False ‘Privacy Notice’ Goes Viral On Facebook

A lot of spam goes viral over the web usually only because those who read it take it at its face value and believe it naively. It so seems that same has been the case regarding a Facebook status which falsely claimed to save the security of your Facebook account and thus, went viral on the social network.


The posting was titled ‘Facebook Privacy Notice.’ To make it sound a tad bit authentic and to fool the readers, the writer of the posting first pitched in the fact that since Facebook is now a publicly traded company, that means that anyone can publicly access your account and all its data.

That is a stupid idea in the very least, but then a lot of people apparently believed it and started reposting the status. What they don’t understand is that no matter whether or not Facebook is now a public company, it is still bound by the privacy policies it has enacted, and its users are also bound by the same regulations. And neither can violate it.

In fact, Facebook can’t even change its privacy policy without first notifying its users. So all this talk of a so-called posting which can save you from the agonies of losing data privacy, is hogwash.

The exact posting, which provides one a good laugh, reads:

For those of you who do not understand the reasoning behind this posting, Facebook is now a publicly traded entity. Unless you state otherwise, anyone can infringe on your right to privacy once you post to this site. It is recommended that you and other members post a similar notice as this, or you may copy and paste this version. If you do not post such a statement once, then you are indirectly allowing public use of items such as your photos and the information contained in your status updates.

PRIVACY NOTICE: Warning – any person and/or institution and/or Agent and/or Agency of any governmental structure including but not limited to the United States Federal Government also using or monitoring/using this website or any of its associated websites, you do NOT have my permission to utilize any of my profile information nor any of the content contained herein including, but not limited to my photos, and/or the comments made about my photos or any other “picture” art posted on my profile.

You are hereby notified that you are strictly prohibited from disclosing, copying, distributing, disseminating, or taking any other action against me with regard to this profile and the contents herein. The foregoing prohibitions also apply to your employee , agent , student or any personnel under your direction or control.

The contents of this profile are private and legally privileged and confidential information, and the violation of my personal privacy is punishable by law. UCC 1-103 1-308 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED WITHOUT PREJUDICE”

Source: Mashable

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Salman

Salman Latif is a software engineer with a specific interest in social media, big data and real-world solutions using the two.Other than that, he is a bit of a gypsy. He also writes in his own blog. You can find him on Google+ and Twitter .

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