Social Engineering, Ethics, and Why You Should Never Put Anything Online That You Don't Want Others To See
Okay, now here's an example of how people will take information you've given them, under false pretenses, just because they can, and post it for the world to see, with no regrets about how it hurts other people.
This 32 year-old-man, Jason Fortuny, pretended to be a "hot woman looking for sex with no strings attached" on Craigslist, and people, looking for love in all the wrong places, from a "hot, kinky professional woman," not only replied, they also sent this fraudster their photos and other explicit details.
Should they have sent such information? Of course not! But let's focus now on the actions of the callous cad who did this experiment just for fun.
The man who posted the deceptive ad reportedly did so just to see what kind of responses he would get. He then posted all the 150+ responses...including email addresses, messages and photos...on his blog.
He did it for "curiosity."
He's now being sued for $75,000+ for copyright infringement and invasion of privacy.
He calls the lawsuit frivolous and does not regret doing anything that he's done.
"The consequences on other people is a great conversation," he told the reporter after saying he had no regrets.
He says he does not regret and does not empathize with any of the people whose messages and photos he posted.
Whoa!
Talk about the Internet desensitizing people, and making them completely uncaring about how their actions impact those of others they just view in the digital universe.
He presented himself as something he was not, tricked people into giving him sensitive and explicit information, then he posted that information just to have something to have a conversation about. Completely unfeeling.
Does this guy even have an ethical or moral compass? Listen to him in the news story and judge for yourself.
Also a classic social engineering trick.
You can use this as an example of:
1) How social engineers can easily trick people into giving out sensitive personal information,
2) How there are many people who, desensitized by the feeling of anonymity they get from using the Internet, will do bad things to gullible others without caring about the consequences to them, and
3) How no one should ever post any information to the Internet that they would not want the whole world to see.
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Comments
Good analysis, Rebecca!
The only thing I'd add is to mention the difference - if there is one - between "posting" which usually has the connotation of being a public comment (like this one), and "replying" or "sending" what you think will be treated as a private message. This was a case that had an expectation of privacy. But in Web 2.0, who's responsible for the privacy policy of a person posting to a forum who may receive directed replies?
In fact, anybody to whom you send a private email - or even a paper letter - could do the same kind of thing to you. It just depends on what kind of relationship you have with them, as to whether you expect them to respect your privacy and feelings.
So, I think the key point I'd make is, don't send messages of any kind to people or websites when there is no basis for trust established in the relationship.
Posted by: Scott Wright | August 7, 2008 11:59 PM
Thanks for your comment, Scott!
Yes, it is important for people to understand that whenever you send information of any kind, including emails or postings to social networking sites, to anyone, in any way, you have basically lost all control over it, and it may be used in ways not intended!
What goes onto the Internet stays on the Internet...often to the chagrine of those who sent it there in the first place.
Rebecca
Posted by: Rebecca | August 14, 2008 11:50 AM
Thanks for your comment, Scott! Great thoughts.
Yes, no matter how someone puts information out on the Internet, or for what purpose, he or he should expect that it may, somehow, be shared with others. I have also seen many instances where recipients who were trusted then forwarded a message to others, or even posted it on a site somewhere, in ways that embarrassed or even harmed in some way, the original sender.
In the digital world, even with trust, individuals may do things mistakenly or without thinking that results in, what someone thought would be a private message, a message or information becoming public.
Rebecca
Posted by: Rebecca Herold
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August 24, 2008 12:01 PM