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UAE users wary after Facebook data leak

DUBAI — Facebook users in the UAE have raised concerns after a private security consultant published the personal details of 100 million users last week. The latest controversy is a big blow to the already failing reputation of Facebook’s privacy settings.

Maria Adnan, a university student who uses Facebook regularly to share photos and keep in touch with family and friends says, “I am particularly concerned about the security settings on Facebook. When I joined Facebook I knew what I was getting into, and what could happen. That’s why I took precautions.”

“I limit my friend list only to people I know very well, and make use of the privacy options available,” she adds with a hint of suspicion. “I guess, there is always a ‘what if’ going on in my mind!”

Awareness about social media has been low and users often fail to realise the importance of changing default settings. “People need to understand that there are people out there who can use this information against them,” says Maria. “Having an open profile can be dangerous.”

User privacy has remained top priority for the creators of Facebook, but critics of the social networking site have voiced their concerns over the complicated privacy settings.

Asma Bahassan, a senior marketing and communications manager, says, “I started using Facebook when it was unheard of, and being able to remain connected with old and new friends was a big thing.” But then, Asma was quick to deactivate her account. “I realised that even when you set your privacy settings, they would change unknowingly.” Last week, Ron Bowles, a security consultant, compiled a list of the users by using a piece of code to scan Facebook profiles, and collect data not hidden by the user’s privacy settings. Available publicly on Pirate Bay, the list was distributed and downloaded by more than 1,000 users, as it started spreading rapidly across the net.

Facebook issued a statement saying the information on the list was already freely available online. “People who use Facebook own their information and have the right to share only what they want, with whom they want, and when they want,” said BBC quoting the statement. “In this case, information that people have agreed to make public was collected by a single researcher and it already exists in Google, Bing, other search engines, as well as on Facebook. “No private data is available or has been compromised,” the statement said.

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• UAE