by Telemachus Gaffiganiakis
Jan. 27, 2008
Darren LaChappelle, a former employee in the marketing department for Facebook, the online community of endless requests and invitations, overblown profile add-ons, and photos that could get you fired from your job, has released a statement that the website was created with the sole intention of allowing individuals to be able to commit identity fraud.
"Founder Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook with the idea that it could be a space for people to connect with others through the college that one was attending. Then, however, he realized how it would be much more profitable to have people give out as much information as possible through their profiles and then make it easy to broker deals with known criminals in the identity fraud business. Needless to say, it is why Zuckerberg has not entirely sold off his business nor why he hasn't made the company public," LaChappelle writes in the statement.
Zuckerberg could not be reached for comment. LaChappelle, now a member of the marketing committee with the American Cancer Society, would not provide further information or an interview beyond his statement. LaChappelle writes in detail about meetings in which Facebook representatives debated on whether requiring one's social security number, checking account number, or mother's maiden name to be in their profile were acceptable before settling on full birthdate.
"It's true," says an identity frauder who chose to be anonymous despite the fact he was assuming another identity anyway. "It's easy to peg a good identity to steal on Facebook. Just look through profiles that are public, pick out Ivy League colleges in particular, and find the ones wearing popped collars that are drunk as hell. Most likely, they are just children of money who have no sense as to what's going on in their bank accounts and on their credit cards. God Bless America."
"None of this stuff goes on at our site," remarked Tom, the friend to all on MySpace. "We only hound you with whore friend requests and hacked profiles that lead to random advertising comment posts. These are just mere annoyances compared to the kind of damage Facebook is doing."
Cornell University junior Dawn Hille had a difficult time believing LaChappelle. "Giving up your birthdate isn't that much information along with a picture of me, my favorite movies, my address, my interests, my home phone number, the groups I joined, my e-mail address, the fact that I've been bitten by a zombie. I mean, what's the big deal?"
Zuckerberg laughs straight to the bank.