Rooturaj's Blog

Hey guys… Saturday is about to end and I am on Facebook. Lol the right time to be on FB you would agree with me.

Now the funny thing happened….. one of my friends shared some thing like this on my wall. I deleted it ofcourse and sent a message to the guy. But as I look at my updates my updates I see a lot of people being infected.

I recognized it because this has happened to one of my friends before. I ask you to remove the updates and remove the user (if not your regular contact) because I suspect they infect you when you click the link. You  got to remove the updates because anyone who visits your wall might click the link as well. Again.. I am trusting FBs technology that the infection does not spread just by visiting the infected profile.

It is just a shared video.It somehow infects your PC or hacks into your account.Iam not sure which one is the case…in either case it would probably post this vid on friend’s wall.

Ok thats fine but how the hell do I get rid of this?

O yeah.. I have the solution now. Go to your facebook setting->application settings find this app named Winamp and remove it. Change you password as an additional precaution.Then make sure you remove all those posts form your wall and friends walls too.

Dear Readers,

This post is for all Facebookers who are concerned about their social security and privacy on world’s most popular Social Network. We know Facebook is not very interested in safeguarding our privacy. You might like my last post about Facebook Privacy fiasco to see the dangers facing you on FB. Some of my friends on Facebook are so concerned that they are planning to leave Facebook for ever. So I planned a series of posts to help my friends and YOU to use facebook safely. This is the first in the series.

Think twice before you allow that stupid facebook app.

Some of us just use facebook for the apps or so it seems. You open their public profiles and see automatic updates from a host of crappy apps. I hate such kind of users. They don’t do much on Facebook so they allow all kind of apps to access information. But they don’t realize that the apps are pulling information about their friends as well. If you are not concerned about yourself ..at least take a moment to think about your friends.

I logged on to facebook today and there were some updates. One of them was this.

Freinds Exposed App - Sick thing

Now see what questions is it discussing? Definitely personal right? This person who choose to use the app is a close friend so I have no issues with it. But imagine I do the same and it pulls up this kind of crap with my clients or relatives. You do not know whom it is targeting..because you authorized it to access friend’s information. When? yeah you might ask that… Note that link at the end of the update…see what they said…its a link bait…they induce you to click the link..then some thing like this comes up.

If I want to use this app ( I would actually never do it) its fine but I have no right exposing my friends to such  kinda stuff. God knows what they are doing with the information they pull out from our profiles. Given that they are discussing things like Virgin – hot- hooking up they could be well be one of those sick companies selling viagra or dating service sites. Or they could simply sell out your information to those who do it.

My request to you all is
to take a moment and think twice before you allow any app.
Do not expose your friends privacy.
Stay away form those people who are on facebook just for those apps and games.
Take a moment to set you privacy settings.

There used to be an app on Facebook till yesterday called Kal Kya Hoga. This bull shit application transgressed the line between lite humor and public slandering of unsuspecting Facebook Users. These involved serious privacy violation and defamation that not only affected involved facebookers but their friends and families as well.

I site this instance because it happened to me and I swore I would stamp out this nonsense for ever. I never subscribed for this app – Kal Kya Hoga, but one of my friends did. This application takes in a friends name and throws out some random nonsense that is supposed to happen to the friend in future. I understand this is supposed to be funny but there is a limit to every thing and on this occasion it did cross the limit.

Here is the blotted snapshot of the app. It was a blatant attack on my character and I was in no mood to take it lightly. Not just that, it is an attack on my family as well. Its a different matter that I am not married.  It could have soured relations between me and the friend who published the same. Why should I loose a great friend for a sick and sightless software application created by some dung-brain programmer?

Kal Kya Hoga Blasphemy

It could be happening to many more people. I shudder to think what degree of insults these people would be coming up with. This had to stop.

I reported the matter to the company that helped create this app – Phrases, by smsocial.com. Their first response was casual and it seemed they wanted to brush aside this issue. Here is their reply.

Totally dissatisfied I shot back the following.

At the same time I reported the matter to Facebook too. Then it worked. The snake was nailed. Kal Kay Hoga app got what it rightly deserved – the Ban.

I am grateful to the creators of Phrase for the maturity they have shown in addressing social security issues. This will not only cement your reputation as professional developers for social media platforms but mark you as a team of caring individuals too.

A word to fellow Facebookers.
Do take such instances seriously and report them as required. Read once what you are publishing on the social media. If it is not appropriate for your parents, younger siblings or weaker section of society do not publish it. It hurts others and in this process you could loose a valuable friend. I am not sure if you can see it but it actually is a huge loss.

*Disclaimer : There are some people and companies mentioned above. If for any reason you feel this is incursion into your privacy just let me know.