at the computer every day.
I have parents and friends complaining of difficulties in dealing with their sons’ addiction to online games and their neglect of their studies. I have heard of students being expelled because of truancy to visit cybercafes.
It cannot be denied that computers games can help to stimulate one’s mind but the lives of our youngsters should not revolve around the computer day in day out, such that they are perpetually living in a virtual world.
Boys especially are easily addicted to computer games because the games bring out the male fighting spirit in them. If we recall clearly, in the days before the computer was invented, there were more boys than girls studying in the universities and it is a known fact that boys were the ones who excelled in their studies then.
Now there are more girls than boys in higher education as the girls have more self control and do not get so immersed in computer games. So boys are now falling behind in education. Is this what our society wants?
Please ban online gambling and anime cartoons, and limit online games to weekends so that the minds of our youngsters will not be distracted by too much online entertainment. We need to have a society with healthy minds and bodies, lead a healthier outdoor lifestyle, not minds addicted to indoor computer games which lead to a sedentary lifestyle and more health problems later on.
Please do something before the situation worsens.
VERY CONCERNED,
Subang Jaya.
fr:thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/8/5/focus/6795835&sec=focus
Internet junkie children have parents worried
By JOSHUA FOONG
PETALING JAYA: Parents and teachers have been left in a quandary as the onslaught of Internet games and social networking sites are bringing out a rebellious streak in many children.
“Why are you controlling my life?” – is the question often thrown back by children to their parents or teachers when they are confronted with their obsession with the Internet.
Norton, an Internet security company, produced a family report in 2010 which stated that Malaysian children spent an average of 64 hours online every month.
National Union of the Teaching Profession secretary general Lok Yim Pheng described the students’ obsession with the Internet as a silent killer which was “killing off” the interest of students in class.
There had been reported cases of students falling asleep in class after a whole night of playing Internet games and on-line chatting.
Lok had been ringing the alarm bells over this issue for the last five years.
She said there were also students who starved themselves during recess time because they wanted to save up for trips to cyber cafes.
“There have also been cases where stealing is involved,” she said.
Public complaints go-to man, Datuk Michael Chong said many parents had come crying to him saying they were at a loss over what to do.
“Their children spend countless hours on the Internet – with some cases involving primary school students surfing pornographic sites,” said the head of the MCA Public Service and Complaints Department.
Psychologist Dr Goh Chee Leong said the Internet was enticing because it was “very engaging and stimulating.”
“This problem is more prevalent in the middle and higher class families because they can afford to buy computers,” said the vice-president of HELP University College.
Mary (not her real name), an ex-addict, said that at the height of her obsession with online games, she only slept once every two days.
“I was 16 then. I was having teenage angst and like my peers, I needed a world where I could be in control and I could win,” said the undergraduate.
Luckily, she grew out from the phase when she was 19. Her bad grades were a nasty wake-up call, said the 21-year-old.
Father of three and marketing manager Simon Lee worries that his children will neglect their studies if they spend too much time on the computer.
But he could soon have a solution.
Software engineer Wayne Koong has invented a programme which slows down Internet programmes tremendously, to make the viewers get impatient and lose interest.
To know more about it, you have to log on and go to internetoveruse.com.
fr:€thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/8/7/nation/6815727&sec=nation
Not fair to ban gaming
I WOULD like to respond to the letter “Ban online gambling and anime cartoons” (The Star, Aug 5).
It is not fair to equate online gaming with social ills such as pornography. Boys will be boys, it doesn’t matter if it is Internet gaming or video gaming, they will always be inclined to show more interest in them as most games developed these days are male centric.
I can understand if the writer is nothing more than another frustrated parent who wants to ensure the best for his child, but blaming Internet gaming and anime is not the way to go.
I used to work in a cybercafe after my STPM and I can attest that gaming, to some, is nothing more than an outlet for youngsters to release their frustrations in everyday life. Fed up with school and nagging parents are some of the feedback I got. In fact, most youngsters nowadays have either too much freedom or too much restriction.
Either their parents are too busy with work or too strict with their upbringing to the point of making the child rebellious. What they need is motivation. But in this case, the lack of external motivation and support from parents and teachers drives them to things that can make them feel better about themselves, i.e. gaming.
My suggestion would be for parents to get involved also with their children’s gaming habit. And by getting involved, I do not mean getting a copy of the software and joining in the game itself. You can instead talk to them, discuss the game and help them to relate what they learned from games to real life.
Your typical, “I want you to stop spending too much time playing games” will never work. Trust me. I am a gamer myself.
My parents do object to some of my gaming hobbies. It took me a long time to convince them that gaming itself has its pros and cons.
In fact, if gaming had not been my hobby, I would not have pursued a career in the IT industry and become a network administrator.
I personally recommend that getting involved with your children is the way to go. Banning these games will only makes things worse. Our children could turn to gangsterism and alcohol instead.
I also disagree that computer games are the reason why boys are failing in their exams. Ask a girl in the 70s and ask a girl today and you will find that there is a very different level of motivation for her to enter higher education.
And banning anime cartoons? If the Government does it, they might as well shut down the import of television sets as animes are no different from other entertainment programmes on TV.
Limiting online entertainment will only drive youngsters to seek them out even more covertly. Parents need to play a more pro-active role in understanding and regulating their children’s activities. A total ban is not the answer.
D.W.,
Kuala Lumpur.
fr:thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/8/6/focus/6810015&sec=focus
Parents should check online habits
I REFER to the letter “Ban online gambling and anime cartoons” (The Star, Aug 5). I believe that instead of imposing a ban, parents should learn to be responsible and control their children’s Internet habit.
In fact, many ways to regulate Internet time are readily available. For example, if your child spends too long a time on his online games, have a password or have the computer shut down at certain times. Staying in cybercafes for too long? No problem, limit his or her pocket money.
Also, why take issue against anime? Like TV shows, they cater for people from all walks of life and suggesting a ban on them is as good as banning TV shows and movies. Why not try to be responsible parents and regulate what your children are watching instead of blaming others?
My parents had no problem in controlling me from these things when I was studying. Unlike most parents, they spent quality time with me like eating together, shopping and even visiting interesting places around the country. These simple things helped me to keep me away from online gaming and made me a more responsible person.
Reading the letter gives me the impression that parents nowadays could not be bothered to talk to their children, spend time with them and lecture them when necessary.
It is like blaming someone when something goes wrong. Let us not forget that banning these things restricts our freedom of expression. Instead of having the Government control your children’s habits, why not try to be responsible parents and do your part?
DEEPLY SHOCKED,
Penang.
fr:thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/8/6/focus/6810017&sec=focus
Germany may prevent Facebook checks by employers
BERLIN: Ever thought twice about posting a party picture on Facebook, fearing it could someday hurt your chance at a dream job?
A draft German law is supposed to solve the problem by making it illegal for prospective employers to spy on applicants’ private postings.
The draft law on employee data security presented by Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere on Wednesday is the government’s latest attempt to address privacy concerns about online services including social networks and Google “Street View”.
It is also a reaction to corporations checking on employee e-mails and filming sales clerks during coffee breaks — which has triggered public outrage in Germany.
De Maiziere acknowledged that some of the new regulations — which have yet to be discussed and passed by parliament — might be complicated to enact.
For example, employers will still be allowed to run a search on the Web on their applicants, de Maiziere said. Anything out in public is fair game, as are postings on networks specifically created for business contacts, such as LinkedIn.
In contrast, it will be illegal to become a Facebook friend with an applicant in order to check out private details, he said, adding that some people seem to be indiscriminate about whom they accept as a friend.
“If an employer turns down an application with another reasoning it might be difficult to prove” that the negative answer was based on the Facebook postings, de Maiziere said.
A rejected job applicant who proves he or she was turned down based on violation of the new law could take the company to court and claim damages, he said.
The new law will also prevent clandestine video surveillance in the workplace, particularly in private spaces like lavatories or locker rooms, de Maiziere said. An employer ignoring the new rule could be charged fines of up to €300,000 (about $379,000).
However, cameras will be allowed in public spaces like supermarkets and some factories or warehouses, if employees know about them, he said.
“Overall, the new rules passed by the cabinet keep a good balance between employees’ interests on the hand and companies’ interests on the other,” de Maiziere said.
The BDA employers’ federation called the draft is too imprecise in some points, adding that it thinks some of de Maiziere’s proposals would hinder the fight against corruption and crime.
The retailers’ association HDE said some of the regulations go much too far, and outlawing clandestine video surveillance would be wrong.
“Here we hope for changes in the government draft,” HDE said in a press release.
Germany’s data protection watchdog, Peter Schaar, applauded the government’s effort, calling it long overdue.
It is “a substantial improvement on the status quo in dealing with employee’s data,” he said.
De Maiziere said he does not know yet when the law will go into effect. – AP
Related news
Where are you? A rundown of Facebook’s Places
NEW YORK: Services based on your location, such as Foursquare, are popular in the tech-centric bubbles of Silicon Valley and New York City. But for many Americans, these services remain odd — and potentially creepy — tools on your smart phone to let friends or even strangers know you just showed up to a restaurant, gym or the corner deli.
According to a Pew Internet & American Life Project survey this spring, only 5 percent of adult Internet users in the U.S. have used such a service. With the entry of Facebook Places to the mix, though, this number is likely to grow. For now, here is a rundown for the other 95 percent on what Facebook Places means and how to protect your privacy.
1. Checking in.
Most location services won’t broadcast your whereabouts without your consent. If you want to tell people where you are, you need a smart phone with GPS or other geolocating capabilities. You begin by installing a free application for one of these services. You then “check in” to a place by choosing it from a list of nearby venues on your screen. You can also add venues on your own. If you don’t check in, Facebook won’t magically “know” you’re there.
2. What’s the point?
Many people already tell Facebook friends where they are. Granted, “at the gym” isn’t the most insightful status update, but people do it nonetheless. The Places feature builds on this so you can, temporarily, link yourself to a specific place, be it a gym or a burger joint.
If you want, you can let other people who have also checked in — friends or even strangers — see that you are there. It’s a way to connect your online social network with your offline world. On Foursquare, there’s a gaming element, too. Whoever has checked in to a place the most often becomes its virtual “mayor.” Users also can earn Scouts-inspired “badges” for checking into specific places — such as “Gym Rat” for going to the gym 10 times in 30 days. Pointless, scary or genius? You decide.
3. The concerns
The more information you broadcast about yourself online, the more that marketers, strangers, future or current employers and anyone else will know about you. Are you OK with leaving an ever-expanding digital trail behind? Do you want ads to target you based on demographic information you’ve scattered about? You can walk into a store and then walk out without the owner knowing who you are, but do you know what happens when you also check in, digitally? And should other people be able to share your location with the world?
4. Friends or “friends”?
Under Facebook’s default settings, everyone you list as a “friend” will be able to see where you’ve checked in. But are they really your friends?
Facebook’s settings allow you to exclude specific people from seeing your check-ins, or you could authorize only a select few. To do this, go to “Account” on the top right corner of the page. Then choose “Privacy Settings” and click “Customize settings.” Look for a pull-down menu next to “Places I check in to.” Click on it, and select “Custom.”
To authorize people, look for “These people,” select “Specific People…” and type their names into the box underneath. To exclude just a few friends — your boss, maybe, or that nosy co-worker you reluctantly “friended” — type their names into the “Hide this from” box.
Take this time to go over your full list of friends, with pruning shears if need be. Does Uncle Ned or the spouse of a friend of a friend you met at a wedding last year really need to be there?
5. Checking in friends.
Say you’re at a bar with a group of co-workers who are also your Facebook friends. When you check in, you can choose the names of those with you and check them in as well.
That could be useful for Facebook users without smart phones who want to participate, but you may not want your friends checking you in to places, for whatever reason.
Facebook will send you an e-mail notification if a friend tries to check you in someplace.
If you say “Yes,” friends will now always be able to check you in. If you choose “Not now,” you’ll get another notification the next time someone tries to check you in. You can’t pick which friends can check you in, nor can you authorize a check-in for one-time only.
To prevent your friends from checking you in once and for all, you have to return to your privacy settings on your computer. Once you’re in “Customize settings,” choose “Disabled” next to “Friends can check me in to Places.”
6. Here now
The “here now” feature lets others — including strangers — see that you’ve checked in to a place. But they can only see this if they have also checked in to the same place in the past few hours.
If this feature is turned off, only your Facebook friends can see your check-ins and your name won’t pop up in the “Here now” section of a place.
“Here now” should already be off if your overall privacy settings are at “Friends of Friends” or stricter, something you do through the “Customize settings” section.
If you want to turn it on, click “Enable” next “Include me in ‘People Here Now’ after I check in” on your privacy customization page. Likewise, if it’s already on but you want it off, uncheck the box next to “Enable.”
7. Some outside applications could access your check-ins.
To prevent that, go to your privacy settings page. Then click “Edit your settings” under “Applications and Websites” in the lower left corner. Look for an “Edit Settings” box next to “Info accessible through your friends.” Click it, and uncheck the box next to “Places I check in to.”
8. One more thing on friends
Your friends are hopefully considerate, upstanding, sharp-as-a-tack Facebook citizens. They wouldn’t tag embarrassing photos of you without your permission — so that someone clicking through your profile could pull up images of that wild night with the lampshade on your head and your tie … well, never mind.
So it follows that they, hopefully, won’t check you in to a strip club when you both should be at church, just to be funny. And if they do, maybe it’s time to take out those pruning shears.
9. And while you’re at it …
It’s a good idea to check your privacy settings on Facebook every so often, so take this time to look at what you are sharing with friends and the broader Internet, and what your friends may be sharing about you. Also look at the photos you’ve been tagged in over the years and remove any tags that you are not comfortable with. Potential employers often look at applicants’ social media pages to get an idea of who they are before hiring.
fr:biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/8/26/business/20100826073813&sec=business
MySpace users can now sync posts to Facebook
LOS ANGELES: MySpace, which recently revamped itself to look more like Facebook, is now allowing users to sync their posts to Facebook, too.
That means people on Facebook can see their friends’ MySpace items without leaving Facebook. It’s a sign the site seeks to carve out a niche that is no longer about competing with Facebook but coexisting.
MySpace users will also be able to share music, videos, game applications, links and photos across both social networking sites.
The changes announced Monday are part of an overhaul at MySpace, which has faced falling advertising revenue and stagnant user growth. MySpace users can already sync their Twitter accounts with the site, so that they can post updates on MySpace through Twitter and vice versa.
Research firm eMarketer estimates that advertisers worldwide will spend $347 million on MySpace this year and $297 million in 2011. Facebook, meanwhile, is expected to generate $1.29 billion in online ad revenue this year and $1.76 billion in 2011, according to eMarketer.
MySpace, which is owned by News Corp., is also in the midst of renegotiating a search partnership as its deal with Google Inc. is nearing a close.
fr:biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/8/31/business/20100831073725&sec=business
School bans postings on social networking sites
SMK Confucian has banned its students from posting any statement about the school and its teachers on social networking sites, China Press reported.
The daily said that the school had issued a letter to parents seeking their approval on the directive to ban students from posting any statement on these sites such as Facebook and Twitter.
Senior assistant (student affairs) Wang Mei Ling said this was meant to safeguard the school’s image and protect the students.
“We won’t stop students from using the websites. We urge them to be careful about what they post to prevent them from getting into trouble,” she said.
Citing an example, she said the school had found that a student used abusive language against a teacher on a social networking site.
“Because of the posting, different groups of students started attacking each other on some websites,” she added.
Wang said the school would take disciplinary action against any student found posting abusive statements.
“If it is serious, the school may lodge a police report,” she added.
China Press also reported that Hong Kong superstar Andy Lau had to reduce the number of his concerts from 20 to 12 following a fall in his popularity.
The fall has been linked to Lau lying about his marriage to Malaysian Carol Chu.
Lau had earlier sent out questionnaires to his fans to determine how many concerts he should hold.
> Sin Chew Daily reported that the Government would not increase the price of sugar this year.
Deputy Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Tan Lian Hoe refuted rumours that the Government would increase the price of sugar by 40 sen after Hari Raya.
She urged consumers, manufacturers and retailers not to hoard sugar.
> Other News & Views is compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a sub-heading, it denotes a separate news item.
fr:thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/9/1/nation/6952432&sec=nation
Net surfing ‘freedom’ too costly
By RACHAEL KAM
PETALING JAYA: Employees surfing the Internet or chatting on social networking sites during office hours are costing companies of millions of ringgit annually in lost productivity.
This has caused some employers to ban Internet access at the workplace as they find the “freedom” given to staff members too costly.
Fashion retailer Voir Holdings Bhd recently banned employees from going online after 5% of its employees were caught using office computers to access Facebook and other networking sites. This did not include those tweeting on their mobile phones.
Its managing director Ham Hon Kit said in an interview that his company might risk losing up to RM2.4mil a year if employees spent two work hours a day on such sites.
“Any delay in work, even by one employee, can affect the performance of the rest. The company may also lose business deals,” he said, adding that employees whose work required them to go online did not come under the ban.
Cuepacs recently advised civil servants against accessing Facebook or similar sites during office hours following complaints that some were being distracted from their work.
Malaysian Employers Federation executive director Shamsuddin Bardan said employers should learn from the experience overseas and ban their staff members from visiting social networking sites during office hours.
He said it was wrong for employees to use company facilities or their own gadgets to go onto Facebook or Twitter during office hours, adding that some even went to the extent of badmouthing their employers in their postings.
According to British employment website MyJobGroup.co.uk, company staff who spent an hour daily on social networking sites during work cost British businesses £14bil (RM67.2bil) a year.
Its poll also revealed that 6% or two million of Britain’s 34 million workers spent an hour each day on social media sites.
A study by IT staffing agency Robert Half Technology showed that 54% of companies in the United States had banned their workers from using sites like Twitter, Facebook, Linkedln and MySpace during working hours.
Another 19% allowed social networking strictly for business purposes while a further 16% had “limited personal use”.
However, not all local businesses are against the use of social networking sites.
Retailer SenHeng Electric (KL) Sdn Bhd managing director Lim Kim Heng said there was no ban for its 1,250 employees because it had yet to pose a threat.
“About 25% of my staff have Facebook accounts. Social networking is the lifestyle of the new generation, particularly those below 30 years old.”
fr:thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/9/6/nation/6973531&sec=nation
Survey: Malaysians have most Facebook friends
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysians have the most number of friends on social networking websites like Facebook. They also spend the most hours per week on such sites.
According to a survey conducted by international firm TNS, a Malaysian has an average of 233 friends in their social network, followed by 231 in Brazil and 217 in Norway. Japanese users had the least number of friends, averaging 29.
The survey was based on recent interviews of 50,000 consumers in 46 countries.
“Surprisingly, Chinese consumers only have an average of 68 friends in their networks despite being heavy users of social networking sites,” the survey said.
In terms of hours spent on social sites, Malaysians spent nine hours weekly.
Next were the Russians, with an average of 8.1 hours per week online while those in Turkey spent 7.7 hours a week.
The survey also found that rather than using email, consumers were now spending more time on social networking sites.
Commenting on the survey, Tourism Ministry international relations department secretary Mohd Halimi Ibrahim said that social media sites would be a cost-effective way to promote Malaysia.
“Instead of spending billions on expensive advertisements, social media sites allow us to do it for free and quite possibly, reach a larger audience,” he said yesterday.
Halimi added that it also showed that Malaysia was more than capable of holding its own in matters of technology.
“This study also shows that some Malaysians spend far too much time on the Internet, whiling away hours that could be put to much better use,” he said.
fr:thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/10/13/nation/7212273&sec=nation
Man furious over doctored photos of him on Facebook
KUALA LUMPUR: A 23-year-old salesman is upset that doctored photographs of him have been posted by a woman on her Facebook page.
“I’m very embarrassed,” said Neoh Song Soon. “I have no idea who this woman is.”
Neoh said there were obscene photos of him as well as photos depicting his funeral.
He also said the woman had accused him of spurning her and that he was a playboy.
Neoh, who has since lodged a police report in Alor Setar on Oct 2, said she had taken images from his Facebook page and superimposed his face onto her doctored photos.
Neoh had attempted to contact her through Facebook to have her remove the offensive photographs, but she ignored him even when he threatened to make a police report.
MCA public complaints department head Datuk Michael Chong said it had received 28 such cases since 2008.
“We feel these cases are very serious. Some victims have become so depressed that they’ve attempted suicide,” he said.
Chong advised victims of such cases to immediately lodge police reports
fr:thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/10/13/nation/7215801&sec=nation
Facebook says apps transmitted user information
NEW YORK: The latest Facebook privacy fiasco shows that the world’s largest online social hub is having a hard time putting this thorny issue behind it even as it continues to attract users and become indispensible to many of them.
The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that several popular Facebook applications have been transmitting users’ personal identifying information to dozens of advertising and Internet tracking companies. Facebook said it is working to fix the problem, and was quick to point out that the leaks were not intentional, but a consequence of basic Web mechanisms.
“In most cases, developers did not intend to pass this information, but did so because of the technical details of how browsers work,” said Mike Vernal, a Facebook engineer, in a blog post Monday.
In a statement, Facebook said there is “no evidence that any personal information was misused or even collected as a result of this issue.”
Even so, some privacy advocates said it’s problematic that the information was leaked at all, regardless of what happened to it. Facebook needs its users to trust it with their data because if they don’t, they won’t use the site to share as much as they do now.
“Facebook has been assuring users for a very long time that their personal information will not be available to advertisers,” said Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Washington-based Electronic Privacy Information Center.
At issue are user IDs, the unique identifier tied to every person on Facebook. These IDs can be used to find users’ names, gender and any information they’ve made visible to “everyone” on the Internet through their privacy settings.
“It’s their entire friends’ lists, their likes, their biographical information,” Rotenberg said. “Facebook gets access to it and now it’s leaking out to advertisers.”
The Journal said these IDs could be included in what’s known as “referrers.” That is what websites send to other sites to tell them where the user came from. Normally, these wouldn’t tell the sites who these users are. But that becomes possible when the referers include a person’s social network ID.
In one case, these IDs were then embedded in a “cookie,” which tracks users as they navigate the Web, by an online data collection company, the Journal said. That meant that Facebook users’ names and browsing habits could be linked up.
The company, Rapleaf, said this did not happen intentionally and it has since fixed the problem.
“As of last week, no Facebook ids are being transmitted to ad networks in conjunction with the use of any Rapleaf service,” the company said in a blog post Sunday.
Facebook’s more than 500 million users share varying amounts of private information online, and over the years the company has come under fire from privacy advocates for pushing people to reveal more about themselves to everyone on the Internet. At the same time, the company also allows users to set up privacy settings for nearly everything they share on the site.
There are some exceptions, though. Users’ names, profile photo and gender if they specify it are always public. For a slew of other details, Facebook gives users controls so that they can hide friends list, photos, work information and e-mail addresses.
Facebook said the knowledge of a user’s ID does not give anyone access to that user’s private information. But that’s not the problem, said Peter Eckersley, senior staff technologist for the digital rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation.
“The problem is that ad companies can know who you are at all,” he said.
Eckersley said the “referer” problem isn’t new, nor is it necessarily limited to Facebook. The Journal did not mention other social networks such as MySpace, which is owned by News Corp., like the Journal.
“We urgently need investigations to determine how many other social networks may be suffering from this type of data leak,” he said.
MySpace did not have a comment.
Some, such as media critic Jeff Jarvis, came to Facebook’s defense. He called the Journal report an overreaction because the user information was already publicly available.
“The White Pages reveal I use the phone. So?” Jarvis wrote on Twitter. He said in an interview later that traditional media and marketing companies have long exposed far more personal information.
“Publications sell their subscriber lists, manufacturers sell their warranty lists, and those have (people’s) real names and addresses. That has long existed,” Jarvis said. “What’s the real harm here is the key question. The worst harm is that someone delivers to you a more targeted ad.”
fr:biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/10/19/business/20101019074426&sec=business
Facebook unveils new messaging system
SAN FRANCISCO: Facebook is betting that one day soon, we’ll all be acting like young students — more texting and instant-messaging, at the expense of e-mail.
Facebook unveiled a new messaging system Monday, and while CEO Mark Zuckerberg didn’t go as far as declaring e-mail dead, he clearly sees the four-decade-old technology being eclipsed by more real-time ways of communicating.
“We don’t think a modern messaging system is going to be e-mail,” Zuckerberg said.
Right now, Facebook’s Messages section is a lot like an e-mail inbox. The overhauled version, which will be rolled out to users by invitation in coming months, brings in cell phone texts, IM chats and e-mails from non-Facebook accounts.
All the messages stack up in one inbox, and they’re organized by the person sending them rather than the type of technology they use. For those who want one, Facebook will hand out facebook.com e-mail addresses — mostly to make it easier to communicate with people who aren’t on Facebook.
“If we do a good job, some people will say this is the way that the future will work,” Zuckerberg said.
By making e-mail part of its communications hub, Facebook escalates its duel with Internet search leader Google Inc., which shook up online communications 6½ years ago with its Gmail service. Google has said it will roll out more social networking features to counter Facebook’s growing popularity, and within Gmail it already lets people chat, e-mail and make phone calls.
Yahoo, AOL and Microsoft are also working on incorporating messages from Facebook, Twitter and other social sites into their main e-mail systems.
What Facebook has that Gmail and others don’t have, however, is people’s real identities, plus a map of their real-life relationships and online interactions — something Facebook likes to refer to as the “social graph.”
Facebook will use what it knows of these relationships to build a social inbox that not only filters out spam but messages it deems less important from strangers or overly chatty friends, and impersonal messages such as the phone bill. Those lower-priority messages will be tossed in a separate folder labeled “Other.” Users can also tell Facebook to automatically block messages that don’t come from friends.
To communicate with a friend, a Facebook user would click on the friend’s name rather than hunt for a phone number or an e-mail address. If that friend prefers to get text messages, that’s how the message will be seen. If the friend likes e-mail, e-mail it will be.
The messaging system, however, isn’t e-mail. It doesn’t use subject lines or “Cc” fields.
Facebook says it will store every missive sent between two people for eternity, unless they choose to delete it; the company likens it to this generation’s equivalent of a box filled with years of love letters.
But love letters can sometimes get into the wrong hands. Running a communications service within a social network may increase the chances that sensitive information gets exposed. One of the most common complaints about Facebook is that some updates and photos posted on personal pages are seen by more people than accountholders intended, either because they misunderstood how to program their privacy settings or because of a security breach.
Google learned the hazards of melding e-mail with socializing earlier this year when it planted a Facebook-like service called “Buzz” into Gmail. When Buzz launched in February, it was set up in a way that caused many of its early users to inadvertently open up lists of e-mail contacts to outsiders. The ensuing privacy flap elicited an apology from Google, which also recently settled a lawsuit over the misstep.
Zuckerberg dismissed notions that the Facebook service, code-named “Project Titan,” is a “Gmail killer,” as portrayed in the media. At the same time, he said he thinks more people will forgo lengthy e-mail conversations in favor of shorter, more immediate chats.
That could lessen the need for people to use communications tools other than Facebook, said Altimeter Group analyst Charlene Li.
“It may not be a Gmail killer, but it could be nibbler,” she predicted.
It could also nibble away at other e-mail services from Microsoft Corp., Yahoo Inc. and AOL Inc. According to comScore, Microsoft’s Hotmail had nearly 362 million unique monthly users in September, the latest available figure. Yahoo mail followed with 273 million and Gmail, the fastest-growing service, with 193 million.
Google CEO Eric Schmidt welcomed Facebook’s expanded role in online communications. “More competition is always good because competition makes the market larger,” Schmidt said in a meeting with reporters at the Web 2.0 technology summit. “We are all well served by having everybody online.”
With Facebook’s foray into e-mail, Jonathan Zittrain, professor of law and computer science at Harvard University, said he’d like to see the company be more open in allowing users to turn to outside software to process their Facebook activities.
“We ought to be able to take our lists of friends, or our wall contents, or our photo archives easily from one service to another,” he said.
So far, this is not the case. Users will have to keep an active Facebook account for the messaging service to work. If they decide to leave Facebook, they will lose the messaging service.
The first Internet e-mail system arrived in the early 1970s. Though e-mail is still a primary form of communication for older adults, recent studies suggest this is not the case for young people.
Text messaging has surpassed face-to-face contact, e-mail, phone calls and instant messaging as the primary form of communication for U.S. teens, according to a 2009 survey from the Pew Internet and American Life Project.
Facebook sees its messaging service as a way to deepen its connection with the more than 500 million users of its network. If it can persuade its vast audience to become faithful users of its e-mail service, Facebook conceivably will have more opportunities to sell advertising that caters to their likes and dislikes.
That ambition also could heighten the privacy issues surrounding Facebook as it becomes more deeply ingrained in people’s lives and its computers become a treasure trove of personal information.
Privacy, to be sure, has been a thorn in 6-year-old Facebook’s side since it was born in Zuckerberg’s Harvard dorm room.
Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, a privacy watchdog group, called Facebook’s move into e-mail “deeply disturbing.” He said that under the guise of giving users a new utility, the company “opens up another door that allows it to closely track how their members communicate.”
Privacy concerns aside, Wedbush Morgan analyst Lou Kerner, who follows social media, sees the feature expanding the site’s appeal.
“It’s going to bring some of the remaining holdouts to the Facebook platform,” Kerner said
fr:biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/11/16/business/20101116123155&sec=business
Social network users now easy targets for criminals
Forget about bringing criminals to book, the crooks are themselves going to the book – Facebook, that is.
Many are targeting Malaysians – via their personal details posted on Facebook.
They are lifting information such as addresses, telephone numbers and even photographs for crimes ranging from drug trafficking to blackmail and sexual harassment.
Experts have criticised Malaysians for being too naive in accepting “friendship” requests from strangers.
Last year alone, some 400 crimes involving Facebook were reported to a cyber security group.
The trend is worrying because an international survey last year revealed that Malaysians had the most number of friends on social networking websites like Facebook with an average of 233 each – and spent up to nine hours each week logged on.
fr:thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/1/17/nation/7813058&sec=nation
Beware the Facebook felons
Crooks are cashing in on personal details readily revealed by some Facebook users and using them in identity frauds, blackmail or to “steal” money from users.
Over-excited online social network users who reveal personal information and accept “friendship” requests from complete strangers have made the site an increasingly popular target for cybercriminals.
Many users, especially beginners, experience culture shock when they suddenly become “popular” and receive many friendship requests, said criminologist and Malaysian Association of Certified Fraud Examiners president Datuk Akhbar Satar.
“They feel encouraged to reveal more information about themselves without realising the damage it could cause,” he said, adding that many users even posted sexy or nude pictures of themselves on the website and ended up being blackmailed by complete strangers.
Akhbar said the practice of posting personal details such as birth dates, addresses and telephone numbers on the website had proven to be the source of a lucrative business for identity fraudsters.
“The crime triangle comprises elements of desire, target and opportunity. Once there is a desire to commit the crime, the criminal identifies the target and opportunity. This is where Facebook comes in,” he said.
According to Socialbakers.com, a website dedicated to global Facebook statistics, there are currently 9,874,860 Facebook users in Malaysia alone, which is 37.75% of the entire population.
Youths between the ages of 18 and 25 formed the majority of Malaysian users – 38% – while the youngest group, aged between 13 and 15, makes up 7% of users.
The gender ratio of Malaysians on Facebook is almost equal – with 53% of them being female.
Hackers operating on social networks can easily create fake profiles and send friendship requests to unsuspecting users within their target groups.
Many users have become victims of identity frauds, harassment, blackmail and have lost money through various scams operated via the website.
There have also been reports of gangs and drug syndicates in Malaysia recruiting members through Facebook and other social networks.
The criminals’ job is made easier as the name and profile picture of the user is visible to all via the websites’ default privacy settings.
“Unlike crimes committed in the physical world, cyber crimes require little or no investment,” said Akhbar, adding that such crimes were also difficult to detect.
fr:thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/1/17/nation/7657010&sec=nation
Only add friends you know, says help centre
CyberSecurity Malaysia chief executive officer Lt Col (Rtd) Husin Jazri has advised Facebook users to never approve a “friend request” unless they know who the person is.
He said a total of 401 cases of criminal activities involving Facebook were reported to the Cyber999 Help Centre last year, with 62% related to harassment, 22% for hacked or compromised accounts and 5% related to identity fraud.
“Only share photographs, videos and information that you want to make public as there is a good chance that it will spread beyond your control,” he said, adding that users should customise their privacy settings so that only “real friends” could access their information.
Husin called on parents to monitor their childrens’ Facebook accounts.
“Talk to them about what should and should not be posted online and encourage them to report messages that make them uncomfortable,” he said, adding that users who faced online threats and incidents could contact them at cyber999 @ cybersecurity .my.
Despite numerous reports of fraud and scams on Facebook, Malaysians are still naive and keep making the same mistakes.
MCA Public Services and Complaints Department head Datuk Michael Chong said people should realise the dangers of revealing too much personal information on the site.
He said they had received many complaints from young women whose reputations were tainted by culprits who hacked into their accounts and stole their private photographs.
fr:thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/1/17/nation/7811784&sec=nation
Facebook comes of age
WHY NOT?
By WONG SAI WAN
FB is now more than just a social media for the young. It is also a meeting ground for all – fathers, mothers, actresses, superstars and, especially, crooks.
A NEW survey found that 12% of parents punish their kids by banning social networking sites. The other 88% punish their kids by joining social networking sites themselves.
This was what a colleague put on his Facebook status recently. He probably put it up in jest, but for me it was so poignant because like him, we are probably as active, if not more active, than our teenage children on the popular social network.
Although most of us replied in equal jest on his Facebook page, I could not help a quick stocktaking of the truth of the status comment.
When Times’ Man of the Year Mark Zuckerberg put together Facebook for the clever students at Harvard, he did it for the young crowd. And when he started taking it to cybersphere, he also wanted to attract teenagers.
There are now 550 million users on Facebook, which Zuckerberg supposedly founded eight years ago when he was just a 19-year-old sophomore at Harvard.
Time magazine, in its report on Zukerberg being chosen as its man of the year, noted that “one out of every dozen people on the planet has a Facebook account.
“They speak 75 languages and collectively lavish more than 700 billion minutes on FB, as its users affectionately call it, every month. Its membership is currently growing at a rate of about 700,000 people a day”.
These statistics are astounding, especially when you consider that 70% of FB users are from outside the United States. We in Malaysia are among the major users – records show that more than 9.5 million Malaysians now hold a Facebook account of whom 45% are male and 51% female. The rest did not state their gender.
The growth rate for FB in Malaysia has really been tremendous. In 2009, we recorded a growth rate of over 300% from just over 450,000 users a year before to 3.9 million. By last December, this figure exploded to 9.5 million. And yet we are only number four in Asia.
“Today, there are over 32 million Indonesians using Facebook. The Philippines is behind Indonesia, with over 18 million, followed by India (16.9 million), Malaysia (9.5 million) and Taiwan (8.7 million),” reports GreyReview which studies tech and social media trends.
This got me thinking about why I got into Facebook. I can’t even remember exactly when I signed up for a FB account, but it was in 2008. It was for a very good reason – my son and daughter (aged 15 and nine then) were thinking of signing up. I just wanted to know why they were doing it.
After all, we have read horror stories of fiends and monsters lurking in Cyberspace to prey on the young ones. I just wanted to be there in case these beasts hang around Facebook.
At first, I approached it like a cautious father, checking out every possibility of how corrupting FB could be. Then I realised the joy of connecting with colleagues and how it allowed me to carry out some “innocent fun” – posting naughty messages on people’s walls.
I started collecting friends and it became a race with my colleagues to see who could get more. At present, I have 1,173 friends, but like most Malaysians I doubt I know 70% of them personally.
Instead of the kids being lured into the deep by the “evils of Facebook”, it was I who became addicted. I found it such a stress reliever, although quite time-consuming and quite distracting from the real world.
I now understand why many companies ban their staff from getting on to their FB accounts in the office, but as a user I dare say that it has become an important networking and communication tool.
Banning FB in the office is another act of denial because with 550 million people into it, businesses would do better to get on board to see what the fuss is all about. It is estimated that FB and Zuckerberg raked in some US$2bil (RM6.1bil) last year.
Anyway, my policing of the kids’ cyber use, especially on FB, has come to naught. Rather, the three of us are “friends” in each other’s FB pages and we use our accounts to pass each other messages, especially those we don’t want their mother to read.
I would say FB has enabled the three of us to share a bond, especially since I spend more than 15 hours a day away from the house.
As a journalist, I have had many reliable tip-offs for stories via Facebook, especially from new found friends and as well as from old ones re-established via this network.
I have also made great friends through Facebook. A bunch of us who are all golfers have become close pals, poking fun at each other or springing some pranks at the slightest opportunity.
Yes, there are also some nasty people on FB. A friend of mine who had just moved back to his hometown of Kuching, had his account hijacked by an evil person located in Thailand.
This dastardly person tried to trick me into sending him some money using my friend’s FB identity. Luckily, my friend alerted me in time.
This taught me a lesson and I now change my FB password every three weeks or so.
Then a few days ago, I had a strange request from someone wanting to be added as a friend. This person claimed to be former Thai PM Thaksin Shinawatra. This person even tried to chat online with me, saying he was indeed Thaksin and was now in Moscow.
When I put his claim as a link, he immediately “unfriended” me and blocked me from his Facebook page. I have either thwarted a crook or missed the opportunity of a lifetime to interview this elusive politician.
Whatever it is, Facebook is a modern trend that will probably be replaced by something else in the next few months but till then it has shrunk the world tremendously and our distances just got a lot smaller.
> The Star Executive Editor Wong Sai Wan’s favourite Facebook application used to be the Word Twist game, but now likes uploading pictures straight from his Blackberry.
fr:thestar.com.my/columnists/story.asp?file=/2011/1/14/columnists/whynot/7765094&sec=whynot