Facebook's New Privacy Controls Fall Flat

You'll recall that Facebook recently ratcheted up their privacy controls. Apparently they didn't ratchet them tight enough.

Since last week's announcement, Vancouver computer technician Byron Ng has been trying to hack past the privacy controls. Why he was doing this, I'm not sure. I am pretty sure it was for altruistic reasons, since as soon as he discovered the hack, he revealed it to AP, who verified the hack themselves.

Additionally, after being tipped to the security hole on Monday afternoon, Facebook closed the hole - within an hour. It is unclear if the security hole that was closed was this one, which apparently has been known for weeks around the Web, but unfixed seemingly until yesterday. If so, that would tend to indicate a less-than-swift response, at least until things were highly publicized.

You'll recall that Facebook's new privacy settings allowed users to restrict information to specific classifications of users they set up.

• Everyone on Facebook
• Friends of Friends
• All Friends
• Some Friends
• Only Me

However, Ng was able to go so far as to view private pictures of Paris Hilton at the Emmy awards and photos of her brother Barron Nicholas as well.

Ah, what can you say? Given enough time, anything can be hacked (hear that RIAA, MPAA and other DRM and copy-protection users?). Of course, this was pretty quick.

Let's hope when Facebook rolls out their Chat feature it's not quite so full of holes, security or otherwise.