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Thousands of teenagers cry out in... confusion...
Published on March 19, 2007 By Zoomba In WinCustomize News

MySpace is often the target of hackers looking to harvest personal data and gain unrestricted access to hundreds of thousands of home PCs through security holes in site code and in web-browsers.  As one of the most popular sites on the Internet, a single exploit on the site can affect countless end-users.  Considering the average MySpace user appears to be, on the whole, not exceptionally tech-savvy, it's all ripe pickings for hackers.

According to a PC World article, a pair of users are planning on disclosing one site bug per day for the entire month of April.  The two users haven't revealed their real names, and say the initiative is more to highlight the "monoculture-style danger of extremely popular websites" and on top of that, to be a semi-spoof of the new "Month of XYZ Bugs" programs that have popped up since last year's Month of Browser Bugs.

It will be interesting to see how the whole deal shakes out.  Will this change the way MySpace works?  Will it open the eyes of other popular community sites to the dangers present in being a single focal-point for large crowds?  We'll see.


Comments
on Mar 19, 2007
If this causes even a ripple, i'd be shocked.

Myspace doesn't seem overly concerned on protecting its users, in my opinion. Court orders have been required to force the site to do more to protect young people from predators, and the site as a whole remains the same as it was when introduced many years ago. It's buggy, it's incomplete, it's insecure, and despite being passed from one media conglomerate to another, it hasn't been improved. It just gets weighted down further with advertisements, more and more.

let it rot, says i. It's a virus on the net.
on Mar 19, 2007
let it rot, says i. It's a virus on the net.


Totally agreed.
on Mar 19, 2007
mySpace *is* a bug
on Mar 19, 2007
not big on myspace.  it think it has potential to be even more of a problem in the future. I dread the day my daughter finds out about it.If she hasn't already.I make it a stearn policy to regulate her time online.I know she only goes to safe sites [disney,stardoll,discovery channel,etc,etc,...]But still it does concern me.Like DesignCaddy said let it rot!  
on Mar 19, 2007
like these guys even need to do this, myspace has a few million bugs as it is. 30 more aint gonna do nothing.

Though idk maybe if they wreck the whole entire site some people might get off their ass and fix it. If myspace was half as good as facebook it would actually be worth using more often. i could write the code for myspace better and i suck at coding.
on Mar 20, 2007
Be great if someone could create a blackhole in close proximity so MySpace is sucked into it.
on Mar 20, 2007
MySpace *shutters*
on Mar 20, 2007
yea honestly i do wish that somehow they trash the whole site beyond repair so someone has to remake it and remake it actually good. *saves all the images i have on mine*
on Mar 21, 2007
mySpace *is* a bug


time for me to be the first to defend MySpace

to be fair, MySpace has it's good and bad qualities. I can keep tabs on friends that are states away from me, and i do enjoy being able to blog about everything going on for me, and i like to mention WinCustomize on my page. I'm not saying it's perfect, but for the most part, i can keep the negatives under control.

these are the main problems with MySpace
1.Spyware
2.Phishing
3.Spam
4.Hackers
5.Predators

all of these are major issues, and have seemingly convinced everyone here that MySpace sucks, and that's your choice, so this won't be a plea for you to change your minds.

I am a reasonably tech-savvy guy, and that helps me defend against 4 of the 5 issues
1.Anti-Spyware Tools( Spybot, Ad-Aware, SpySweeper) i run these each day, before i shut down for the evening

2. I change my MySpace Password weekly

3.I generally clean out my inbox of messages anyway, because my friends leave comments

4.I currently run 4 firewalls, 2 routers, and a Hacker Defense suite for hacking protection( I'm slightly paranoid)

No. 5 is something that every parent should be aware of when they allow their child onto MySpace. If your child is of an age where they can't understand the dangers of Predators, then they shouldn't be on. MySpace is just like chat rooms, instant messaging, and e-mail. Parents should monitor their child's activity online, just like they should monitor their Child's television usage. Windows Vista's parental controls allow for some management, but in some cases, more protection is needed.

So whether you love MySpace or hate it, there are good and bad points.

Just thought I'd mention this in an anti-MySpace page.

by the way, my MySpace username for anyone interested, is Please Do Not Feed The Stoner
on Mar 21, 2007
geez that was long