It's the second time it happens.

My Facebook account uses one of those "extra" addresses Yahoo Mail allows us to create and not my main Yahoo Mail address.  Today I got an email addressed to my main Yahoo Mail address, as if someone had written me from Facebook ("Jeweel Kanaan" <[email protected]>), with a layout that looks like Facebook invitations (as far as I remember) and with a link to join his network.  Of course, I don't know her (and the text is one of those spams of some rich African who died in an accident and they need help to recover his fortune).

Moreover - and this is what really surprises me and the reason why I'm writing you - at the end of the message there is a list "Other people you may know on Facebook:" and some are indeed people of my acquaintace, and from these some of them in fact are already in my network through that other address I use for FB, others are people to whom I send and receive email using my main address - but how would FB know these FB members are friends of mine, or actually people I have exchanged emails with? 

Because FB's security has been very lax, to say the least. There were big articles about it yesterday online.

Here's some:

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2010-05-25-facebook25_ST_N.htm

http://www.examiner.com/x-19632-Salt-Lake-City-Headlines-Examiner~y2010m5d24-Facebook-CEO-Mark-Zuckerberg-admits-security-mistakes-and-promises-fixes?cid=channel-rss-News

That makes you want to have a face lift..

FB is an evil Big Brother system .. I created a new account last year to keep for personal use and before I even added a single friend FB suggested 3 non-immediate relatives that I had no clue were on facebook. It was a tad bit creepy. LOL

I just opened up an account about two weeks ago and it did kinda freak me out when I saw all the names of my relatives!!

But what puzzles me is that FB doesn't have my main email address, to which this spam was sent.  Well, they have in a way, because some people used it to invite me to their network (then I searched them and added them, but not clicking on the invitation link).  But with just an email address, never used in FB, how could they find other people I know, who are not related to me and some even live in another country?

Could Yahoo be the culprit?  Yahoo knows the email of people I communicate with, even if not in my address list (those in question are not in my address list).  I've never used that feature "Find People You Email" that has a connection with Yahoo.

I know there is a lot of problem with FB, but I tend to believe this is Yahoo, which is even more concerning.

And still people ask me why I don't have a FB account... 

Quote from: madelaide on May 26, 2010, 01:56But what puzzles me is that FB doesn't have my main email address, to which this spam was sent.

These sites and especially FB have a very sneaky way of doing it. If somebody on your (main) email signs up, FB asks if they want to invite more "friends". FB then asks their email password (for instance on Yahoo) and it explores everybody in their address book and even who sent them email. FB stores these addresses to build a network, and you might be amazed how many people there might be in there you'd rather avoid. FB just doesn't care about any privacy. They want your real name and it's almost impossible to cancel your account.

For Zuckerberg, the boss of FB, his users are "dumb f@cks". Here is a chat session of Zuckerberg with a friend, that asked him how he had so much info about his (then 4000) users. (source Business Insider - FB didn't deny the authenticity)

QuoteZuck: Yeah so if you ever need info about anyone at Harvard
Zuck: Just ask.
Zuck: I have over 4,000 emails, pictures, addresses, SMS
Vriend: What? How'd you manage that one?
Zuck: People just submitted it.
Zuck: I don't know why.
Zuck: They "trust me"
Zuck: Dumb f@cks.

10 Reasons To Delete Your Facebook Account (Business Insider)
Thanks to this article, I found the very well hidden link to delete my FB account, not just "deactivate" it.

Quote from: madelaide on May 26, 2010, 01:56
Could Yahoo be the culprit?  Yahoo knows the email of people I communicate with, even if not in my address list (those in question are not in my address list).  I've never used that feature "Find People You Email" that has a connection with Yahoo.

FB is viral marketing at its best. Every time you have a friend or friend of a friend, depending on how your privacy is set up, FB draws upon ALL those contacts, their emails, their fans, their friends, their groups, etc.

If you want to put the Facebook privacy policy into context: http://www.businessinsider.com/well-these-new-zuckerberg-ims-wont-help-facebooks-privacy-problems-2010-5

The bottom line is that publicly they "care" - but in reality their business model is all about using your personal details to sell advertising. This advertising is all the more valuable because they can target your individual preferences from information that you give them:

- all your friends
- all your interests
- how you interact with your friends
- what you talk to them about (ie. your messages)
- where you log in from (ie. your ip address)
- what sort of system you're using (eg. OSX, what browser, what screen)
- everywhere you've been logged in from
etc.

Lets face it facebook has more information about more people than any intelligence agency ever had.

To ge back to the OP's question, the spam emails aren't actually coming from facebook so they could target any email adress. They just use facebook's limited security to try to fool people into signing up with someone they don't know. I received a similar email as well. The delete button is your friend.

Regards,

John

Quote from: FD-amateur on May 26, 2010, 08:24

Quote from: madelaide on May 26, 2010, 01:56But what puzzles me is that FB doesn't have my main email address, to which this spam was sent.

These sites and especially FB have a very sneaky way of doing it. If somebody on your (main) email signs up, FB asks if they want to invite more "friends". FB then asks their email password (for instance on Yahoo) and it explores everybody in their address book and even who sent them email. FB stores these addresses to build a network, and you might be amazed how many people there might be in there you'd rather avoid. FB just doesn't care about any privacy. They want your real name and it's almost impossible to cancel your account.

For Zuckerberg, the boss of FB, his users are "dumb f@cks". Here is a chat session of Zuckerberg with a friend, that asked him how he had so much info about his (then 4000) users. (source Business Insider - FB didn't deny the authenticity)

QuoteZuck: Yeah so if you ever need info about anyone at Harvard
Zuck: Just ask.
Zuck: I have over 4,000 emails, pictures, addresses, SMS
Vriend: What? How'd you manage that one?
Zuck: People just submitted it.
Zuck: I don't know why.
Zuck: They "trust me"
Zuck: Dumb f@cks.

10 Reasons To Delete Your Facebook Account (Business Insider)
Thanks to this article, I found the very well hidden link to delete my FB account, not just "deactivate" it.

Very interesting reading but I found it ironic that at the bottom of the piece was an ad for facebook...

Quote from: FD-amateur on May 26, 2010, 08:24
If somebody on your (main) email signs up, FB asks if they want to invite more "friends". FB then asks their email password (for instance on Yahoo) and it explores everybody in their address book and even who sent them email.

I know that, but how can they search my friend A's address book and find that I have a friend B who is also at FB, if A and B do not know each other?

They use alien technology .. I saw it on the discovery channel. 

I just canned my FB account. What is really bad is you have to keep it in a deactivated state for 2 weeks before they actually delete it. Like you somehow need a cooling off period in case you really don't mean it. I had enough of watching some "friend" play Farmville.

Quote from: Zeus on May 26, 2010, 22:17
I just canned my FB account. What is really bad is you have to keep it in a deactivated state for 2 weeks before they actually delete it. Like you somehow need a cooling off period in case you really don't mean it. I had enough of watching some "friend" play Farmville.

So you didn't find the button to Block This Application, easier than closing your account? Just block Farmville, all invitations and notices disappear. Same for the rest of the games. One request from someone for you to join or sending you a gift, you just hit Block This Application, done deal.

Speaking of deactivated files that still are on a website, how about some stock agencies that seem to keep them forever? That's not just information, that we provided, by the way, but our images!

Answering the OP. FB doesn't know your other email address, one of your friends does and they typed it in the add a friend field or had their address book dumped into FaceBook. Not very smart!

Here's the message a new member gets. (with the email account name removed) So the hoaxer, scammer, Nigerian, dead rich relative, just has a big email list and adds a FB account, gets the new member link and sends the scam out via Friend Finder. It comes from FB and looks legit, but it's the same old garbage delivered in a different package.

Use the automatic Friend Finder for "[email protected]". Now it will be easier than ever to share and connect with your friends.
   
Use our Friend Finder to find your email contacts on Facebook
Find Friends
Thanks,
The Facebook Team

My least liked feature on FB is the invite friends to join "groupname" which most of the time turns out to be a hoax or some spam.

Quote from: Zeus on May 26, 2010, 22:17
I just canned my FB account. What is really bad is you have to keep it in a deactivated state for 2 weeks before they actually delete it. Like you somehow need a cooling off period in case you really don't mean it. I had enough of watching some "friend" play Farmville.

LOL yeah we have those apps blocked on all our FB accounts. They annoy the crap out of me. I have one personal FB account that I could live without but I'd die without the business ones.

Quote from: madelaide on May 26, 2010, 21:02I know that, but how can they search my friend A's address book and find that I have a friend B who is also at FB, if A and B do not know each other?

That's the sneaky part. You have to assume that when FB walks through the address book of a (new) subscriber, they keep the harvested email addresses, even if those people are not on FB. If someone else signs up, they'll do the same, saving the addresses of non-FB members. They don't use those for direct spam, but to construct networks that go beyond the FB members. That's why they are so amazing (they are!) in suggesting who you might know. Freaky...

I'm going to pull the plug on facebook too - seems about the right time: http://www.quitfacebookday.com/ May 31.

Planning on sending a message to everyone on my account to let them know, then going to go the full hog and delete on the 31st.

Quote from: Randy McKown on May 27, 2010, 04:41
LOL yeah we have those apps blocked on all our FB accounts. They annoy the crap out of me. I have one personal FB account that I could live without but I'd die without the business ones.

Question about the personal/business accounts. I first had a personal account. Then I wanted to created a Page for my cathyslife (business) stuff. The cathyslife page is tied to my personal account and personal friends. I never wanted it to be but couldn't find a way to separate the two. Meaning I don't necessarily want my family to be fans of my business site. Short of creating (and I think you have to pay for) an ad to bring in more fans, is there a way to have a separate business account?

Quote from: holgs on May 27, 2010, 10:23
I'm going to pull the plug on facebook too - seems about the right time: http://www.quitfacebookday.com/ May 31.

Planning on sending a message to everyone on my account to let them know, then going to go the full hog and delete on the 31st.

I'm a little disgusted with facebook myself, but not sure if I'm ready to quit.

I went to your link above and read the spiel, but this is what really annoys me. This site is asking for your email address and name, too. Which means they are gathering data and likely harvesting in some way! Which is just as bad as facebook! Even worse, there are no privacy controls on the quitfacebookday site, that I can see.

I decided to cancel my FB account few days ago, and now I will do it for real. There is no any privacy on FB (especially since last december). Now, everyone who send you a friend request can see all your pictures that other friends can see, as well as your friends photos.
FB became one big village where everyone knows everything about everyone, and I don't like it.
Once, some 8 months ago, some female model contacted me on gmail and asked if I can arrange a photo session with her. She found my email address on my website. But as she lives in UK, I explained her that I can't do it, and that was the only conversation  between us. But, 6 months after it, I saw a notification on FB saying: "People you may know"... and her name after it.
So, FB knows that her and I  exchanged one email 6 months before. For me, that is a reason to be concerned.
I will go right away to my account and cancel it.

Quote from: cclapper on May 27, 2010, 12:01

Quote from: holgs on May 27, 2010, 10:23
I'm going to pull the plug on facebook too - seems about the right time: http://www.quitfacebookday.com/ May 31.

Planning on sending a message to everyone on my account to let them know, then going to go the full hog and delete on the 31st.

I'm a little disgusted with facebook myself, but not sure if I'm ready to quit.

I went to your link above and read the spiel, but this is what really annoys me. This site is asking for your email address and name, too. Which means they are gathering data and likely harvesting in some way! Which is just as bad as facebook! Even worse, there are no privacy controls on the quitfacebookday site, that I can see.

Yeah that occurred to me too - very ironic really. Needless to say I didn't enter my details there. 

The problem with facebook is that its so addictive. One of the reasons I'm doing it is to try to force myself to communicate in more meaningful ways with a wider group of friends, not just those who are there.

I also don't like the idea of sites like this crawling your emails and messages with bots to generate advertising - I could be wrong but I think gmail does it too ... in a way its very creepy.

Go and deactivate....DELETE???...your account then sign back in and it will automatically reactivate just by you signing in. You can not delete it unless there is a button besides deactivate that I could not find. Try it and you will discover that it will reactivate it just by signing in, you don't have to go to your account setting to do it..it does it for you.

Quote from: donding on May 27, 2010, 16:22
Go and deactivate....DELETE???...your account then sign back in and it will automatically reactivate just by you signing in. You can not delete it unless there is a button besides deactivate that I could not find. Try it and you will discover that it will reactivate it just by signing in, you don't have to go to your account setting to do it..it does it for you.

https://ssl.facebook.com/help/contact.php?show_form=delete_account&__a=3