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Major Corporations Are Downloading Those 100 Million Facebook Profiles off BitTorrent

iWhat

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Major Corporations Are Downloading Those 100 Million Facebook Profiles off BitTorrent

Remember that torrent yesterday that contained the personal information off of 100 million scraped Facebook profiles? I thought it was strange that the guy didn't sell this information, since many companies would be interested. Turns out they are interested.

A.C. Nielsen
Agilent Technologies
Apple Computer
AT&T – Possible Macrovision
Baker & McKenzie
BBC
Bertelsmann Media
Boeing
Church of Scientology
Cisco Systems
Cox Enterprises
Davis Polk & Wardwell
Deutsche Telekom
Disney
Duracell
Ernst & Young
Fujitsu
Goldman Sachs
Halliburton
HBO & Company
Hilton Hospitality
Hitachi
HP
IBM
Intel
Intuit
Levi Strauss & Co.
Lockheed-Martin Corp
Lucasfilm
Lucent
Lucent Technologies
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co
Mcafee
MetLife
Mitsubishi
Motorola
Northrop Grumman
Novell
Nvidia
O’Melveny & Myers
Oracle Corp
Pepsi Cola
Procter and Gamble
Random House
Raytheon
Road Runner RRWE
Seagate
Sega
Siemens AG
SONY CORPORATION
Sprint
Sun Microsystems
Symantec
The Hague
Time Warner Telecom
Turner Broadcasting system
Ubisoft Entertainment
Unisys
United Nations
Univision
USPS
Viacom
Vodafone
Wells Fargo
Xerox PARC
 
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I'm failing to see how this is much of a big deal. Maybe it's just that some people are too stupid to not put their whole life on fb.
 
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Wouldn't it be illegal to use those details for marketing.

"Church of Scientology" Glad I have not got much on my FaceBook page
 
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iWhat

iWhat

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Even though it's a torrent of an open directory, it's interesting how many companies were all over accessing this info. There are some companies on the list, some people would not be fond of having their info.

But there has to be people among that torrent who must be in the dark about their privacy still. A couple of months ago, I had no clue my FB profile was opted into the search directory. Also, if those people whose names are in that torrent file decide they don't want to be in the directory anymore, their info is already logged and downloaded. It's beyond their control to take back their privacy, that's the scary part.
 
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In the end if people have a public profile and post everything they can think about themselves - it's their choice and all they can do is get angry with people who download these files, never realizing they posted the info themselves knowingly providing it to anyone. What's the difference really between viewing the profile on facebook online any time of the day or looking through the same content from your own hard drive?

And of course big companies are interested, it's a survey much greater then anything they can put together in such a short time.
 

cwa107


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Also, if those people whose names are in that torrent file decide they don't want to be in the directory anymore, their info is already logged and downloaded. It's beyond their control to take back their privacy, that's the scary part.

And you just hit the nail on the head !!!!!!

And what is it they say ?? Once its on the net, It's on the net forever .....

*Shudder*
 

vansmith

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Good thing my Facebook profile is mostly a lie (use it mostly for the messaging since 95% of my friends seem to want to use FB over other better forms of communication). If those companies truly want to believe that "talking about my emotions" is a true statement of who I am, go ahead.

I'm not surprised that this has happened. I was warned that school boards were looking up FB profiles of candidates for positions so I can't say that it surprises me that the corporate world is doing the same (assuming this is at least part of their intent).
 
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This is an outrage! Oh wait... I don't use Facebook or TwittyPages. Nevermind. ;)

Honestly though, I feel bad on one level as it would stink to have all of my info on some media outlet's archive. Do something good (open a business) or bad (get a DUI), and your background, resume, known associates, etc... can immediately be associated with the story they publish. Then again, I thought the whole purpose of these sites was to make details of one's life accessible on the notoriously security lax internet? I find it unreasonable to believe that someone who can operate a computer, register at a site and then navigate the site and specifically choose to upload material is completely free from responsibility for whatever outcome results from posting this information. It's optional, you don't have to put all that stuff out there. To me it's like listening to someone complain their car was stolen when they left it running out in front of the gas station.
 
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Good thing I never got into the FaceBook or Twitter crap.
 
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The problem is also you don't know whether it was actually officially the company downloading it or just an employee using their network.
 

bobtomay

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FB sent me a request. My wife had put on her page that I was her husband and wanted me to verify it. I declined. Told her she has too much personal stuff for my taste on her page and on the internet, I don't know you.:*
 
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You subscribe to Facebook you takes your chances,
 
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One company NOT on that list, surprisingly:

Microsoft. Or Google for that matter.

But I still don't see why Apple needs it.
 
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chas_m

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First of all, I doubt the veracity of this. All of it.

Second, I really don't care even if it was true. If there's anything to learn about me from my Facebook page, it's that I am of no interest to major corporations (save one) and the feeling is mutual.
 

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