41% of Facebook Users Willing To Divulge Personal Info

plastick writes "In an experiment, 41% of Facebook users were willing to divulge highly personal information to a complete stranger. This according to IT security firm Sophos, which invited 200 randomly selected Facebookers to befriend a bogus Facebook user named 'Freddi Staur' (an anagram of 'ID Fraudster'). Of those queried, 87 responded to the invitation, among them 82 people whose profiles included personal information such as their email address, date of birth, address or phone number."

The point of Facebook

[LongearedBat]

Isn't that the whole point of Facebook? ...to divulge personal information to all one's friends, and allowing strangers to also see it in case they happen to be long lost friends.

Happy Birthday

[Anonymous Coward]

Pretty much all of my friends have their birthday public.

I don't know about other countries, but in Canada that is very dangerous. It has been repeatedly shown with just your full name and birthday a fraudster can get just about any document they want issued.

Step 1: Ask government to reissue birth certificate.

Step 2: Use birth certificate to get SIN reissued.

Step 3: Use birth certificate and SIN to get drivers license reissued. (now featuring their picture, not yours)

Step 4: Take out multiple credit cards in your name, max them out on cash advances and high end electronics.

Step 5: They profit, you are probably really screwed.