The Problem Isn't Middlemen, It's Monopolies

FCC Boss Spams Facebook Friends With Make Money Now Scam

from the whoops dept

Thu, Dec 31st 2009 3:44pm — Mike Masnick

Hey, sooner or later everyone falls for some sort of phishing/scamware type of thing, right? It's just especially embarrassing if you're the head of the FCC. The NY Times is reporting that FCC Chair Julius Genachowski had his Facebook account spam all his friends with a message saying "Adam got me started making money with this" which was followed by a link to a now defunct site. Facebook has taken down Genachowski's page, and appears to be effectively blaming him for the problem, putting out a generic notice about how users need to be careful not to click on strange links...

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Filed Under: julius genachowski, phishing, spam
Companies: facebook

16 Comments

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Aaron Von Gauss (profile), 31 Dec 2009 @ 4:55pm

Sympathizer
Considering the number of Facebook phishing e-mails I have received over the last couple of days, I can sympathize with him. He's probably not the only one...
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- Anonymous Coward, 31 Dec 2009 @ 5:37pm
  
  Re: Sympathizer
  I guess if you can't beat them, join them.
  
  He's represents the FCC, his job is to beat them, he can't, so he just joins them instead.
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  - McCrea, 31 Dec 2009 @ 7:46pm
    
    Re: Re: Sympathizer
    Federal should have nothing to do with the Internet.
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  - Chuck (profile), 1 Jan 2010 @ 12:40pm
    
    Re: Re: Sympathizer
    Apparently, my facebook account was inviting people to join this group that I have never heard of. Usually, I'm pretty careful on the internet, that was a surprise to me. You can't exactly blame him.
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Anonymous Coward, 31 Dec 2009 @ 5:36pm

I'm selling a $10 book on how to make a million dollars by selling $10 books.
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The Anti-Mike (profile), 31 Dec 2009 @ 8:13pm

Considering that Facebook appears to be allowing some very questionable apps on their service right now ("1000 free farmville bucks") that require users to spam the crap out of their user list to get the prize (which never comes) it isn't very surprising to see something like this happen.

If nothing else, this is one of the reasons why Facebook doesn't belong in the classroom.
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davidclark (profile), 1 Jan 2010 @ 1:34am

Mr. FCC & the Net
Serves him right. I hope he gets hacked,phished and hacked and phished some more. Dumbass. Leave the WEB alone. The Government has fucked up everything innovative,good and decent which has enriched our lives and advanced America's standing in the world community.
That includes Christmas and McDonalds.
Along that line, I'm struggling to understand why we abandoned American exploration of the moon. If memory serves me correctly, for every dollar NASA spends, we see a $1.75 return in employment,science,R&D,engineering,purchasing and a flood of new patents. ever heard of velcro? How about duct tape?
Its sort of like Columbus hitting Puerto Rico the first time,burning his maps and setting sail for Spain.
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- Anonymous Coward, 1 Jan 2010 @ 7:56am
  
  Re: Mr. FCC & the Net
  Duct tape was originally developed during World War II in 1942 as a water resistant sealing tape for ammunition cases
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- Anonymous Coward, 1 Jan 2010 @ 7:58am
  
  Re: Mr. FCC & the Net
  The hook-and-loop fastener was invented in 1941 by Swiss engineer, George de Mestral
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- Anonymous Coward, 1 Jan 2010 @ 8:18am
  
  Re: Mr. FCC & the Net
  Please to explain how "the Government" is different from "NASA". Also, if NASA is just your favorite exception, please to explain which non-NASA part of the government funded the Interstate highway system, not to mention tiny things you love like, oh, the internet.
  
  Finally, please explain the innovative contributions of McDonalds and how they advance America's world standing. I'm guessing McRib ? Or maybe chicken nuggets ?
  
  The Christmas thing totally befuddles me. Can't figure out where you're going with that. Just drunk ?
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- Anonymous Coward, 1 Jan 2010 @ 3:42pm
  
  Re: Mr. FCC & the Net
  "If memory serves me correctly, for every dollar NASA spends, we see a $1.75 return in employment,science,R&D,engineering,purchasing and a flood of new patents"
  
  When the government spends money on something there should be no patents involved in what comes out of it. Why should taxpayers take risks and invest money into something to have some evil rich entity reap the rewards. Not acceptable and this is just more evidence of how broken our patent system is.
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- alternatives(), 2 Jan 2010 @ 10:40am
  
  Re: Mr. FCC & the Net
  The Government has fucked up everything innovative,good and decent which has enriched our lives and advanced America's standing in the world community.
  That includes Christmas and McDonalds.
  
  Right - things like the FDA and their meat inspection so the concerns of Mr. Sinclairs "The Jungle" got addressed - yup sure was a 'fuck up' to make a claim that meat had at least a base level of sanitation.
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  - Overcast (profile), 4 Jan 2010 @ 6:46pm
    
    Re: Re: Mr. FCC & the Net
    Right - things like the FDA and their meat inspection so the concerns of Mr. Sinclairs "The Jungle" got addressed - yup sure was a 'fuck up' to make a claim that meat had at least a base level of sanitation.
    
    FDA + meat inspection (still) = Mad Cow.
    
    FDA = Fail.
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Kathy Kern, 2 Jan 2010 @ 11:42am

FCC and Spaming Facebook
I can just see it. one of those poor losers who got cut by fcc are behind this spam. anyway this shows when it comes to this type of low marketing no one is safe even FCC BOSS.

Kathy
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Jan 2010 @ 5:48pm

I actually got hit and my account did that same spam. It was tracked back to a hotmail account of mine which MSN told me originally wasn't breached back 6 or so months ago when they got hacked. Guess they were wrong.
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neubree (profile), 13 Aug 2010 @ 1:38am

Haha that's hilarious!! this guy got spung bad :P
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