Facebook Privacy Invasion?

I got this message on facebook the other day:

Hey all, just passing along an important piece of information that I received today. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for everything they’ve done to help this cause. It is the grassroots efforts of people like you that effect change in the world!

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There have been rumours that UNB RL&CS staff have begun looking through facebook in an attempt to gain information about students living in residence. If this is true, and I’m not saying it is, it could constitute a dangerous invasion of privacy.

Be aware that posts you make on public forums may be viewed by anyone. Posts you make on “the wall” of any group will be invisible to those you have chosen to BLOCK under your “My Privacy” settings, though you should be aware that there is always the possibility that bogus accounts can be created… please be cautious about what you post, including pictures and written content.

What follows is a partial list of UNB RL&CS administrators who currently have accounts with FaceBook: James Brown, Erin J. Lee, Matt Robinson, Kelly Peck, Alex Peck, Michelle Graves, Nick Ouellette. Keep in mind, there is no concrete evidence to suggest wrongdoing, though I encourage you to think, for yourself, whether you would be well served to re-configure security settings on your personal facebook account.

ALSO… there have been hack attempts on at least one person’s FaceBook account that has spoken against RL&CS. There is an option, as well, to HIDE your email address. I would advise you to do this immediately, as you will be able to give other contact information to friends & family via private message. Your current UNB email account, as well, can be potentially viewed by members of UNB administration. My solution, and advice to you, is that if you are concerned about hacking, change your email address connected to FaceBook to an alternate email, such a web-based, private email provider such as hotmail. This will ensure that UNB has no access to your personal information.

In conclusion, be careful about what you post on public forums ANYWAY because you never know who is going to see.

Thoughts? Personally I think if you put it on a public website for all to see, UNB has the right to look through it. It is public after all. I locked down my profile so that only my friends can see it basically.

Prodigy

ZDLSharp

Well I have a pretty free weekend, so I plan to work on ZDLSharp. I have some new ideas I can put into it to make it work a bit better.

I’m also thinking of redesigning the interface. The old one is optimized for space, not for usability.

And also my factor program should be posted tommorow too. I made a lot of optimizations, so it factors really quickly.

Award Winning Programmer

Well I just won another programming competition. This time it was at my university. The last one I was in was at the high school level (story). I can in first over the second and third year students.

Also I’m going to add a small utility to my website in a little bit. I designed it to do some of my homework for me (long and tedious and error-prone calculator usage). It takes a number, and factors it in terms of powers to a prime multipled together.

For example: 23213525

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-Starting Factoring... -
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(5^2)*
(257^1)*
(3613^1)*
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-Finished Factoring... -
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I’m Back!

It’s been a really busy time for me. I’ve had to put off a lot of personal work, like ZDLSharp and VASM. I’m entering the last phase of my first year a university.

A couple new things. One is that I wont he UNB undergraduate programming competition, as the only first year there, I beat the 2nd and 3rds.

I’m sorry for leaving this blog dead. I’ve been busy and have been stumped for things to write.

And lastly, I can’t let people comment without registering. My host won’t let me use any sort of anti-spam solutions, so I’m dead in the water. Sometimes the host’s filters prevent me from moderating my own posts, which is a bit of a problem. But PLEASE register if you have something to tell me, or my articles have helped, or you have any questions.