“Unfriend” named word of 2009
Nov/09BC
Source: Yahoo!
“Unfriend” has been named the word of the year by the New Oxford American Dictionary, chosen from a list of finalists with a tech-savvy bent.
Unfriend was defined as a verb that means to remove someone as a “friend” on a social networking site such as Facebook.
“It has both currency and potential longevity,” said Christine Lindberg, senior lexicographer for Oxford’s U.S. dictionary program, in a statement.
“In the online social networking context, its meaning is understood, so its adoption as a modern verb form makes this an interesting choice for Word of the Year.”
Other words deemed finalists for 2009 by the dictionary’s publisher, Britain’s Oxford University Press, came from other technological trends, the economy, and political and current affairs.
In technology, there was “hashtag,” which is the hash sign added to a word or phrase that lets Twitter users search for tweets similarly tagged; “intexticated” for when people are distracted by texting while driving, and “sexting,” which is the sending of sexually explicit SMSes and pictures by cellphone.
Facebook spammer ordered to pay $711 million
Nov/09BC
Cnn-A California judge awarded Facebook $711 million in damages against spammer Sanford Wallace for bombarding the Web site with junk messages.
“We won another battle in the fight against spam,” said Facebook, which announced the Oct. 29 ruling on its Web site on Friday.
Wallace, who has also been called the “Spam King,” accessed Facebook members’ accounts without their permission and sent out “phony” Wall posts and messages, the company said.
In addition to the damages, Judge Jeremy Fogel of U.S. District Court in Northern California’s San Jose division banned Wallace, and anyone affiliated with him, from accessing Facebook.
Facebook acknowledged that it doesn’t expect to get much money out of the bankrupt Wallace, but it said that he could end up behind bars.
“Most notably, the judge referred Wallace to the U.S. Attorney’s Office with a request that Wallace be prosecuted for criminal contempt, which means that in addition to the judgment, he now faces possible jail time,” read the Facebook statement. “We will continue to pursue damages against other spammers.”
Read more about this article at Cnn.com.
What Happens To Your Facebook After You Die?
Oct/09BC
In an Oct. 26 blog post, Max Kelly, Facebook’s head of security, announced the company’s policy of “memorializing” profiles of users who have died, taking them out of the public search results, sealing them from any future log-in attempts and leaving the wall open for family and friends to pay their respects. Though most media reports claimed this was a new Facebook feature, a spokeswoman for the company told TIME that it’s an option the site has had since its early days.
Read more of the article at: CNN.com.