When identity thieves targeted beloved open courseware teachers, Facebook sided with the crooks, and Facebook helped the con artists get away with it

boing
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Of course not, letting Facebook or any other corporation experience consequences would be Socialism

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Am I smug? Yeah, I’ll agree that that’s true.

Has my real identity ever been hijacked on the Web? No.

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I am disappoint too. I thought we were discussing yummy catfish recipes. Instead, THIS carp, I mean crap.

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It’s like banana threads, but with little dogs!

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I think the best antidote for identity fishing is bullshit. Feed the world your bullshit. They’ll either eat it up or find someone juicier and meatier to exploit. Oh and privacy settings. Don’t forget those! Unless you absolutely must host a public site.

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It’s almost as if Facebook were a corrosive influence on life, and nobody should use it…

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I wish I could give this more than one like.

Recently I re-joined FB, kicking and screaming, because a group I needed to use for a conference was on it. It says everywhere I could put out that I don’t use FB, with links to my blog. Likewise, in my blog about page, it says I don’t use FB.

It’s always interesting talking to people about FB – mostly people use it because “everyone” is on it, and because they have too much media uploaded to switch. But no-one perks up and says they actually like it anymore.

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So make a dummy FB profile that links to your real on-line presence. And explain in the About section why you did that.

Hell, it might even make it easier to find roommates.

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I have a single credit card which I use for online purchases (and nothing else). It’s a Visa business card, which I think has the best identity protection. I do -no- banking on the internet, and plan never to do so. (I write checks).

All my other web activities are done using nyms, except my personal e-mail account, which I use only with family and close friends.

Everything I do online is through a VPN, with a couple of different layers of tracker protection.

So have I “sworn off the internet”? No. I’ve just sworn off using the internet in a careless manner.

(Edit: Novium, there are in excess of 3 x 10^8 USA residents who have never had a need to rent an apartment in San Francisco. This is probably not the best example of “Facebook as a necessity of life on a par with air, food, and water”.)

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Don’t forget to always keep it pointed in a safe direction.

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I’m similar, but I use my credit card to withdraw cash from bank machines, and do all my transactions in cash - except online transactions, for which I use paypal. If somebody doesn’t accept cash or paypal, then they must not need my business. No big deal, I can live without whatever they are selling.

But my spouse has all kinds of fancy financial instruments and social media and stuff so I’m really living in a protected little bubble. If I ever start bragging about not being on FB or using credit cards, it’ll be like Thoreau bragging about how he’s living a life of rough simplicity on Walden pond, while his mom does his laundry, his aunt pays his poll tax, and Emerson’s wife is making up meals for him.

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So, someone has stolen your identity in order to post here? And then, told us what they have done while still pretending to be you? That’s sounds rather dissociative.

Ummmm… who am I talking to now?

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My evil twin, of course.

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