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Italian Facebook users not amused to be Berlusconi's 'fans'
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by Susan Marie Kovalinsky | December 16, 2009 at 08:29 am
326 views | 50 Recommendations | 12 comments
FANS OF THE ITALIAN PRIME MINISTER - NOT!
In a move straight out of Guliano Mignini's play book, someone in Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's camp decided to make hundreds of thousands of Italian Facebook users his #1 fans overnight:
The Facebook users were not amused, and some stated it was a form of 'identity theft'.
Hundreds of thousands of Italian Facebook users woke up yesterday to discover that they had become friends of Silvio Berlusconi.The Italian blogosphere was seething with anger as surfers who had joined groups expressing solidarity with earthquake victims found themselves hijacked en masse to sites such as “We support Berlusconi” and “Thank you Silvio”.
Facebook Italia was inundated with protests after prominent Italian left-wingers whose names had been misused in a new “Soldarity with Silvio” site complained to Francesco Pizzetti, the privacy ombudsman. The Prime Minister’s alleged new fans included Giovanna Melandri, a former centre-left Culture Minister, and Stefano Pedica, a senator with the centre-left Italy of Values party.
Marco Sodano, a journalist who was also among the victims, said the ruse amounted to “identity theft”, but the perpetrators were unknown.
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (12)
at 09:14 on December 16th, 2009
Amazing Mignini Berlusconi now. Where did that come from? I guess those people didn't want to be Berlusconi's fans. Good thing Silvio was still in hospital.
at 09:23 on December 16th, 2009
Well, it was Mignini-like, to force fan status on them! ; )
at 10:22 on December 16th, 2009
Most likely a couple of 17 year old's pranking people. Geeks tend to suffer from terminal humoroids......too much monitor time. ; )
at 09:50 on December 16th, 2009
I don't know how facebooks operate, but this seems like an invasion of privacy. It would be similar to having addresses added to your email contact list without your persmission or having your email routed to hackers before going to its destination.
The Italians have a right to be upset at this new form of theft as guarding oneself in the 21st century becomes ever more difficult.
at 09:56 on December 16th, 2009
I agree you have to be careful with those Mignini-Like people. Has anybody ever wondered, why you get every charity invading your mail once you give to one? Same thing, just not on facebook, its your mailing address being shared.
It has to do with Dasein.
at 09:58 on December 16th, 2009
Sure, Pocci, this is what Heidegger warned of! ; ) but yes, I have had my email invaded all the time...
at 10:05 on December 16th, 2009
I was talking about Canada Post Mail. I'm not sure if it's true of the US Mail.
at 10:09 on December 16th, 2009
oooh....grrrrrrrr >:|
at 10:29 on December 16th, 2009
And, A, yes, it does seem like an invasion of privacy. And internet privacy indeed becomes ever something which needs watching and protection.....
at 12:46 on December 16th, 2009
If one group can just clone another group's fan list, then that would be a massive security bug.
at 14:05 on December 16th, 2009
Imagine finding your a fan of Bin Laden or even George Bush, face book has to protect its members from this sort of hacking.
at 11:23 on December 17th, 2009
BF is right on, & this is one of the reasons I have not joined face book, nor will I.