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[Admin]

Facebook is now sharing your personal profile information with third parties. For now, it's just a few web sites, like the music site Pandora, and the consumer review site, Yelp. Facebook is automatically sharing that information, without your consent. If you don't want to share, you have to opt out.

University of Minnesota law professor and privacy expert Bill McGevern says it's an important line in the sand. And for Facebook, with 600 million users, the stakes are high. “Facebook is trying over and over to get this shared so Facebook becomes the center of the web,” said McGevern.

Facebook want to make money by selling user information.

Last week, Facebook announced new features designed to unlock more of the data accumulated about its users during its six-year history. The senators said the recent changes by Facebook fundamentally alter the relationship between users and the social networking site. Before the change, users had control over what information they wished to share publicly and what information they wanted to keep private.

Among other things, Facebook is plugging into other websites so people can communicate their interests with friends, colleagues and acquaintances online. Facebook also changed its own website to create more pages where users' biographical information could be exposed to a wider audience.

In a statement, Facebook said, "these new products and features are designed to enhance personalization and promote social activity. All of Facebook’s partner sites interact with a user’s consent."

To opt out of Facebook’s new profile sharing follow the instructions at the source below ....

Source

[Admin]

Hackers have put 1.5million stolen Facebook accounts up for sale on the black market, an internet security firm has claimed. Researchers at VeriSign’s iDefense Labs said they had found the stolen or bogus accounts on a Russian forum called Carder.su. A hacker called 'kirllos'  was offering log-in data of thousands of Facebook users at bargain basement prices.Bundles of 1,000 accounts with 10 or fewer friends were on sale for just $25 while  accounts with more than 10 friends could be bought for $45.

Rick Howard director of iDefense, said the case points to a boom in the illegal trading of social networking accounts from Eastern Europe to the U.S. Criminals typically steal data with 'phishing' techniques that trick users into giving out  their passwords, or with malware that logs computer keystrokes.

The accounts can then be hijacked to send spam and malicious programs. Personal information including birth dates, addresses and phone numbers can be used to commit identity fraud.

However, Facebook has poured scorn on the latest claims, saying 'kirllos' was known to investigators for making wild claims.

Source