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Gossipy Facebook

I've been getting these emails occasionally from FaceBook over the past few months, and been deleting them, but...I think the whole concept of this email is wrong (and misspelled - gossips?!?!):


Do you know any gossips about your friends? Your other friends may want to hear it.

(Gossip is always anonymous, never appears in notifications, feeds or anywhere else where the author could be identified.)

 *list of friends names*

To check out gossip about you, or other friends not listed here, click here

What the Social Profile application wants you to do is post anonymous, possibly untrue information about friends and acquaintances, and allow others to see that.
Surely there's some issues here with libel? If anyone can 'publish' unsubstantiated information about others, under the guarantee that it'll never be traced back to them, which Facebook will then distribute around its system?

Hell, maybe I'll start posting anonymously about affairs friends have had, bodies they've buried, crimes they've committed...all untrue of course, but hey, it's anonymous, what's to stop me?

And, Facebook's changed their layout - it's gonna take me ages to get used to this, gah!
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Comments

Scott said…
Second things first, I like the new layout - much better. I would also have to agree about possible libel and defamation issues. Will be interesting to see if any arise.
22 July 2008 at 09:46
Katie said…
Not quite the same, but related Facebook libel case story.

Also, I don't think Facebook has changed for me yet - I feel like I'm left out, as everyone else keeps mentioning it in their statuses.
24 July 2008 at 11:42
Dumpling said…
Hi Katie!
Yeah - the other story is just scary...thankfully I don't have the type of 'friends' that would do that to me...I think! I hope...

I didn't do anything to move to new Facebook, it just spent an evening being wonky, and now seems to be permanently on the new version. Address seems to be www.new.facebook.com instead of just Facebook, maybe try that and have a look around it?
24 July 2008 at 12:48
Katie said…
Aaargh! My eyes!

Hopefully I'll get used to it :0).
24 July 2008 at 20:13
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