PC ADVISOR
FOR MOBILE

The magazine

Poll

When did you get your first home computer?:

View poll results

Have your say in the
PC Advisor forums!

Blogs

Blogs by topic:

Bono caught out by Facebook privacy options

October 30, 2008

If you're a Facebook user that belongs to a network, it might be worth checking twice before posting content you may not want others to see, as U2 front man Bono recently found out to his cost.

The singer, who's well-known for his charity work, was snapped cavorting with two bikini-clad girls in St Tropez. Unfortunately for Bono, one of the girls - Andrea Feick - decided to post the pics on her Facebook profile. As a member of the New York network, the pics could be viewed by all of the network's million members, and presumably Mrs Bono. Whoops.

But its not just cheating spouses that could get caught out by Facebook's network privacy options. According to security firm Sophos, last year 75 percent of Facebook's London network were allowing their profiles to be viewed by other members of the network. Even more worrying was the fact that 54 percent were revealing their full date of birth - information that's vital to identity fraud.

"Facebook's privacy features are more sophisticated than some competing social-networking sites, but the fact that Facebook changes these without asking when you join a geographic network is a huge oversight. While in this instance the result is potentially embarrassing for Bono, other members of the site could easily find themselves the victim of identity theft," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos.

The lesson to be learned: checking your Facebook privacy options could save more than just your marriage.

Bono and some teenagers in bikinis

Visit Broadband Advisor for the latest internet news, reviews, tips & tricks

Posted by: Carrie-Ann Skinner

Submit to: Digg Digg Slashdot delicious Del.icio.us reddit Reddit

What is this?

<<newer entry | older entry>>

Comments

Posted by The watcher on October 30, 2008 :

Bono's got his knockers, but I say fair play to him

Posted by Major watcher on November 4, 2008 :

you 2 make me feel sick.
is office licking still important these days?

PC Advisor staff
Blogger Daily news, views and thoughts from the PC Advisor staff as they put together the magazine. Collectively the PC Advisor team has over 100 years of computing experience, so as you'll imagine they're never short of an opinion or two.
Email author(s)

Latest entries

Entries by month

Nov09	\|	Oct09	\|	Sep09	\|	Aug09
Jul09	\|	Jun09	\|	May09	\|	Apr09
Mar09	\|	Feb09	\|	Jan09	\|	Dec08
Nov08	\|	Oct08	\|	Sep08	\|	Aug08
Jul08	\|	Jun08	\|	May08	\|	Apr08
Mar08	\|	Feb08	\|	Jan08	\|	Dec07
Nov07	\|	Oct07	\|	Sep07	\|	Aug07
Jul07	\|	Jun07	\|	May07	\|	Apr07
Mar07	\|	Feb07	\|	Jan07	\|	Dec06
Nov06	\|	Oct06	\|	Sep06	\|	Aug06
Jul06	\|	Jun06	\|	May06	\|	Apr06
Mar06	\|	Feb06	\|	Jan06	\|	Dec05
Nov05	\|	Oct05