Byron Ng, a Vancouver, Canada computer technician
draw attention to the Associated Press about the fact that unwanted
persons peeked on the personal photos posted on Facebook Inc.
When Facebook revealed that it found new ways to restrict access of the
67 million members to their personal profiles, Ng started a campaign
for discovering the security flaws.
The
Facebook members and their friends have been assured that those who
will enjoy the posted pictures will be just a few people. Yet, Ng was
able to have access to those freshly posted.
"We take privacy very seriously
and continue to make enhancements to the site", said Brandee Barker,
spokeswoman for Facebook, and added that the Palo Alto-based company
solved the problem in no time.
A computer-coding trick allowed
Ng to view the latest pictures people posted on their personal
profiles, although they were presumed to remain hidden to the unknown
persons. Such pictures are with Paris Hilton at the Emmy awards and
with her brother Barron Nicholas.
Also, through Ng’s template, a
reporter form AP, viewed snapshots of Italian vacations, office
gatherings, holiday parties and college students on spring break, or,
the personal photo album posted in November 2005, by Facebook’s
co-founder Mark Zuckerberg.
Although some members of the
social networks such as Facebook often post photos with them or their
friends and family in diverse, sometimes awkward situations, this time,
the AP didn’t have luck. None of the reviewed pictures were from this
category.
People should learn that exposing their personal photos or personal details on the Internet
is not the right thing to do. Facebook is not a singular case: News
Corp."s MySpace.com dealt with a similar situation when, because of a security breach, the private photos of its members have been out in the open for the wide audience.
|
