Meddling

It would’ve worked, too, if it weren’t for those meddling kids!

There are 617 posts filed in Meddling (this is page 36 of 62).

Trunk full of cans

Remember the recycling theft ordinance that Raleigh passed at my prodding? Well, I’ve been looking the other way when I see obviously homeless people walking away with cans but there was one instance Friday that I could not let go.

A baby blue Cadillac was driving through the neighborhood with a handicap placard on the rear-view, a number of people inside, and the trunk open wide and stuffed from floor to lid with bags full of aluminum cans. I just couldn’t let this one go and called the cops. I don’t know if an officer didn’t find the car, wrote them a ticket, or simply let them go with a warning. I just know that what I saw was ridiculous.

Facebook cracks down on fake Likes | Reuters


Reuters takes a good look at Facebook’s efforts to deal with the issue of fake “Likes.”

Facebook Inc is weeding out fake “Likes” on its social network that are being caused by spammers, malware and black marketeers as it strives to maintain credibility as an advertising platform.

Facebook said the number of Likes, or endorsements by users, on corporate pages is likely to drop by less than 1 percent, on average, after the crackdown.

“Newly improved automated efforts will remove those Likes gained by malware, compromised accounts, deceived users, or purchased bulk Likes,” Facebook said in a post on its official blog on Friday.

“While we have always had dedicated protections against each of these threats on Facebook, these improved systems have been specifically configured to identify and take action against suspicious Likes,” the post continued.

via Facebook cracks down on fake Likes | Reuters.

St. Louis columnist still mystified by Romney Facebook hack


I sent an email to St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Pat Gauen after his recent column detailing how his Facebook page was hacked by Mitt Romney. I told him that if his theory is true that simply hovering over Romney’s ad is all that’s needed to register a like, then it becomes quite difficult for Romney’s campaign to deny its involvement in these shenanigans.

Gauen responded:

Thanks for your note. While I have absolutely no doubt that it registered as I hovered, I could not make it happen again. I only presume that anyone savvy enough to program it to register “like” on a hover would be wily enough to shut out somebody who (as I did) realizes what happened and follows with an “unlike.” After a while, the ad just wasn’t there anymore.

Pat

Meanwhile, users continue to complain about this practice in the Facebook user forums.

Facebook Runs Strange Political News Quiz, Says It Was A Test

Last night Facebook gave me this customer feedback quiz which morphed into a political quiz. I, too, thought it was quite bizarre.

Facebook claims it was a “test survey” that has since been removed, but it doesn’t say whether the results were destroyed or not. While its bizarre shift from customer feedback into politics was startling, the questions seemed fully-formed to me and I’m somewhat skeptical of Facebook’s claims that this was actually a “test survey.”

Did you get an invite on Facebook to be surveyed about your experiences on the social network, only to find the actual survey turned into a bizarre political news quiz? I did, as did others. Facebook’s now stopped the survey, saying it was an incomplete test that got out into the wild.

via Facebook Runs Strange Political News Quiz, Says It Was A Test.

Also, see CNET’s coverage of this issue.

Statistical Probability That Mitt Romney’s New Twitter Followers Are Just Normal Users: 0% – Alexander Furnas and Devin Gaffney – The Atlantic

Last week Zach Green of 140Elect, noticed some strange goings-on with Mitt Romney’s Twitter account (@MittRomney). Romney’s account, which had been averaging around 2,000 to 5,000 new followers a day, gained 141,000 followers in two days.

This observation prompted speculation – from Green, Slate,The Huffington Post, CNN, and many others – that the Romney Campaign was buying robot followers, or perhaps (conspiratorially) someone else was buying them to make Romney look bad.

via Statistical Probability That Mitt Romney’s New Twitter Followers Are Just Normal Users: 0% – Alexander Furnas and Devin Gaffney – The Atlantic.

Republican paid voter registration operation linked to fraud « gregflynn

My friend Greg Flynn has unearthed some interesting links between a firm hired by the North Carolina Republican Party to register voters and other similar firms alleged to have destroyed and changed voter records. The firm apparently tried to cover its tracks but not before Greg found it.

Good sleuthing, Greg!

An effort by Republicans to register voters with paid workers is underway in North Carolina and across the nation. In the past month various ads have appeared on Craigslist, Facebook and other online job listings offering amounts from $11 to $13 per hour and in some cases internship credit to help Republicans and Mitt Romney win in North Carolina in November by identifying conservatives and registering them as voters. The operation is linked to an Arizona company with a history of fraud allegations including the destruction of Democratic registration cards.

via Republican paid voter registration operation linked to fraud « gregflynn.

Sarah Wenger infographic

Remember when I discovered all the dubious infographics that are being posted to various websites? I got another one in this morning from a “Sarah Wenger.” The text of the invitation is similar to the earlier ones:

Hey Mark,

I recently developed another infographic that could be a good fit for your site. I just wanted to reach out and share it with you. It highlights and illustrates the use of corn in American and how it can affect a persons health.

You can check it out here:

Title: Big Bad Corn
Graphic: http://www.LearnStuff.com/big-bad-corn/

Let me know what you think, I would love for you to publish it if you find it suitable for your site.

Thank you,

Sarah
wenger.sarah77@gmail.com | LearnStuff.com

Continue reading →

St. Louis columnist gets hacked by Mitt Romney


Pat Gauen, a columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, became a victim of Mitt Romney’s Facebook profile slamming. He thinks it happened when he hovered his mouse over Mitt Romney’s Facebook ad.

If this is the case, it would be extremely hard to blame this trickery on anyone other than Mitt Romney’s campaign.

This is my first presidential election as a member of Facebook, which I joined for kinship with family and friends and now find overrun with moronic political rants. I never comment there on anything except for occasional innocuous messages to those I hold close.

So I was surprised last week to be informed that I had “Liked” Mitt Romney.

For the uninitiated, clicking “Like” on a Facebook message is a public show of support, shared with all your online “friends” and heaven knows who else. I “Like” cute pictures of my grandchildren but never candidates for office.

So I posted a disclaimer and found a way to “Unlike” Romney (which is not the same as “Dislike,” for which there is no option, nor would I want to say that anyway).

via Facebook 'Like' for Romney doesn't mean much : Stltoday.

More Romney hacking victims come forward


Having given up on Facebook’s less-than-ideal search box, I thought to use the Google to find more unwitting Mitt Romney fans. It turns out there are a lot of them. (Click here to see an earlier list of responses.)

An example:

A friend from High School let me know that on the side-ads bar, it said that I ‘like’ Mitt Romney! Imagine that?!?!? I DO NOT LIKE MITT ROMNEY AND I HATE THAT THE FB SOFTWARE HAS DONE THAT. I WILL SUE FOR DAMAGES IF I EVER SEE IT! I HAVE A TEAM OF LAWYERS AND THIS IS NOT OVER!

…and this

My page was somehow updated to show I liked Mitt Romney, which I certainly do not. There was no entry in my activity log. I had to go to his page to ‘unlike’ it. There is no indication that it was an account level hack.

Continue reading →

‘Hacked by Mitt Romney’ Facebook page


Thinking that Facebook just might be a good place to find other Facebook users who’ve been profile slammed (i.e. hacked) by Mitt Romney’s campaign, I created a Facebook page called (wait for it) … Hacked By Mitt Romney! We’ll see if it gains any attention.

I went through a ridiculous number of naming attempts before Facebook would let me choose the one I chose. Also, the “Facebook name” (the custom URL of http://www.facebook.com/MittYouDidntBuildThat) was also nearly impossible to choose. A number of obvious choices were already taken. Nothing with Romney in the name would be accepted. I’ve got screenshots of this and will share these when I get more time today.