People who played with FaceBook and got burnt

Posted on February 29th, 2008 by Richard Catto 2,369 views

Back in Dec 2007, I wrote about a blogger on Thought Leader who created a fake FaceBook profile for Thabo Mbeki, which contravenes FaceBook’s Terms and Conditions. IOL reported, at the time, that President Thabo Mbeki’s office was referring the matter of fake FaceBook profiles (which impersonated him) to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA). Naturally, this threat was not taken seriously by either Thought Leader, the blogger in question or many of my readers.

However, although South African authorities have failed to make good their threats, Morocco has taken action against a fake FaceBook profile creator.

Fouad Mourtada, a Moroccan citizen has recently been jailed for three years for creating a fake FaceBook profile of Moroccan Prince Moulay Rachid. FaceBook has denied assisting Moroccan authorities in this matter. This judgement has sent ripples of alarm through the Moroccan Blogosphere and caused at least one Moroccan blogger to stop blogging altogether, out of fear that other forms of online activities might invite unwanted attention from the authorities.

Unsurprisingly, the sentence handed down to Mourtada has been condemned as excessively harsh by many. Nevertheless, he remains incarcerated whilst his supporters scramble to rally international pressure for his release.

Mourtada played with FaceBook and got burnt. But he is not the only one.

More recently a British policeman, Inspector Chris Dreyfus (30), British Transport Police’s head of royalty and government protection, had his promotion to Chief Inspector denied after his superiors had a look at his FaceBook profile which includes details of his gay lifestyle.

Dreyfus also played with FaceBook and got burnt. Are you next?

It could be that more and more people are becoming aware of the dangers that FaceBook poses to themselves because people are logging off. El Reg reports that FaceBook traffic amongst UK users is down 5%. I know of more than one local blogger who has recently opted out of FaceBook over privacy concerns.

The Canadian military is also concerned that insurgents in Iraq could use FaceBook to gain intelligence about their soldiers deployed there, and has cautioned personnel not to post personal information on their FaceBook profiles.

So, are you worried yet or do you reckon your titanium armour will hold off all comers?

Tags: Chris Dreyfus, facebook, Fouad Mourtada, Thabo Mbeki, Thought Leader
Filed under facebook |

10 Responses to “People who played with FaceBook and got burnt”

1. Henry Says:
   February 29th, 2008 at 12:13

   Hey Richard… did you notice that your website as google pagerank 4 now? well done!

2. Chris M Says:
   February 29th, 2008 at 12:31

   Great article Richard, I love nothing more than reading an article which has been accurately and correctly written.

   I’ve always enjoyed Facebook, and used it in so many different ways, but I’ve started to see how it completely exploits all of us! On top of this, I’ve heard several upsetting stories as well as a personal experience which just made me realise it’s not worth it anymore.

   Hope to see some other peoples views here!

3. Richard Catto Says:
   February 29th, 2008 at 12:34

   Wow! Thanks, Henry. I hadn’t noticed it actually. Thanks for pointing it out.

4. Richard Catto Says:
   February 29th, 2008 at 13:01

   Thanks, Chris. I get a lot out of reading your blog too.

5. Chris M Says:
   February 29th, 2008 at 13:05

   I’m glad to hear

6. William Says:
   February 29th, 2008 at 15:46

   Agreed, Richard. There is much room for abuse and a lot of opportunity for people to perhaps go a bit over the top, as well as over-reaction by co-workers, managers and general wankers. There have been several cases here in the States of people’s blogs, MySpace or Facebook profiles affecting them career-wise or legally. I recently advised a friend who is in the middle of custody battle to take down the MySpace profile she has with cannabis leaves featured…you can bet her ex would exploit that to show a jury she is an “unfit mother” (she buys her dope, by the way, from her ex, but he isn’t naive enough to post that to his blog or social networking site).

   William’s last blog post..the ronin resigns

7. arnold Says:
   February 29th, 2008 at 20:50

   Firstly, congrats on the PR.

   I have often wondered if some of the nonsense the younger guys write on Facebook could come back to bite them. In say 10 years, these same guys could be applying for senior posts and this stuff will still be floating around the Net.

   arnold’s last blog post..Recipro-Drops

8. Mr. Polite Says:
   March 1st, 2008 at 07:43

   Facebook isn’t itself a danger. Like any tool its the user who determines its usefulness or danger.

   Mr. Polite’s last blog post..Our First Contest – 1000EC and $100 Giveaway

9. Marko Says:
   March 2nd, 2008 at 19:03

   I always advise friends who are on facebook to review their privacy settings as many people’s profiles are visible to the entire Internet.

10. xHydra Says:
    May 20th, 2008 at 13:14

    people must always be careful bout what they do on the internet.

    xHydra’s last blog post..Most Popular Websites in South Africa

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