Tuesday, June 8, 2010

PG&E Facebook Identity Theft

Today is primary election day here in California. Pacific Gas & Electric, one of our state's largest utilities (not mine, thank my lucky stars) is trying to pass Prop. 16 for its own monopolistic purposes and calling it the "right to vote" act. Total misdirection, and it had better not pass. We will see, but check out one of their tactics:

BeyondChron

Several weeks ago, I noticed that one of my friends on Facebook was a “fan” of Proposition 16 - PG&E’s Monopoly Protection Act that is easily the worst measure on the June ballot. After I chewed him out for it, he expressed shock to even be on that page. Apparently, PG&E had added him on as a supporter without his consent. Today, just as the Prop 16 campaign boasted that it now has 50,000 “fans” on Facebook, I received a press release from the Sunrise Center in Marin County - who complained that some of their own staffers (who are working hard to defeat Prop 16) have also been added as “fans.” Besides exposing a serious loophole in Facebook’s privacy features, it also proves that PG&E’s $40 million campaign to pass Prop 16 includes committing identity theft.

Attorney General Jerry Brown should consider pressing criminal charges against PG&E, who appears to have committed identity theft. Ironically, Facebook’s former Chief Privacy Officer -- Chris Kelly -- is running to replace Brown in next week’s election.

Heh. The Daisy Chain proceeds apace...

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