Facebook denies Groups' hijack

SAN FRANCISCO, USA: A group of online activists, called Control Your Info (CYI), recently claimed that they have seized control of over 300 Facebook groups, even as Facebook claimed that no confidential information was exposed by the hijack drama.

The 'hacktivists said that they took control of the Facebook groups to expose how vulnerable is the social media.

“This is just one example that really shows the vulnerabilities of social media,” said the CYI blog. Though during the process they broke the terms of service, as defined in the Statement of Rights and Responsibilities of Facebook, the group justified its act saying that their intention was clear.

We discovered that many groups on Facebook are left without an administrator. All we needed to find these groups was one quick Google search. The search results also revealed many groups that already had been hijacked by various people. Their intentions remain unclear, said the blog (http://controlyour.info/blog/).

However, Facebook played down the incident saying that there was no hacking involved and there was no confidential information at risk.

“There has been no hijacking and there is no confidential information at risk,” it said in a statement. “The groups in question have been abandoned by their previous owners, which means any group member has the option to make themselves an administrator in order to continue communication to the group.”

Facebook said Group administrators have no access to private user information and group members can leave a group at any time.

“For small groups, administrators can simply edit a group name or info, moderate discussion and message group members. The names of large groups cannot be changed nor can anyone message all members,” the statement added.

However, the development once again points fingers towards the privacy factor with regards to such online platforms. And this naturally gives rise to the perennial question: How far can we go in opening up ourselves in the social media?

Do you think privacy is fast losing its meaning in today's world? Also do you justify such sting operations to expose the vulnerabilities of social media?