Algorithm to Find Predators on Facebook Created

Category: Science & Technology
Posted: July 11, 2012 05:54AM
Author: Guest_Jim_*

Social media systems, like Facebook, are constantly growing in popularity as they allow one person to connect with many people across the planet. However the ability to connect with so many people can be risky, especially for young people, as predators and other malicious users can be accidentally and unknowingly friended. Researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev have created a new Facebook app to identify these potential threats and notify the user of the risk.

The Social Privacy Protector (SPP) app analyzes a Facebook user's friend list and measures its connectedness with its friends. The reasoning to this method is that a malicious profile will have friended a great many people, but has not been friended by as many. If I have friend one thousand people, but only ten have friended me, then SPP would flag me as suspicious to you, but would not automatically unfriend me. The app also checks other Facebook apps that may threaten a user's privacy.

Obviously the purpose of SPP is to protect children from whatever they may find on Facebook by giving them and their parents the ability to quickly discover suspicious users. Currently the software is available as a Facebook app and as a Firefox add-on, for any and all Facebook users to use.

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