There is no doubt that Facebook has rapidly climbed the ladder of the competitive social networking market, more than doubling the user base of the previously popular MySpace since its debut in 2004. In fact, it has become popular enough to be a substitute to exchanging numbers with people we meet, and reason enough to call you a weirdo if you aren't on Facebook.
Being a user myself, I have noticed the growing amount of concern regarding issues of privacy, such as data mining, and potential monetizing of personal information. It seems that we now have evidence of the latter, as a Facebook user named Harman Bajwa had his vanity URL (facebook.com/harman) revoked two days ago, for apparently 'violating' the site's policies. Meanwhile, Facebook made a sales deal for the vanity URL with Harman International. Here is a sample of the official reason for the revocation by Facebook:
Loosely translated, that basically means, we are making money from your vanity URL and accusing you of some BS policy violation. As far as I can tell, Harman Bajwa had every right to be using the URL, since it's his real identity, and in no way attempting to impersonate anyone or anything.
It will be interesting to see whether Harman will get his URL back, or receive some sort of compensation. With over 300 million users world-wide, Facebook has adopted a lot of power over the social networking medium, and with that power, one would hope, comes responsibility.
Being a user myself, I have noticed the growing amount of concern regarding issues of privacy, such as data mining, and potential monetizing of personal information. It seems that we now have evidence of the latter, as a Facebook user named Harman Bajwa had his vanity URL (facebook.com/harman) revoked two days ago, for apparently 'violating' the site's policies. Meanwhile, Facebook made a sales deal for the vanity URL with Harman International. Here is a sample of the official reason for the revocation by Facebook:
"A Facebook username should have a clear connection to one’s identity. In addition, impersonating anyone or anything is prohibited." (read the full article)
Loosely translated, that basically means, we are making money from your vanity URL and accusing you of some BS policy violation. As far as I can tell, Harman Bajwa had every right to be using the URL, since it's his real identity, and in no way attempting to impersonate anyone or anything.
It will be interesting to see whether Harman will get his URL back, or receive some sort of compensation. With over 300 million users world-wide, Facebook has adopted a lot of power over the social networking medium, and with that power, one would hope, comes responsibility.
