According to Facebook you are not allowed to read this post, so beware.

zom

Facebook Investigating How Bulgarian Man Bought 1.1 Million Users' Email Addresses For Five Dollars:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2012/10/25/facebook-investigating-how-bulgarian-man-bought-1-1-million-users-email-addresses-for-five-dollars/

http://talkweb.eu/

Think twice before you put any of your personal details on internet!!

MagicMarker

OMG, I'm going to have to move.

squod

According to facebook I look ten years younger than I am and I have a charming disposition and witty sense of humour.

EDDIE WATERS

Like this if you want cancer to be cured

Rosedust84

He looks like a stalker alright

BillyMitchel

Is there not a Facebook thread for this crap?

Pottler

"Bulgarian Man" - sounds innocent, sure them Bulgars are lovely. He probably just wants to send out "greetings from sunny Bulgaria" or somthing. Lucky it's not some country famous for having a huge Mafia or anything!!

jd007

Pottler wrote: »

"Bulgarian Man" - sounds innocent, sure them Bulgars are lovely. He probably just wants to send out "greetings from sunny Bulgaria" or somthing. Lucky it's not some country famous for having a huge Mafia or anything!!

thank fcuk it wasn't one of them nigerian princes.

Albedo0.39

What does "scraping " data mean?

Pottler

Albedo0.39 wrote: »

What does "scraping " data mean?

They take out all the copper and burn the rest, it makes good money in the far east. 3.50 a kilo, apparently.

af_thefragile

Well I closed my facebook account years ago and I haven't regretted that once!

batistuta9

Albedo0.39 wrote: »

What does "scraping " data mean?

using a program to take data (the email addresses in this case) off the webpage basically.

Tombi!

Well today I learned that the UK, Canada, America and Europe are all countries.
Thanks Forbes.

Albedo0.39

batistuta9 wrote: »

using a program to take data (the email addresses in this case) off the webpage basically.

Thanks.

MadsL

Brutal Deluxe wrote: »

Well today I learned that the UK, Canada, America and Europe are all countries.
Thanks Forbes.

According to the seller of the information, a Gigbucks user with the handle “mertem,” the data was collected from Facebook applications.”The information in this list has been collected through our Facebook apps and consists only of active Facebook users, mostly from the US, Canada, UK and Europe,” reads the Gigbucks post. “Whether you are offering a Facebook, Twitter, social media related or otherwise a general product or service, this list has a great potential for you.”

biko

meh

Tombi!

MadsL wrote: »

UK is in Europe; it's just another example of idiots thinking that Europe is a country and/or the UK is somehow not part of Europe.

mbur

Thanks OP. posts like that one make this god frsaken place worth the effort wonderful place even better. Its well to recognise that this story is just a marker for the incredible digital intrusion that is going on everywhere.

As we put personal information online, purchases, opinions, 'likes', whatever, the scope for misuse of that information is increasing beyond our wildest dreams.. On the internet, information is currency.

UCDVet

You can buy large quantities of all sorts of information - including bank information/credit card numbers - for a few bitcoin.

Spend an hour looking for it on private Tor nodes (or whatever they are called). It's disturbing what's out there.

OnTheCounter

If I knew where to buy that many active email address for $5 I would.

Apart from it being terrible PR from a company would there be any other issues facing a company who uses these email addresses considering how they were sourced?

batistuta9

OnTheCounter wrote: »

If I knew where to buy that many active email address for $5 I would.

Apart from it being terrible PR from a company would there be any other issues facing a company who uses these email addresses considering how they were sourced?

i'm not 100% sure, it probably depends on the jurisdiction you're in

though those email addr. seem to have been gotten by the apps people signed upto, so when using the app for the first time they may have agreed to let the app pass their data on to third parties or something similar (whether selling it's allowed by FB's T&C for having an app on the site i don't know)