Facebook Is Building Shadow Profiles of Non-Users

I've posted here before that I'd rather gouge out my eyeball with a rusty spoon than use Facebook...and I almost meant it. Now I may not have a choice. Seems like the sneaky folks over at Stalkbook are collecting information on the handful of us who still care about privacy. Adjust your strategies accordingly.

A Slashdot reader informs us:

One complaint that has failed to draw much scrutiny regards Facebook's creation of Shadow Profiles. 'This is done by different functions that encourage users to hand personal data of other users and non-users to Facebook... (e.g. synchronizing mobile phones, importing personal data from e-mail providers, importing personal information from instant messaging services, sending invitations to friends or saving search queries when users search for other people on facebook.com). This means that even if you don't use it, you may already have a profile on Facebook...

More info plus further links at the link above.

Great find, and thanks for posting this!



It seems wise to consider all your digital activities public, so you have nothing to fear.

Be yourself. It is not a crime, despite what we are encouraged to feel.

reply to post by Copperflower

exactly, nothing to hide= no worries.

I just wish I made a cut off the info they sell to companies

This means that even if you don't use it, you may already have a profile on Facebook...

Oh my... that is repulsive to think about...
It makes me remember about the time I looked myself up on google and saw that I had a mylife page with a few tidbits of my personal info, even though I had never visited the site before....

This is why I have Facebook completely blocked (scripts,cookies,tackers,etc) , They do too much data miner, and sell their users info to almost any willing buyer

how is this any different then the many other social networks that do this? who cares...

reply to post by dc4lifeskater


Because when you have a corporation data mining all your private info, that's kinda personal and should be dealt with, unless of course you don't care about identity thief..oh and i'm not bashing you, but DC has sucked ever since Ken Block sold it off.

reply to post by Nobama


Blasphemer! DC will forever rule this planet

reply to post by dc4lifeskater


lol well they have Danny Way, so they probably could.

reply to post by Nobama


That won't prevent a "profile" being built of you however. The information facebook is using for these profiles is taken from things OTHER people post/search on facebook... tagging your name to a photo/location, mentioning you in a status update, for one reason or another posting your phone number or e-mail address, searching for you by the common aliases you use online etc.

For those that spout the tired old "If you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear" routine. Let's try this on for size. I'm a criminal/con-man, and I need to create a fake ID to commit me some fraud....

I go onto facebook, pick a random person and now I have one of the online user id's that they are known by. I also have the city they live in, their birthdate, which school(s) they went to (if you put your education info on there), where you work (if you put it on there...which you would. Nothing to hide remember?), maybe even a phone number and an email address. So know I look at all the persons friends, see if they've mentioned anything about you. Oh look, it seems that you play Hockey with your buddy every Thursday night. So now I know what city you live in and can reasonably assume you aren't home on Thursday nights (useful if I wanted to find a home to rob). Well look at that, someone uploaded a photo and tagged you in it, saying you drove them to some place. They also didn't blank out the number plates.. now I've got your city, birthdate, registration number, e-mail address, phone number and online alias.

At this point, I could probably start hitting up google to see if I can get anymore juicy information by searching for anywhere your email address, online alias, phone number etc are posted. Hmm interesting, seems you've registered on an internet forum with the same e-mail address, and your real name. So now I have a name and city, I can hit up a phone book, generate a shortlist of potential residential addresses and do a bit of old fashioned surveillance to see which one is your house.

Now that I know where you live, I just need to keep an eye on your letterbox, see if any juicy social security letters/bank statements/tax returns come in. Given enough time, I now have enough to "steal" your identity. Your name, birthdate, address, and any (or all) of the following - social security number, bank account details, tax file number. I know if you are married or have kids based on the fact that the photos you are tagged in always have the same kids or woman next to you.

I may even strike it lucky and find that you had a new credit card and/or PIN sent to you in the mail. To be honest I don't really care about your money (but I'll take it if I can). What i'm interested in is getting enough info to buy a nice new property under your name. You get the repossession notices, I get a nice house to live in for a while. For the first few months, I'll just lead the bank on, see how long I can avoid them sending me a nasty letter or trying to turn up at your door. But...eventually the Bank comes knocking and asks for their money. You swear till you're blue in the face you didn't buy the home, so they promptly start court proceedings. I mean, why should they beleive you? It's your exact name on the mortgage, it's your address, your contact number, your dob, your bank details, and they have all the documentation submitted during the mortgage application showing that yes, it was indeed you who took out the loan. So...what real would the bank have of taking your word for granted? It just looks like you're trying to weasel your way out of debt you can't afford to pay back. The identity thieves that do this sort of thing know exactly when to abandon the home before "the heat" turns up. Meanwhile you're left with a destroyed credit rating and long, painful legal battle to clear your name.

Note that at this stage I've only need three websites to obtain enough info to rob your home when you are out, or steal your identity and do whatever the hell I want to do with it. Imagine how much more information I'd have if I hit up LinkedIn, Hi5, Bebo, maybe checkout youtube just in case...I'm sure there's a TON of other online sources true hackers/criminals could use to get more information about you. It might sound a bit far-fetched, but this exact sort of thing has happened in the past and will happen again in the future. The more careful you are able what information you make publically available, the better your chances are of avoiding having your identity stolen or bank accounts cleaned out.

It's too much. We Americans deserve the right to privacy and must demand it. We can not let multi-billion dollar company's invade us to the point of making non-users "shadows" or puppets for they're profit. We are definitely living in an Orwellian society.

It's not right. Where do we start in demanding back our privacy rights? That is a legitimate question I am asking anyone whom can answer it.

Originally posted by brilab45
It's not right. Where do we start in demanding back our privacy rights? That is a legitimate question I am asking anyone whom can answer it.

There is a glut of out-of-work or low-paid laywers who have graduated from law school in the past few years and don't have enough work. I am willing to bet at least a few of them would be willing to work pro-bono on a class action suit.

Laywers are often seen as an annoyance by the rest of us, and with good reason, but the law is a tool and like any other tool it can be weilded to good or ill effect. I'm starting to think that class action suits might be the answer to a lot of the outrages which have been perpetrated on us by big corporations and government alike. Think about the ridiculous lawsuits that end up making the plaintiffs millions of dollars. Now imagine something truly menacing, like this, backed up with a groundswell of popular support.

It's one idea, anyway...