Wednesday, December 01, 2010

Disabled by the Facebook virus

I was recently disabled by Facebook. No reason given and no way to contact them except through their Q&A, then email.

I followed the instructions, but was informed I had a fake account and was permanently barred with no appeal.

Because I don’t take “no” for an answer, I immediately opened another Facebook account with a different email address, a placeholder account. (I later learned this is typical of teenagers: one for friends, another for family.)

The situation was frustrating, annoying and time-consuming. Was someone targeting me? Or, worse, was someone trying to steal my identity?

A few days later, I learned of the virus that targeted women—and asked them to send a copy of a government-issued I.D. to prove who they were to a “Facebook” customer support site.

Even though I got my account back, I couldn’t help questioning what was going on. How many women had given vital information about themselves to a hacker, an identity thief or worse?

Executives at Facebook said only a “small percentage” of its 500 million users were targeted, but even one percent could have been 5 million women.

Don’t get me wrong. I love connecting with the real world through the virtual one. Because I created a network of bird guides worldwide through Facebook, I not only enjoy stunning photographs daily, I know where my next big bird-watching trip will be.

Even before this latest virus, Facebook and other gargantuan social networking sites were becoming the domain of spammers, viruses and malware.

Now we have a virus that disables accounts and asks for personal identification. As far as I know, there has been no explanation of who received the identification papers. Facebook or someone else?

Ironically enough, Facebook executives announced they were creating a platform for email, etc. on the same day they had to admit there was a virus. Given the timing, perhaps Facebook itself was the target.

Being disabled from virtual friends for a few days was bad enough and cut off from the Dell Richards Publicity page for a few hours was unnerving.

But being cut off from email by a virus—with no way to phone customer support and get it fixed immediately—is my worst nightmare.

For more information, contact Dell Richards Publicity at 916. 455.4790 or visit our website at www.dellrichards.com