Craig.Carlen[Online].com

Let’s face it: your identity on the World Wide Web may not be your own.  And conversely, you may not be who you say you are.  The World Wide Web is after all as anonymous as we want it -or allow it - to be.

When MySpace became popular I made a conscious decision to not sign up.  I did my research and discovered plenty of security holes that existed.  There were dozens of ways for people to access personal data on MySpace - for example, someone anonymously sends you a video with a embedded link that would reveal your password when you enter it thinking your need to be logged in to view that video.  Most if not all of the security holes in MySpace are created using third part applications that simply exist for phishing purposes. Most spammers want access to your MySpace account not to dig up dirt on you but rather to use your account as a Spambot to send our millions of pieces of their unwanted crap to MySpace users.  But there are also plenty of perverts out there looking for their next victim.  How are you to know that the person behind the user ID that just sent you that friends request out of the blue is actually who they say they are?  At least with Facebook a friends request can be acknowledged with the caveat that the friend tell you how they know you (through an organization, taking a class together, working together…).

The other problem I’ve always seen with MySpace is the creators of MySpace generally have never seemed to care if security holes did exist even within the framework of their site (unrelated to any third part application).  In January of this year Wired reported about a known security hole that allowed users to view photos of any other user even if their profile was set to private.  The security hole had existed for months and was even broadcast around the internet in various blogs and forums and yet MySpace seemed oblivious to this glaring problem. The more I’ve researched MySpace security issues, the more I desired to stay far away from that application.

A 180 degree turn from MySpace is Facebook.  Facebook has far fewer security issues - although a recent security upgrade resulted in private profiles becoming publicly viewable, Facebook quickly fixed the problem once the bug was reported.  I have a Facebook profile and am constantly amazed that I have almost 90 friends - honestly I didn’t know I knew that many people (I think 90% of them have me listed as a friend because of my awesome blog - but I’ve been wrong before).

But just when I think all is well and good with Facebook I read this from the BBC’s Spencer Kelly.  Although Facebook’s response was again quick, I’m not sure I’m trusting of new applications.  Long established applications I’m sure have been long evaluated by Facebook - but how quickly can they get to the new applications.  Even if they remove a new application within hours there’s still a viral possibility if the application offers something unique users find of interest.

I’ll keep using Facebook although with a small reservation.  I won’t be installing any new applications that are sent my way until I see that application has been around for a while.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 26th, 2008 at 3:10 pm and is filed under Internet, Usability. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.