But I'm also sort of an elitist about websites. I think the best places on the Internet are places that don't really appeal to the masses, because it serves as an automatic filter on the stupid. The more popular a site gets, the stupider the level of conservation on it, in general.

On MySpace, half the friend invites I get are from bikini clad chicks I don't know, trying to be the next Tila Tequila. I just delete them-if these girls really knew me, they would know they're barking up the wrong tree!

@sam-i-am: Yeah, but these people did start getting calls from debt collectors.

They probably could have tracked them down anyway but that doesn't mean you have to make it easy for them.

I'd be willing to bet that if I had your full name I could probably find your address too.

So what's the problem? There is no possible way you can keep your information under lock and key - with public databases, online footprints, insecure service providers, credit card companies, retail stores, whois, geneology records, search records, political donation records, etc. It's better to embrace the future and accept that your information is out there then to live in fear.

What do you honestly think is going to happen if someone has your address and phone number? The answer is the same thing that they're already doing, because the people who you don't want to have it already do.

@valthun: Same here. If I don't know someone, I don't accept their request. All of the people on my friends list are actual friends and family of mine.

Someone who I met ONE TIME kept sending me friend requests and I kept ignoring them; finally I blocked her. Why would you keep sending a friend request to the same person over and over--if they wanted to accept you as a friend, they would have done so the first time! *rant over*

I said "should be able to," not "should."

Anyone who really tries can find my name, address, phone number, previous residences, etc. Who cares? Ever since that information has been online I haven't had a single terrorist show up at my door to kill me.

@HFC: I don't put my email and phone number on FB, even for my friends, and I've got my profile information set so that there are plenty of things that even friends can't view. For things like Pet Society (online game), my friends from there can't view anything except a basic information page about me.

On the other hand, the oversharing tendency of idiots certainly helped me track down a fraudulent seller on eBay who posted her cell phone number to LiveJournal, so I say, let the idiots continue to be idiots. It helps the rest of us!

According to Vancouver law this is illegal regardless because:

Business Practices and Consumer Protection Act
[SBC 2004] CHAPTER 2

Part 7 - Debt Collection

Division 1 - Prohibited Debt Collection Practices

False or misleading information and misrepresentations

123 In collecting or attempting to collect payment of a debt, a collector must not

(a) supply any false or misleading information,

(b) misrepresent the purpose of a communication,

(c) misrepresent the identity of the collector or, if different, the creditor, or

(d) use, without lawful authority, a summons, notice, demand, or other document that suggests or implies a connection with any court inside or outside of Canada.

From [www.bclaws.ca]

"2:09pmJenny: your a photographer, not a reporter"

Someone want to contact the Justice Department?

Most call centre supervisors are at about this level. Trust me, I've dealt with them.

The managers of some call centres can have an equally poor grasp of the language, as well. Although, to be honest, mine didn't--instead they had a ridiculously poor grasp of both HR and employment law.

Call centres are the "McJob" of the tech industry.

These collection agencies will try anything and try to put a warm & cuddly spin on it .

I recently read an article about deceased relative debt and these agencies were contacting the relatives directly rather than going to the estate and they said they actually get people to send in money because they feel bad or guilty abour their deceased's unpaid bills .

Even the article said you are under no obligation to pay a deceased's relative debt unless it comes from the estate .

You can control what of your info is visible to who (everybody, friends, friends or friends, just you, etc).

@kylere: Mine, however, does. What may appear to be common sense to you and I may not even occur to the next guy. Besides, as long as a lesson was learned here, then it's all the same to me.

So what? I mean, the lender is entitled to be repaid. If it was my money I would do everything I could to collect also.

OOHH!!! Reply is back!! THANK YOU!!!! :D

@Ayarkay: Folks, sociopathic abusers are people who don't care that what they did hurt you. Everything is all about them, and honoring their friend request just makes it seem like what they did to you was OK. They victimized you once, and you're arguing about whether you should give them a chance to do it again. You think they want you as a friend? A proven victim, maybe. Idiots. Kick that trash to the curb already and get on with your life.

Finding out that the name is already taken for debt collection is probably the second biggest let down of my life (the first being that I'm not a time-traveling bounty hunter).

What an idiot.

I'm not on Facebook so I'm not sure how this works. Random people you don't even know can friend you? Do you have to approve it before they can see your page? If you do, and they are jerks, can you block them?

@korybing: If people in my high school who treated me like crap wanted to friend me, I probably wouldn't do it. I have no desire to talk to those people. Let them come up and apologize to me if I deign to attend a reunion.

They need to update FDCPA to include some of this kind of thing and increase the fines. I would love to see the fines coming out of the FTC rather than the courts.

Some of the people I have known who did collections and enjoyed it were really amoral deranged and slightly sociopathic. These are not people you want following you.

From the looks of that conversation I wouldn't be surprised if it actually was this Emily person hastily trying to cover her tracks with a "hack" story. I also wouldn't be surprised if she was legitimately hacked.

Stuff like this is why I don't use my real name online.

I went from having a couple of first names to piecing together the whole sordid mess in about two weeks. With what I found out I could probably land about 20 people in jail right now.

Beware of what your putting online, your stupid if you just put everything out there and let anyone see it.

True in many cases, but you're generalizing. If you're careful about who you add and who you share with, it can be a good tool.

Sorry to wade in with the depressing comment, but the world is a nasty place. Anyone who goes through the trouble to unilaterally establish contact with you is looking to get (or take) something FROM YOU. Be it a warm feeling of satisfaction, or all the money in your bank account, they want something. You come second.

I don't think it's a problem because 1) my profile is set to private, and 2) many of the people whom I've added (I'd say about 95%) would have ready access to that information whether or not I posted it there. I'm choosy about ho I accept as a facebook friend, but once I do, I consider them just that and don't see the point in hiding much.

I will say Not-Emily is worse, though. /shudder.

As to whether Facebook supports a lower intelligence curve - probably, as its main demographic is teenagers. A lot of older folks are starting to join,though and if you use it solely to have some fun and talk to people you don't see anymore, it's not so harmful.

Just, yeah, don't accept random friend-vites from hot chicks. Even if you aren't in collections.

@LabCoatWanting_GitEmSteveDave: To me it sounds like someone who got drunk and decided it would be fun to tell all of those people how they'd been scammed. This last bit was fiction she attempted to use to cover for it.

And no, I'm not an attorney, just a daily consumerist follower.

@Christie Porter:

Not that I agree with mangelo, but a study shows that college students with facebooks tend to get .5 to 1.0 GPA below those without, so while he may just be trolling there was a bit of truth to it.

[www.time.com]

@pecan 3.14159265

Another thing that concerns me are those third party Facebook applications. Who knows what those applications designers who have access to your information are using it for.

@Jim Topoleski: I'm with you. Clicking a few buttons on a social networking site isn't going to make up for asshattery in the past.
I recently got a request from one such classmate who now listed her religion as "karma". Right. Hope that's working out well for her, considering what a shebeast she was in high school.

2) That's pretty much a no-brainer. You only want to add people you're friends with on any social networking site. Skiptracers and anyone that may be out for your contact info simply needs to add you as a friend. Not only that, but there are Facebook apps that people will add for their cuteness, but they're actually designed to harvest contact info from your page and your friends' pages.

Agreed. People are sharing way too much on these sites.

Could be an ex-boyfriend (ex-girlfriend?) as well.

1 - This definitely violates Facebook's TOS. Providing false information. Doing "misleading" things. Probably some other things, too.

2 - I'm not sure about Canada, but this sounds like it might violate some debt collection laws. Can anyone confirm this?

I've rejected a few that way.

It's not foolproof and there are a few people I don't know well on my friends list, but at least I know why they added me.

@Christie Porter: That's a reference to Jenny's grammar (or lack thereof).

Needless to say no one on my friends list ever treated me like dirt.

A. Someone she tracked/traced, or
B. A co-worker who was pissed that Emily was pulling in such good numbers, and Emily was stupid enough to enable stored passwords on her browser, and this idiot shoulder surfed her password, and waited for a day for Emily to be off, and pulled this.

What about that is 'lower intelligence?' You're painting with far too broad a brush.

You don't make any sense. How could facebook be for 'lower intelligence' because of this article?. I know you had 4 friends, 1 of which was your mom, when you had an account... but really don't be bitter about it. I don't know how a social networking site could possibly be for stupid people, you don't have to act like an idiot just because it's FB. I know a lot of people do, but your post just seems completely unwarranted and random.

I'm like, "How is this even a question, of course you don't!" But this other guy says that she should because maybe he wants to apologize and it's not like he can hurt her through Facebook. Completely ridiculous.

But if you don't fear skip tracers, keep befriending random cute chicks.

My sympathy does not apply to people this dumb.

(yes yes the irony of this post is not lost on me)

As for this being a skip trace thing, WOW. How much information do you people put online? I guess I am lucky that I have dual online ID's, and there is really no easy way for someone to track my online identity to my true one. I also don't friend every person who friends me on any service, especially if I don't know them.

Well, I guess #2 is kind of mentioned at the end. But the tone of the article assumes everything you've been told about Jenny is true.

and C: well, I dunno. It's fun to play games on the intertubes, but it's more fun to keep yourself safe.

How come this isn't a story about how 1) your Facebook account can get hacked, or 2) you may not want to friend people you don't know (even if she's cute) if you have personal information on your Facebook account?

your = their