Hacked

 My Facebook account got hacked and then killed off by Facebook because the hacker must have posted something horrible. 

Facebook was just a quick and easy way to keep in touch with my friends but since I never accepted friends there that I hadn't met elsewhere and hadn't some other means of contacting, this is merely an irritation rather than a tragedy. And since I have never posted anything of value to fraudsters, not even locations or interests or any personal information, I doubt whoever it was will derive much joy from it. 

What galls me is that, whatever got it shut down was, it seems, a post to do with human trafficking. Given that I was a refugee as a baby, this is uniquely offensive. Couldn't they just post something obscenely pornographic like normal?

Facebook doesn't do customer service; it's judge and jury of everything and I'm told by various sources that the account is gone and it's utterly unlikely to be reinstated. You'd have thought that 14 years of impeccable use without controversy might count for something but clearly whoever created the system didn't have the wit to treat uncharacteristic behaviour as some kind of hint that maybe the real user has been usurped. 

I tried to create a new account using a different computer, credentials, email and so on and, after thinking about it for 36 hours, Facebook blocked that account, too. 

 

Yes, I could try using a VPN to try to circumvent their border police but I ask myself, since these social media platforms are little more than licensed spying, maybe it's time to get back to more natural ways of interacting and avoid the intrusions into privacy. I have to say, though, that Facebook was a godsend during the pandemic when we were all confined indoors, like Zoom and the like. My newsfeed there was a bit like a personalised version of Mad magazine. But, hey, that's what happens when your friends are a bit weird. ;-) What, me worry?

(c) Mad. June 2011 cover.

Only kidding, I mean my friends are fun, not weird. Not weird at all. 

Anyway, no matter how careful you are, this stuff can happen. I'd noticed quite a lot of attempts in the last couple of years to get details off me and all sorts of bogus accounts in my name, those of my friends or friend requests that look highly suspect. (For some reason, whoever is making these bogus profiles thinks American generals are the sort of friends I'd like to have!)

I have doubts that any fraud or criminality will derive from this. It's just an annoyance.

 

Bombers and canapés

Talking of sabotage - and this is a bit icky, I'm afraid - as I've mentioned, I have access to a lovely outdoor swimming pool over the summer months. But last week the lifeguard opened the facility to find a murdered rat in the water. It wasn't just a dead rat, but a bleeding one. I'd guess it was dropped by accident by a bird of prey, posssibly even one of the huge herring gulls who nest on the cliffs. So our lifeguard rightly roped off the pool itself and we couldn't swim till the pool was disinfected and checked by the bio experts. 

All clear now, and yesterday all the residents decided to have an end-of-season party by the pool, everyone bringing food and drink. It was a great success and a good way to get to know people better. Sadly, the season ends this Sunday and the pool closes. I'm nice and brown and have had lots of exercise this summer. I think swimming is about the best exercise you can get. 

Sue x