Facebook and the mystery of the reactivated accounts

Reports are coming in of facebook users suddenly finding their friend counts doubling and even trebling overnight with no associated notifications, so what is going on? Well, there are a couple of possibilities here, and as yet no-one is sure which is the most likely, or indeed, the most scary. I think most people already know that when you deactivate your facebook account it isn't deleted from facebooks servers. You know this because you have the option to re-activate it, something you couldn't do if it was truly deleted. So, there are all these dormant accounts sat there, with access to all sorts of data and all sorts of friendship networks....wouldn't having access to those make quite a juicy prize? For a marketing company, say? Or a government organisation? Well, lets get hypothetical here just for a minute. Lets say that you were a senior facebook insider and you were watching your share price tank. Now lets say that someone came along and said “We can make this problem go away if you do a little something for us”, and lets suppose that that little something was granting access to deactivated facebook accounts and all the goodies that come with them.....

Scary stuff huh? Well, it gets worse. By granting access to deactivated accounts, not only has the group involved got access to personal data on that account but it has also got an opportunity to probe deeper into the friendship networks and groups associated with that account. Don't believe that this could happen? Let me tell you a little story. Once upon a time there was a company called Zynga, and its shares were doing badly, and it had a little game called Castleville. Now Zynga relied for its income on creating quests in the game that people had to wait ages to complete with requests to friends, or could get a head start by paying to complete. Now some players decided to set up facebook groups to organise “gifting” groups so people wouldn't have to pay Zynga. Zynga weren't happy about this, and shortly thereafter some of these groups started getting requests to join from people that no-one in the group knew. Odd, they thought, and odd it was, as those groups that accepted these new members found themselves reported to facebook and closed down....coincidence? Really?

It gets worse than that though. Under new UK, and shortly, US legislation, your facebook account will be admissible as evidence in court. Now that really is scary! Have you ever posted anything about work? Or about that social group you go to? Or maybe about dope? Or getting drunk? Maybe you want to think about having a bit of a check on your account and having a tidy up? I would if I were you! After all, walls have ears, even your facebook wall!