A recent article in Windows Secrets newsletter, "
Viral inviters want your email contact list", stated, "The arms race between the script builders and big-name Web services is just beginning. The massive data collections that the scrapers are able to accumulate are simply too valuable to pass up.
The problem will only get worse as social-networking sites create linked systems. For example, the
Facebook Connect service that launched last year allows members to use their
Facebook account to sign in to hundreds of third-party sites, such as
CNET and
MoveOn.org."
Unfortunately, too many people are lured by
friends and
acquaintances that tell them, that having a
Facebook page makes them "cool". But they don't tell them (perhaps because they don't know or don't believe) about the pitfalls, the need for locked down tight security, the need to keep data you share to an absolute minimum, and the real need to be skeptical of emails you get.
Criminals can only
flourish in such a naively trusting environment. Here's hoping that future tightening of the world's email system underpinnings will reduce the ability of
Spammers and other Criminals to pretend to be a "friend" and sucker people into hurting themselves.
