First of all, let me backtrack: there is this huge "copied and pasted" rumor that's spreading around everyone's status messages. The message reads:
"Hello to all of you who are on my list of contacts of Facebook. I haven't wanted to do this, but after finding all of my photos located on another site, I would like to ask a favor of you…. You may not know that Facebook has changed its privacy configuration once again. Thanks to the new “Graphic app”, any person on FB anywhere in the world can see our photos, our “likes” and our “comments”. During the next two weeks, I am going to keep this message posted and I ask you to do the following and comment “DONE”. Those of my friends who do not maintain my information in private will be eliminated from my list of friends, because I want ...the information I share with you, my friends, to remain among my friends and not be available to the whole world. I want to be able to publish photos of my friends and family without strangers being able to see them, which is what happens now when you choose “like” or “comment”. Unfortunately we cannot change this configuration because FB has made it like this.
1. So, please, place your cursor over my photo that appears in this box (without clicking) and a window will open.
2. Now move the cursor to the word “Friends”, again without clicking and then on “Settings”.
3. UN-check “Life Events” and “Comments and Like”. This way my activity with my family and friends will no longer be made public.
4. Now, copy and paste this text on your own wall (do not “share” it!). Once I see it published on your page, I will UN-check the same."
So back to privacy. There's no such thing. I wouldn't worry too much, because hackers usually try for big accounts, such as banks, schools, government, etc., but there are 'small time' hackers that have the capability to tinker through codes and underlining vulnerabilities of Facebook's structure. Once Facebook realizes what's happening through enough reports made to them, they update their 'structure' and code it differently, making the hackers go back on their cyber hunt once again. It's like an addiction -- it's the ultimate challenge of their intelligence, so it's never ending. The real problem here are your "friends" who can see your status updates and photos with a location on them. Your "friends" may have an agenda. How many times have you seen a status message like this? "I'm so excited! 4 more days till we go to Hawaii!!!" Well, it's only 4 days away from your house being robbed. Even just stating you're going to leave your home for a matter of hours is enough time. That's the scary part about Facebook. It happened to one lady who got in touch with her old friend from high school. He waited till he got one of those "going on vacation" status updates, but she was 'kinda' smart. She already had cameras installed in her home and had an alarm system set. Well, not even three minutes of the burglar finally breaking into her home, the cops were there and the cameras revealed who it was. Even if they got away, they would have been caught. So no matter how your settings are, "private", "just me", "custom friends", "friends", "friends of friends" or even "public" ---- someone can tap into another person's account and get all your updates, photos and so on. Your account is NOT private. If you're so concerned about your privacy, don't post it up, because "Facebook privacy" is an oxymoron.
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