Facebook, unfriend the dictators!

Facebook should be congratulated and condemned in one go: they've built a revolutionary platform that's catalyzed the political change sweeping the Middle East and beyond, but Facebook has also become a treasure trove of information for dictators, allowing them to identify and destroy those who oppose them.

Whether Facebook likes it or not, they are in the business of human rights and security, so they better start investing in it. And it's not just repressive regimes that are exploiting Facebook’s security vulnerabilities, identity thieves and hackers steal people’s information off Facebook everyday too.

As protests erupt around the world and dictators brutally crackdown in response, let's acknowledge Facebook for what they have done -- it's truly incredible -- but call on them to immediately secure their platform before the situation gets worse. It can be done in 4 simple steps: secure, anonymize, protect, and resist. Sign here to demand these changes:

https://www.accessnow.org/Facebook-Unfriend-The-Dictators

Here's what they need to do:

Anonymize. Repressive regimes of the world love Facebook because if an activist wants to use Facebook they have a choice: reveal their identity to their oppressors or be deleted by Facebook (which is exactly what happened to the Egyptian Facebook page "We are all Khaled Said" when its administrators used a false identity).
Secure. Facebook should install HTTPS (as opposed to HTTP) – a simple, cheap, and highly effective security solution – as a default feature across the entire platform, not just as an opt-in for users buried deep in your account settings.
Protect. Facebook needs to recognize that human rights defenders who use their platform require special care. To protect their content, secure their accounts, and appeal wrong decisions, a “concierge service” needs to be set up that can respond quickly to the genuine risk these users face.
Resist. Every day, hundreds of millions of people entrust their private information to Facebook, but its policies detailing how private data will be shared are weak. Facebook should resist overboard requests from governments on either side of the firewall to reveal user information, disclose no more information about their users than is legally required, and inform the user so they can legally respond. To that end, you may wish to also sign Demand Progress' privacy campaign.
As ditctators brutally crackdown on protesters, we know Facebook’s leadership is listening. Now, let's tell them they're awesome, but they must stop putting us all at risk by installing these four simple changes.

https://www.accessnow.org/Facebook-Unfriend-The-Dictators

With hope,
The Access Team

P.S. Facebook, we also suggest you join Google and others in the Global Network Initiative, to help protect and advance freedom of expression and privacy in the ICT sector.