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Facebook, Washington State Sue Firm Over Clickjacking

Posted by timothy on from the just-trying-to-earn-a-living dept.

Trailrunner7 writes "Facebook and the state of Washington are suing an ad network they accuse of encouraging people to spread spam through clickjacking schemes and other tactics. The company at the center of the allegations, Adscend Media, denies the charges and said it will fight them vigorously. According to the office of Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna, the company paid and encouraged scammers to design Facebook pages to bait users into visiting Websites that pay the company. The bait pages would appear in posts that seem to originate from a person's Facebook friends and offer visitors an opportunity to view 'provocative' content in exchange for clicking the 'like' button on the Facebook page."

12 of 71 comments (clear)

  1. Incentivized likes by sakdoctor · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Facebook is designed to spread SHIT as a core feature; it's a spam machine.
    Are you really saying there is a distinction between good and evil "likes"?

    1. Re:Incentivized likes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      It's (usually) hated amongst the smart people. There are more stupid people than smart people.

    2. Re:Incentivized likes by Ethanol-fueled · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I think that it has everything to do with the fact that most people will whore out their privacy and dignity in exchange for attention.

      I got into an online argument with a cheerleader instructor about how cheerleading was not a thinking person's sport, and she responded that my point was nullified because she was a cheerleader and has two master's degrees.

      Facebook is just like cheerleading in that otherwise intelligent women will proudly and gratuitously display their underarms and crotches to legions of horny boys and pervert papas.

    3. Re:Incentivized likes by Ethanol-fueled · · Score: 4, Insightful

      NASCAR at least has a significant number of fans who appreciate it because they have background knowledge in auto mechanics and racing. To the average layman, it's a bunch of fat rednecks watching cars drive in circles, waiting for the next crash. But the truth is that a good number of those "laymen" fans are taking into account a multitude of background knowledge like bore, stroke, gear ratios, camber, statistics, power/weight ratio, turbocharging, supercharging, etc; all of which add tremendously to the experience.

      You know that feeling yourself when you try to mouth off the specs of your computer or WoW character to somebody who doesn't know or care.

      Facebook, on the other hand, is not itself interesting, even to most technically inclined folks. The only people who care about its technical internals or operation are its employees. Everybody else just uses it for attention and circle-jerking.

    4. Re:Incentivized likes by TheGratefulNet · · Score: 2

      correction: you don't *use* facebook.

      you use drugs. but facebook uses you.

      its not just a play on sentence structure, either.

      --

      --
      "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
  2. Who Watches the Coastguard? by dangitman · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The irony is thick with this one.

    "Social Media" is basically designed to be click-bait. That's the only way they can recoup the investment money from the Venture Capitalists.

    Sure, they might all start out being about "connecting and sharing with your friends" but then they hit critical mass and have to make some money. So they turn into whoring advertising machines. No longer are you just following your friends, but you're suckered into following companies, so you can win tickets to a Lady Gaga concert.

    Now they complain about "clickjacking"?

    Fuck "social media", and fuck Slashdot for putting goddamned Facebook and Twitter links under every fucking post.

    --
    ... and then they built the supercollider.
    1. Re:Who Watches the Coastguard? by zippthorne · · Score: 4, Interesting

      The really shitty thing about Facebook is that it doesn't just affect the people who somehow got suckered into using it. It also affects everybody that uses the internet to do anything at all. Stupid [F] and Like buttons cluttering up every g'dang page out there with their third-party javascript includes and whatnot, slowing everything down.

      Which brings me to my secondary, related, rant - why is it that it's always the advertising taking too damn long to load that slows down pages while browsing? Shouldn't those bits be the fastest-loading parts of the page, since the advertising companies make their money by spitting out images and things to be viewed? If all I see is a box and an hourglass, I'm not going to know what stupid product I'm supposed to start buying....

      Oh, yeah, and the privacy thing, too. In fifteen years, we're not going to have D's and R's in congress any more, but not because things will have improved. Instead, we're going to have the whomever the hell Mark Zuckerberg feels like keeping drunk party pictures under wraps for party...

      --
      Can you be Even More Awesome?!
    2. Re:Who Watches the Coastguard? by dangitman · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Personally, I prefer to confront reality head-on. Hiding the bullshit just inoculates you to what's really happening.

      Where's the incentive to support sites that don't engage in shitty practices, if you can make the shitty sites seem better by hiding what they actually do?

      --
      ... and then they built the supercollider.
    3. Re:Who Watches the Coastguard? by dangitman · · Score: 2

      Either that, or the next generation, having grown up around social media, will realize that everyone has drunken party pics or embarrassing costume party pics, or what have you and it will no longer be an issue.

      What makes you think this is new? Your parents, and probably your grandparents had embarrassing pictures of them. That doesn't stop people judging them.

      Just look at the "celebrity" media. People are eager to destroy supermodels who wear the wrong kind of bathing suit, or who have gained a couple of pounds. And the people who want to destroy them are the same people who look like fat slobs compared to the supermodel.

      This will never be a non-issue. Human hypocrisy knows no bounds. Facebook photos which would otherwise be ignored will become scandalous once the subject steps into the spotlight.

      --
      ... and then they built the supercollider.
    4. Re:Who Watches the Coastguard? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Just like when the 60's generation got into power and made the drug laws much more sensible since they knew that smoking a little weed was no big deal.

  3. Re:Why is the state proxying for private interest? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Probably because Washington state has anti-spam laws on the books, hence the people of Washington state (or ... at least the politicians in WA were paid to) believe that there is a public interest in attacking spammers. Thus... it is not defending a corporation nor is it in proxy for Facebook's interests. They are seperate actions and Adscend must defend themselves in both cases, rather than singly if Facebook and WA were cooperating on one suit.

  4. Clickjacking by excitedidiot · · Score: 2

    Clickjacking is something that should be done in the privacy of your own home, not on Facebook for the world to see.