FACEBOOK CONSIDERS LEGAL ACTION AFTER DETAILS TAKEN FROM SITE

Facebook is considering legal action after the personal details of 100 million users were published and freely distributed on the internet, The Herald has reported.

The details were “scraped” by web security expert Ron Bowes to highlight how a change in Facebook’s privacy settings has left millions of people unaware that their information can be openly accessed.

The list, published on the website Pirate Bay, contains links to every name, profile and unique ID of those left exposed by the new privacy policy adopted by Facebook. By last night more than 1000 people had downloaded the file. Bowes used a simple code to collect the data, claiming his work highlighted privacy issues on the social networking site.

Facebook said the information was already available on the website but that it was investigating the methods used to collect and publish the material.

A spokesman said: “In this case, information that people have agreed to make public was collected by a single researcher. This information already exists in Google, Bing and other search engines, as well as on Facebook. No private data is available or has been compromised.”

In May, Facebook sought to improve privacy by introducing tailored security for every status update and picture left by users. But at the same time it added a default setting, meaning there was unlimited access to the material unless users chose override the preset.

Simon Davies from the watchdog, Privacy International said: “Facebook should have anticipated this attack and put measures in place to prevent it.”

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HOLYROOD CUTS WOULD BE ‘A BLOW TO VULNERABLE PEOPLE IN SCOTLAND’

Citizens Advice Scotland has said the budget cuts proposed today would represent a blow to the most vulnerable people in Scotland, and have called for the government to make clear they will protect vital services.

Acting CEO, Susan McPhee of CAS said:“People are already struggling to cope with the effects of the recession and many of the recent UK budget implications have just begun to sink in. These recent recommendations announced today by the budget review group will disproportionately further affect low income groups finances in Scotland.”

“CAS has seen evidence from citizen advice bureaux across Scotland which suggests suspending the final stage of abolition of prescription charges and a discontinuation of the council tax freeze would increase poverty and health inequalities for those on low incomes and some disabled groups in Scotland. This is a time when these groups need support more than ever”

“In addition, we have already seen that unemployment is still rising in Scotland. What these recommendations suggest is that we continue this trend by cutting up to 21,500 jobs from the Scottish public sector.

“The financial hardship this will place onto many families in Scotland is disastrous. As more and more people are made redundant, front line advice services such as citizens advice bureaux will bear the brunt. Citizen advice bureaux in Scotland are already coping with record numbers of people coming through their doors in the past twelve months.

“These proposals are severe and if implemented, they would represent a blow to the many people in Scotland. Ministers must make clear they will protect the most vital services that people depend on."

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AND FINALLY... HUNGER PROTESTER WINS CASE OVER BIG MAC CLAIMS

A protester who went on hunger strike outside parliament last year has won substantial libel damages over newspaper reports he had secretly eaten McDonald's burgers during his demonstration.

Articles in the Daily Mail and The Sun said Parameswaran Subramanyam had scoffed takeaways during his 23-day protest over the plight of Tamils caught up in Sri Lanka's civil war, after which he was treated in hospital for five days.

His lawyer Magnus Boyd told the High Court the claims struck at the heart of his integrity and undermined the action for which he became known and respected, the Press Association reported.

Subramanyam began his hunger strike as part of a large protest in central London in April 2009.
Six months later, the Mail and The Sun ran stories which claimed that specialist police monitoring equipment had caught him secretly eating burgers and that he had caused the police to waste a fortune in public money. Boyd said both papers now accepted the allegations were entirely false.

He said: "The claimant did not consume any food at all throughout his hunger strike. The Metropolitan Police superintendent who was in charge of the operation in Parliament Square confirmed that there was no police surveillance team using "specialist monitoring equipment' and that no video evidence existed."

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