Yeatarday I saw a report on CNN about how social networking sites like facebook and specially twitter are serving as havens for cyber criminals. A large number of users post all sort of private information on these websites and people take advantage of this information. Also, people are mislead by posting wrong information about certain high-demand topics.
In my opinion the most destructive aspect specifically with respect to the twitter is the URL Shortening ot Tiny URL’s. From the last many years people have become increasingly cautious about visiting malicious websites and it is a general best practice now not to click/download links that you don’t trust.
The Tiny URL phenomenon takes this all away, where you are following hunderds of people, celebrities wicthout actually knowing who is behind the username and then there are literally millions of tiny url’s which people post daily and you access the link without trusting its authenticity. You never know where it will redirect you.
Jeff Atwood of Coding Horror also has a different take on Tiny URL’s.
2 responses so far ↓
Khurram Zahid // June 27, 2009 at 10:22 am |
Inventions are made for human alfare. But there is a misuse of every thing invented, specially related to telecommunication and computers.
Url Shortening: Tr.im shutting down « Aleem’s Weblog // August 11, 2009 at 2:14 pm |
[...] 11, 2009 by aleem A few days back I posted a few concerns about the URL shortening and the “tiny url’s” which are now [...]