Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Facebook Comments, Likes and Hackers

I've seen a number of people posting Facebook Fallacies such as the following:


With the new 'FB timeline' on its way this week for EVERYONE...please do both of us a favor: Hover over my name or photo above. In a few seconds you'll see a box that says "Subscribed." Hover over that, then go to "Comments and Likes" and unclick it. That will stop my posts and yours to me from showing up on the side bar for everyone to see, but MOST IMPORTANTLY it LIMITS HACKERS from invading our profiles. If you re-post this I will do the same for you. You'll know I've acknowledged you because if you tell me that you've done it I'll 'like' it. Thanks


What they suggest doing has some mix of reality and mythology.  Reality: Unsubscribing from friends' comments and likes will definitely stop them showing up in your ticker, however it will also stop them showing up in your feeds, so you'll never see your friends' comments again unless you go and visit each of their pages.  Mythology: it won't limit hackers in any way.

What WILL protect you from hackers is to check your Privacy settings and ensure they are configured as you need them and to - and I'm disappointed I need to keep reiterating this point everywhere I go - use a secure passphrase and change it from time to time.

If you want to read a little more on this current Facebook Fallacy, please go here and read Carole's writeup.

Regards,

The Outspoken Wookie

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