facecrooks

A Facebook group stands accused of stealing baby photos from other users’ profiles for the purposes of making fun of them. According to the TV station that first reported on it, the page was taking unprotected photos of children it deemed “ugly” from other people’s profiles and then posting them to solicit mockery. Some of …

When Facebook introduced its Graph Search function, which allows users to sift through over 1 trillion pieces of individual content like statuses and comments on the site via a search engine, many users were put off. Years-old content could now potentially be dredged up in a search if users weren’t careful about their privacy settings, …

Two security researchers presenting at a security conference in Europe this week detailed an elaborate, 90-day hoax they perpetrated on an anonymous U.S. government agency by using a fake Facebook profile last December. The researchers, Aamir Lakhani and Joseph Muniz, created a Facebook profile for a woman named “Emily Williams,” and used the profile to …

Security researcher Mahomed Ramadan of Attack Secure has found two serious bugs in Facebook’s Android apps that could allow hackers to hijack user accounts. Ramadan found the first vulnerability in both the Facebook Main app and the Facebook Messenger app. The bug could potentially work by sending a victim an attachment, like a PDF, video …

Facebook requires that all of its users register for the site using their real name and birthday. While this isn’t strictly enforced, the site has asked users it has suspected of lying before to send a copy of their government-issued identification. However, in the wake of the NSA online spying scandal, their latest (accidental) request …

Many privacy experts, particularly in European countries, have raised concerns about the potential uses of Facebook’s facial recognition technologies. However, an expert in the technology recently told NPR that he thinks Facebook’s facial recognition abilities are not close to being fully implemented. “Each time you do a comparison, there’s 5 percent chance that it’s wrong,” …

Social media is everywhere. Everyone – from your great aunt to your college roommate to your next-door neighbor –is logging on to sites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Uploading pictures. Posting links and videos. Sharing stories. Social media is practically universal. And that means that your kids will inevitably encounter it – whether you want …

Facebook received a flurry of criticism earlier this week when it said that it would allow graphic videos of beheadings to remain posted on the site so long as the user who posted it was “condemning” the violence. Everyone from professional media experts to British Prime Minister David Cameron weighed in on the issue and …

Facebook has a spotty track record of either allowing or banning content on its platform.  Just last month, in fact, it censored a blog post that simply showed a photo of a nude statue. However, Facebook made an even more shocking decision this week, allowing graphic videos of beheadings back on the site after they …

When Facebook’s Graph Search feature came online, many privacy experts expressed concerns that the feature could be used by phishers to mine data from Facebook users. Trustwave, an online security company, recently created a script called “FBStalker” that has definitely proven that those fears were justified. It started when an influential public figure in Hong …

Facebook has eased its privacy settings for 13 to 17-year-old users, enabling them to now share photos updates and comments with the public. The change went into effect immediately after the announcement on Wednesday. “Teens are among the savviest people using social media, and whether it comes to civic engagement, activism, or their thoughts on …

Facebook introduced a new tool for advertisers this week that promises to give them even greater control over which audiences they reach on the site. The “custom audiences” tool will allow websites to gather information from visitors to their website, and then use that information to target advertising in Facebook on both mobile and desktop …

Yesterday, Facebook announced that it is officially ending the privacy setting that allowed users to hide themselves from showing up in Facebook search. Facebook removed the feature from people who weren’t using it in December, and now they plan to take it away permanently from everyone. Instead of users blocking off their profile from search …

One of Facebook’s greatest drawbacks is also one of its biggest strengths: it can get the word out about something far and wide in a very short period of time. That facet of the site was put to good use last week as a Tulsa woman used Facebook to catch a criminal who assaulted and …

With the rise of genealogy-tracking websites, it’s only natural that some people are sharing in-depth information about their family history and genetic code on Facebook. However, there may be unforeseen risks to this practice, as laid out in a recent blog post at VentureBeat. Some of these services, like 23andMe, give users the option to …

When the NSA PRISM online spying scandal erupted this summer, Facebook asked the government to for permission reveal how much information they’re forced to turn over to federal agencies. Facebook joined with other tech companies like Google, Yahoo and Microsoft to file motions requesting the permission to reveal this information, though the Department of Justice …

Facebook published a blog post on Monday this week announcing that a small number of trial users would now be able to use the site’s Graph Search function to search users’ posts, status updates, comments, check-ins and photo captions. The feature lets users not only search through content on their own timeline but also on …

Social media security and compliance company Nexgate released a study this week that painted an alarming picture about the growth of spam on Facebook. What they found: Facebook and YouTube have 100 times more spam than other social networks, and overall social spamming has increased 355 percent during the first half of 2013 alone. The …

The shockwaves from the NSA PRISM spy scandal continue to be felt, as The New York Times revealed this weekend that the NSA has used Facebook to create “sophisticated graphs” of some American citizens’ social connections. The Times, which obtained the new information from documents leaked by Edward Snowden, says that the NSA can track …

If you’ve ever posted something on Facebook that you’ve immediately wanted to tweak or correct, Facebook has a solution for you. This week, the site announced that it would roll out a new feature for its web platform and Android Facebook app allowing users to edit posts and comments. Facebook, a lightning rod of privacy …