It’s the hackers you have to worry about.. not the hacks
UP to 45,000 Facebook users in Ireland may have had their personal information stolen and shared by the controversial firm which helped get Donald Trump elected. Bet you won’t “like” that.
And there we all were thinking we were great posting pictures of ourselves half naked and half cut on the Costas when we were being made suckers of by Mr Zuckerberg.
Well at least you didn’t not get your child vaccinated against deadly diseases because of some complete nonsense posted by some nut job on Facebook. No, don’t tell me...
As well as helping cause a measles epidemic, Facebook has been caught up in a scandal which might involve as many as 87 million users. Think around 21 times the population of Ireland.
It’s all got to do with a company called Cambridge Analytica which allegedly stole the personal data of users and did all sorts of stuff with it.
Information is a difficult issue to get people going, until someone robs it and empties their bank account.
Everything’s data, data, data these days. You can’t open a newspaper without an information overload.
Speaking of newspapers, did you hear the data commissioner Helen Dixon intends to undertake an investigation into a suspected data breach at Independent News And Media?
There are fears data relating to a number of directors and staff including journalists was taken out of the country to be examined by a security firm. It’s being claimed the alleged breach is among the biggest ever in this country and involves the corporate watchdog and the Protection Commissioner.
Funny how claims that journalists hacked members of the public brought condemnation from the politicians yet there hasn’t been a word from Leo’s lot about allegations a news organisation’s entire database was allegedly hacked and exported abroad. I wonder why?
We shouldn’t feel stupid that our details on Facebook were raided by sinister bodies. The moral is you just can’t trust anyone with your personal details, not even the Government... especially the Government.
It shouldn’t be forgotten the State is trying to force the public to use a public service card which contains more information on citizens than national identity cards in some countries.
It should also be remembered that before the
Facebook scandal broke Junior Minister Jim Daly actually wrote to Zuckerberg with a master plan to link social media accounts to passports or public services cards.
It wasn’t enough that our info was being stolen, a Government minister wanted us to hand it over to Facebook.
So is it any wonder the public are afraid the information contained in the Public Service Cards will be abused?
Still, the recent social media scandals have given us dirtbags in the gutter press – who are daily accused of peddling fake news – a bit of a laugh.
Oh the irony. There were some hardlinders lambasting the mainstream media on social media while all along their personal information was being pilfered right under their noses. They thought the likes of Facebook would set them free and gave them a platform while it was capturing all their personal data and selling it to anyone willing to pay for it.
They were ranting on about fake news while corporations were analysing their “likes” and “dislikes” so they could plant bogus stories that would suit them and make them feel vindicated. They were actually tailoring the fake news to their tastes.
Well, we were all wondering how we were targeted with adverts after we bought something or even liked something online, we just didn’t realise it could be done with news stories.
People were getting into heated online arguments with what they thought were political opponents when it was really Russian hackers pissing themselves laughing at causing social chaos.
There were instances in the States where hackers in Moscow organised two opposing demonstrations in Texas in the hope of causing a riot. They succeeded.
Hopefully what has taken place will help people to understand that just because you “like” something doesn’t mean it’s true.
In fact, because you probably not. Zuckerberg
The moral is you just can’t trust anyone with your data
liked it, it’s