Multimedia and Tech Blog
The True Horrors of Myspace
Jan 5, 2007
Disclaimer
My blog really isn't meant for full-fledged articles, but rather just a place to conglomerate simple updates about my life. This time, however, I feel a need rant about a topic near to my heart. I will provide as much factual support and fun pictures as I can. Just as a warning, none of this information is brand-spanking new; it's a collection of articles from various websites along with as much angry insight as I can provide on the situation. Aside from the facts, everything else here is opinion.
There has always been something about the site http://www.myspace.com that moves my bowels. I can't stand it, and my indigestion is enhanced by the fact that Myspace is now theoretically the most visited site on the internet, surpassing Google and Yahoo (Myspace is the Biggest Site on the Internet). There are already a lot of people who support my opinion, but when I rant to friends about why they should leave the site, I can't give them any useful reasoning. I decided to do as much research as possible to help convince my friends that they were in fact inbred for using this particular social networking service. This is the culmination of my efforts. While I do not expect this information will actually make anyone delete their Myspace account, I do hope that it will shed some interesting light on the Satan's anus of websites.
Tom is an Advertising Ploy
Let's first look at the history of Myspace, just to explore how the website is actually run. The original creators of Myspace have pretty lengthy histories of internet capitalism, climaxing when they all joined Friendster, an early (and still popular) social networking site. Two of the major players here are Chris DeWolfe, the original CEO of Myspace, and yours truly, Tom Anderson.
Myspace users are idiots
This is a very, very important message, especially to parents. Listen closely: have you noticed that your child is a little behind the game? Is your kid not the sharpest fish on the tree? If you suspect that your son or daughter is in fact inbred, then please keep him or her far away from Myspace. There is a huge deal of ground to cover in explaining why this is such an extravagant issue, which springs off into several sub-categories. Let's start with the basics.
Myspace users are idiots: Profile Problems
Myspace users are idiots, which is a simple message. Now, I don't know if this is because Myspace has such a large user base that there will naturally be a great number of idiots, or if idiots are just drawn to Myspace. It's important to note that stupid people are everywhere, and there are many ways to illustrate this point. The first is the most obvious: user profiles. Now don't lie, because you know it's true; if you have a Myspace profile, then it's an abomination of web design hippo vomit. Every single Myspace profile (that I have seen) is disgusting. Piles and piles of broken, misused HTML tags, poop inducing color schemes and ANIMATED BACKGROUND IMAGES. There are three main reasons why every Myspace page ever created is total horse bile:
The third reason is obviously the biggest problem here. Letting users write their own HTML and CSS create a cluster-travesty of awful. If you're old enough to remember the days of free AOL homepages and free Geocities pages, then you know why this is a huge problem. The average idiot does not understand HTML, let alone design principles. Hell even I barely grasp them. Do you remember how every Geocities and AOL homepage were the initial sandbox for web designers? How we all grabbed the coolest textured background, used animated GIFS and tables with decorated borders? Do you remember how we grew the hell out of that ugly, despicable past? Well guess what, Myspace is the new free homepage, except these people aren't designers. They're idiots. Be honest now, do you enjoy looking at the decorated profiles of friends? No, you don't. It makes you die a little on the inside. It lags your browser and scratches your eyes. Animated backgrounds. Unreadable flashing or scrolling text with an awful color scheme.
It actually makes blood come out of my pores. No, I'm serious. Blood coming out of my pores. If you don't understand why any of this is a problem for Myspace users to have access to, then you in fact do not deserve to have any limbs (no offense meant to the brave torsos of the world). The problem is so bad that there have even been contests to find the worst Myspace page (I Knows Me some Ugly Myspace).
Myspace users are idiots: Drama!
I wish I had more to say about this category because I've heard so many drama stories of Myspace. But because I don't have a profile, I haven't experienced it first hand. By all means, tell me your drama stories! I know you've all heard of them or experienced them: Who's in whose top eight; he commented on her profile while he has a girlfriend; Myspace being a courier for nasty messages between ditzy teen girls, etc etc. There aren't many articles specifically about Myspace drama, so I don't have any evidence to back it up. But there is a more important topic discuss, namely security.
Myspace users are idiots: Security Segue
Now we're hitting the meat and potatoes of this article! This is also why parents should keep the glue eating children away from Myspace. The site is notoriously insecure, and part of it actually does seem to derive from the user base. If you're an idiot, you're going to going to get in some kind of security problem because of the huge amount of phishing attacks that go on every day. If you don't know what a phishing attack is, then that's another very important reason why you shouldn't have a Myspace. In its most common form, a phishing scam is a website designed to look like a trustworthy site that scams you into entering your login or personal information. Have you ever received an email or clicked on a link that said "you must be logged in to do that!" Sites generally only ask for your login information once. If you've clicked on a link in your friend's profile and were asked to log in...then your name is probably in the file below.
In December of 2006 a text file was publicly released to several internet forums which contained somewhere between 20,000 and 50,000 Myspace usernames and passwords. This article is about one such text file (there may have been multiples), and the breakdown of password structure.
The point of this is that Myspace is heavily targeted for phishing scams and exploits alike. Not only is it targeted, but the site is also well known for having its own security flaws due to sloppy coding. But don't take my word for it. Let's look at a brief overview of Myspace security problems.
Flaws in Myspace Code
General Security Problems
It seems like at least once a month I hear of a new Myspace exploit or security hole or massive phishing scam. Now, not that I've researched this, but I don't know of any other site which get attacked this often. The fact is simple: Myspace users are easy targets. The reason that 50,000 passwords can be harvested is because 50,000 people aren't web savvy enough to dodge a simple scam. The security problem is brought to a whole new level, though, by the actual users of Myspace. The ones who know what they're doing, in a bad way.
This is getting really creepy
There are two things that Myspace is pretty good at: A teenage online brothel, and a pedophile shopping center. Parents. PARENTS. Listen up. You know that your daughter is an idiot. I mean, you did the best you could, but the darned MTV did to her brain what a Blendtec blender does to...well, anything. Monitor your kids' computer time. And girls, what is wrong with you? Stop meeting guys through Myspace, it isn't natural. But don't take my word for it, I just like to yell at people. Instead, take a look at this WHAT THE BLOATED HELL statistic:
In practice and theory, Myspace really is a great place for pedophiles to "shop." It's a free service where you can find location, age, and attending school. Now, other social networking sites may also include similar information, but Myspace just seems to be the most media sensationalized site on the subject. In fact, Myspace is full of older men trying to seduce younger women (Boy's Myspace prank results in sex crime arrest). It seems that any girl, or anyone posing as a girl, gets constant streams of date offers from men of all ages on the site. (Myspace Experiment II). Don't forget about the famous 14 year old who was sexually assaulted by a man she met through the site, then decided to take legal action (Girls sues Myspace for getting her assaulted).
But even if Myspace was able to somehow create a solid age verification system, you still have the fact that it's an internet brothel to worry about. I'm referring to the "Myspace Experiment" posted above, as well as the student who enticed a young lady from the site, then killed her (Former Student Admits To Killing Internet Date). Would you want your kid on a site like that? Are you getting the picture? Myspace is a pretty creepy place to be. Combine an uncountable list of sexual predators with rampant security problems, and what do you get? Popular news agencies report on the subject of Myspace constantly, but even so incidents still occur.
So what can we do about the stalking, pedophilic, and criminal problems the site seems to harvest? The truth is that very little can be done. The owner of Myspace (we'll get to that) is far more interested in profit than in security, apparent by the abundance of ads contaminating the site. Increasing security would decrease community, because one of the reasons Myspace is so popular is that it requires very little work to set up or manage a profile. Age verification or introducing a fee to join the site would drastically decrease the size of the community, and even though it would undoubtedly strengthen it, ad revenue would go down.
The big picture
So is Myspace really all bad? The answer is yes. The fact that Myspace is owned by News Corp (think Fox News) should be enough to turn any self-respecting person away from the site. I mean come on guys, FOX NEWS. Here's the only reason that the current owners of the site, News Corp, want ownership:
Am I against all social networking sites? No, of course not. Take Facebook for example. Elegant user profiles, easily controlled network groups based on .edu emails, and no hint of security problems or pedophile stalkers. What does Myspace have? The only positive aspect of the site is a legitimate use for bands to gain popularity. It's hard enough for a new band to gain a following without signing a contract, and Myspace allows bands to access a large base of potential fans, searchable by interest. This is all well and dandy, except of course that many analysts believe that the Myspace fad will quickly burn out (Myspace is Dying and MySpace Is So Last Year).
I can only hope that this article will point several people in the right direction about http://www.myspace.com. Please, stop using it. Parents, monitor your kids when they use it, especially the stupid ones, because there's a million ways for them to get burned through the site. If you really don't know how to avoid a phishing scam, stop using the site. Stop. STOP IT. And don't just take my word for it, do your own research. These links may help you out:
The end. Please make it stop.
If you would like to comment on this article, feel free to do so in the forums.
My blog really isn't meant for full-fledged articles, but rather just a place to conglomerate simple updates about my life. This time, however, I feel a need rant about a topic near to my heart. I will provide as much factual support and fun pictures as I can. Just as a warning, none of this information is brand-spanking new; it's a collection of articles from various websites along with as much angry insight as I can provide on the situation. Aside from the facts, everything else here is opinion.
There has always been something about the site http://www.myspace.com that moves my bowels. I can't stand it, and my indigestion is enhanced by the fact that Myspace is now theoretically the most visited site on the internet, surpassing Google and Yahoo (Myspace is the Biggest Site on the Internet). There are already a lot of people who support my opinion, but when I rant to friends about why they should leave the site, I can't give them any useful reasoning. I decided to do as much research as possible to help convince my friends that they were in fact inbred for using this particular social networking service. This is the culmination of my efforts. While I do not expect this information will actually make anyone delete their Myspace account, I do hope that it will shed some interesting light on the Satan's anus of websites.
Tom is an Advertising Ploy
Let's first look at the history of Myspace, just to explore how the website is actually run. The original creators of Myspace have pretty lengthy histories of internet capitalism, climaxing when they all joined Friendster, an early (and still popular) social networking site. Two of the major players here are Chris DeWolfe, the original CEO of Myspace, and yours truly, Tom Anderson. "Recognizing the potential of the Friendster concept, a plan was hatched to quickly mimic the appealing features of the site, re-brand it as Myspace, and then out-market them using eUniverse's resources." (Myspace: The Business of Spam 2.0).
The DeWolf squad then built a prototype of Myspace, and then spammed "friends" in Friendster to join the site. "Even self-proclaimed loner Tom Anderson took part, stating in an email, 'I am as anti-social as they come, and I've already got 20 people to sign up'" (Myspace: The Business of Spam 2.0).
So what's the point of all this? First of all, Tom is not your friend. While Tom Anderson certainly does exist, he is there purely to make the site money, and is not some cool college kid who happened to blindly program a multi-billion dollar cash cow. Secondly, Myspace is seeded in a spam and purely profit based history. How often do you see advertising while browsing Myspace profiles? In fact, DeWolfe had originally planned to make Myspace a pay-to-join site, but another initial player in the game convinced him to keep it free. With a little back-story, we can now begin to explore the true horrors of the site.Myspace users are idiots
This is a very, very important message, especially to parents. Listen closely: have you noticed that your child is a little behind the game? Is your kid not the sharpest fish on the tree? If you suspect that your son or daughter is in fact inbred, then please keep him or her far away from Myspace. There is a huge deal of ground to cover in explaining why this is such an extravagant issue, which springs off into several sub-categories. Let's start with the basics.
Myspace users are idiots: Profile Problems
Myspace users are idiots, which is a simple message. Now, I don't know if this is because Myspace has such a large user base that there will naturally be a great number of idiots, or if idiots are just drawn to Myspace. It's important to note that stupid people are everywhere, and there are many ways to illustrate this point. The first is the most obvious: user profiles. Now don't lie, because you know it's true; if you have a Myspace profile, then it's an abomination of web design hippo vomit. Every single Myspace profile (that I have seen) is disgusting. Piles and piles of broken, misused HTML tags, poop inducing color schemes and ANIMATED BACKGROUND IMAGES. There are three main reasons why every Myspace page ever created is total horse bile: - Myspace users are idiots (see above and below)
- The default profiles are boxy and ugly, leading users to exploit the third item on this list:
- Users can put their own HTML code into the page. More specifically, ANYONE, for FREE, can put their own code into their profile. OH GOD.
The third reason is obviously the biggest problem here. Letting users write their own HTML and CSS create a cluster-travesty of awful. If you're old enough to remember the days of free AOL homepages and free Geocities pages, then you know why this is a huge problem. The average idiot does not understand HTML, let alone design principles. Hell even I barely grasp them. Do you remember how every Geocities and AOL homepage were the initial sandbox for web designers? How we all grabbed the coolest textured background, used animated GIFS and tables with decorated borders? Do you remember how we grew the hell out of that ugly, despicable past? Well guess what, Myspace is the new free homepage, except these people aren't designers. They're idiots. Be honest now, do you enjoy looking at the decorated profiles of friends? No, you don't. It makes you die a little on the inside. It lags your browser and scratches your eyes. Animated backgrounds. Unreadable flashing or scrolling text with an awful color scheme.
- EMBEDDED,
- AUTO PLAYING,
- MUSIC.
It actually makes blood come out of my pores. No, I'm serious. Blood coming out of my pores. If you don't understand why any of this is a problem for Myspace users to have access to, then you in fact do not deserve to have any limbs (no offense meant to the brave torsos of the world). The problem is so bad that there have even been contests to find the worst Myspace page (I Knows Me some Ugly Myspace).
Myspace users are idiots: Drama!
I wish I had more to say about this category because I've heard so many drama stories of Myspace. But because I don't have a profile, I haven't experienced it first hand. By all means, tell me your drama stories! I know you've all heard of them or experienced them: Who's in whose top eight; he commented on her profile while he has a girlfriend; Myspace being a courier for nasty messages between ditzy teen girls, etc etc. There aren't many articles specifically about Myspace drama, so I don't have any evidence to back it up. But there is a more important topic discuss, namely security.
Myspace users are idiots: Security Segue
Now we're hitting the meat and potatoes of this article! This is also why parents should keep the glue eating children away from Myspace. The site is notoriously insecure, and part of it actually does seem to derive from the user base. If you're an idiot, you're going to going to get in some kind of security problem because of the huge amount of phishing attacks that go on every day. If you don't know what a phishing attack is, then that's another very important reason why you shouldn't have a Myspace. In its most common form, a phishing scam is a website designed to look like a trustworthy site that scams you into entering your login or personal information. Have you ever received an email or clicked on a link that said "you must be logged in to do that!" Sites generally only ask for your login information once. If you've clicked on a link in your friend's profile and were asked to log in...then your name is probably in the file below.In December of 2006 a text file was publicly released to several internet forums which contained somewhere between 20,000 and 50,000 Myspace usernames and passwords. This article is about one such text file (there may have been multiples), and the breakdown of password structure.
"In a day where browsers are coming out with anti-phishing tactics, I can't believe how many people still fall for phishing" (Analyzing 20,000 Myspace Passwords).
Parents, do you think your kid is smart enough to recognize a fake website? Are you? This is a very important question, because Myspace profiles contain personal information. More importantly, though, people often use the same password for one website as another. So maybe a scammer grabs your Myspace password, then finds out it works in your email. Then he reads your email and finds your PayPal account, and maybe it works there too. Phishing scams are also often used for advertising purposes. How many bulletins from your friends are spam messages?The point of this is that Myspace is heavily targeted for phishing scams and exploits alike. Not only is it targeted, but the site is also well known for having its own security flaws due to sloppy coding. But don't take my word for it. Let's look at a brief overview of Myspace security problems.
Flaws in Myspace Code
- Perma-Comment Profile Bug: A new bug has been discovered that lets you use the embed HTML feature to disable the "delete comment" button, allowing spammers to perma-link to spam sites in comments.
- Messy DNS Configuration: A query to Myspace points you to localhost one out of five times. For the less tech-savvy, that means that it points you to your own computer.
- Myspace Attempts Blame Shift to Apple: A QuickTime movie used to redirect a user to a phishing website was used by many scammers. Myspace blamed Apple for the flaw, when in fact the problem was on Myspace's end.
- ANYONE Able to View Private Profiles: A URL hack was discovered that allowed anyone to see private pictures and profiles without having access as a friend. The exploit was fixed once Myspace heads discovered it, though it was known in the "underground" for several months.
General Security Problems
- Phishing Attack Hits 3,000 Pages: One of dozens of common phishing scams appears on 3,000 Myspace pages. Again, if you're not smart enough to recognize a phishing scam, don't use Myspace!
- Flash Based Redirect Exploit: Using a legitimate feature of Flash movies, scammers redirect your browser to a phishing website to steal your login information. According to this site, " If you are signed into Myspace, and you go to a friends page, and then find yourself redirected to a blog post containing a diatribe about how the United States government is behind the 9/11 attacks, then your account has been hacked, and everyone who visits your page will be infected!"
- Hacked Ad Seen on MySpace Served Spyware to a Million: A Windows exploit was used to create a hacked ad which circulated to Myspace's users, successfully giving upwards of one million users spyware.
It seems like at least once a month I hear of a new Myspace exploit or security hole or massive phishing scam. Now, not that I've researched this, but I don't know of any other site which get attacked this often. The fact is simple: Myspace users are easy targets. The reason that 50,000 passwords can be harvested is because 50,000 people aren't web savvy enough to dodge a simple scam. The security problem is brought to a whole new level, though, by the actual users of Myspace. The ones who know what they're doing, in a bad way.
This is getting really creepy
There are two things that Myspace is pretty good at: A teenage online brothel, and a pedophile shopping center. Parents. PARENTS. Listen up. You know that your daughter is an idiot. I mean, you did the best you could, but the darned MTV did to her brain what a Blendtec blender does to...well, anything. Monitor your kids' computer time. And girls, what is wrong with you? Stop meeting guys through Myspace, it isn't natural. But don't take my word for it, I just like to yell at people. Instead, take a look at this WHAT THE BLOATED HELL statistic:
"More than half of MySpace visitors are now age 35 or older, as the site's demographic composition continues to shift."
Hell, even Tom is 30 years old. You can just dwell on that for a little bit.In practice and theory, Myspace really is a great place for pedophiles to "shop." It's a free service where you can find location, age, and attending school. Now, other social networking sites may also include similar information, but Myspace just seems to be the most media sensationalized site on the subject. In fact, Myspace is full of older men trying to seduce younger women (Boy's Myspace prank results in sex crime arrest). It seems that any girl, or anyone posing as a girl, gets constant streams of date offers from men of all ages on the site. (Myspace Experiment II). Don't forget about the famous 14 year old who was sexually assaulted by a man she met through the site, then decided to take legal action (Girls sues Myspace for getting her assaulted).
But even if Myspace was able to somehow create a solid age verification system, you still have the fact that it's an internet brothel to worry about. I'm referring to the "Myspace Experiment" posted above, as well as the student who enticed a young lady from the site, then killed her (Former Student Admits To Killing Internet Date). Would you want your kid on a site like that? Are you getting the picture? Myspace is a pretty creepy place to be. Combine an uncountable list of sexual predators with rampant security problems, and what do you get? Popular news agencies report on the subject of Myspace constantly, but even so incidents still occur.
"Parry Aftab, Internet lawyer and safety expert: '[It's] one stop shopping for sexual predators, and they can shop by catalogue'" (Why parents must mind MySpace).
I really hope all of this information disturbs you as much as it disturbs me. The site's very existence makes me want to asphyxiate on a bag of gerbil pellets.So what can we do about the stalking, pedophilic, and criminal problems the site seems to harvest? The truth is that very little can be done. The owner of Myspace (we'll get to that) is far more interested in profit than in security, apparent by the abundance of ads contaminating the site. Increasing security would decrease community, because one of the reasons Myspace is so popular is that it requires very little work to set up or manage a profile. Age verification or introducing a fee to join the site would drastically decrease the size of the community, and even though it would undoubtedly strengthen it, ad revenue would go down.
"The root of the problem lies in the fact that there is no definitive solution to the core problem of eliminating predators within a web community...nearly every effort that attempts to ensure higher safety and security will have a diametrically opposite effect on the growth and attractiveness of the service." (Sex Crimes and Myspace).
The big picture
So is Myspace really all bad? The answer is yes. The fact that Myspace is owned by News Corp (think Fox News) should be enough to turn any self-respecting person away from the site. I mean come on guys, FOX NEWS. Here's the only reason that the current owners of the site, News Corp, want ownership:
"Mr. Murdoch left his listeners in no doubt that their books would bleed red ink unless they found ways of exploiting the boom in online advertising...Myspace, News Corp says, could drive traffic to Fox Interactive Media. And most importantly, Myspace has detailed logs of its users' preferences, online behavior and personal information" (What Myspace means to Murdoch).
I lactate feces upon reading that. ARGH. So what do we have? We have a drama-filled user base of slow teens who destroy their profiles with awful code, get picked up by predators who represent more than half of the site's population, while all of them are getting screwed through security holes; the whole shebang teetering over a platform of spam based, profit driven single-mindedness. If you want to support FOX news, then just go ahead...I'll be in my room cutting myself to just see some color around here.Am I against all social networking sites? No, of course not. Take Facebook for example. Elegant user profiles, easily controlled network groups based on .edu emails, and no hint of security problems or pedophile stalkers. What does Myspace have? The only positive aspect of the site is a legitimate use for bands to gain popularity. It's hard enough for a new band to gain a following without signing a contract, and Myspace allows bands to access a large base of potential fans, searchable by interest. This is all well and dandy, except of course that many analysts believe that the Myspace fad will quickly burn out (Myspace is Dying and MySpace Is So Last Year).
I can only hope that this article will point several people in the right direction about http://www.myspace.com. Please, stop using it. Parents, monitor your kids when they use it, especially the stupid ones, because there's a million ways for them to get burned through the site. If you really don't know how to avoid a phishing scam, stop using the site. Stop. STOP IT. And don't just take my word for it, do your own research. These links may help you out:
- The 25 Worst Web Sites: Myspace declared the #1 worst website
- Myspace Sucks: Another angry friend denouncing Myspace
- Fugitive Caught In Philly After Checking Myspace: Criminals love the site too!
- Teachers get crash course on keeping students safe online: "Middletown is going public because police are now investigating seven sexual assaults of underage girls, all with profiles posted on myspace.com."
The end. Please make it stop.
If you would like to comment on this article, feel free to do so in the forums.