The Facebook Timeline: What You Need To Know About Getting It, Scams And Removing It.

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Alert 1:

It has come to my attention that there are several fan pages circulating on Facebook that claim to be “Official Pages or Places” to obtain Facebook’s new “Timeline Profile”. These pages ask users to like them, share them, watch videos and click links to obtain the Timeline. They may also ask you to install Facebook Applications, Browser Plug-ins or Download Files to obtain the Timeline. Pages or websites that ask Facebook users to do any of the aforementioned things are SCAMS. Facebook users do not need to like, share, watch videos, Install Apps, browser plug-ins or download files to get the Timeline.

There are only 2 Ways to obtain the Timeline:

1. To read more information about and obtain the Timeline go to:

This is The ONLY Official Facebook Page for the Timeline

http://www.facebook.com/about/timeline

2. You may also obtain the Timeline by visiting a friend’s Timeline or by visiting your own Facebook profile page (Your Old Style Profile Wall). On visiting either of these places Facebook may offer you a prompt at the top of the page to upgrade to the new Timeline.

Avoid all other offers or so called ways to obtain the Timeline and remember that once you install the Timeline it is PERMANENT and cannot be removed. Also remember ALL Facebook users will eventually be updated to the Timeline.

Alert 2:

Over the last few months Facebook has been plagued with quite a few messages or links that claim friends have been given the opportunity to remove Facebook’s new Timeline and/ or change the color of their Facebook profile from Blue to Red, Pink, Black or Purple.

First, Facebook announced the release of its new “Timeline” profile back in September of 2011. It is designed to take the place of your old profile page and is NOT an Opt-in or Opt-out feature. Once you update to the Timeline or Facebook finally updates your account with it, you will have seven (7) days to view and edit it to your liking. During that 7 day period no one except you will be able to see your Timeline. Once you publish it, it will become viewable to other people BASED ON YOUR PRIVACY SETTINGS. Eventually all Facebook users will have it and there is and will be NO WAY to remove it. For that reason all messages that state you can remove or block the “Timeline” should be ignored. Even if the messages appear to come from friends you trust. There are no Facebook apps or any other apps or plug-ins that can REMOVE the “TimeLine”.

Second, there are NO Facebook Applications available that can change the layout or color of your Facebook profile and Facebook does not offer any ways of doing it either. All Facebook Applications that promise to give you this ability, whether it be as a “Limit Time Only Offer”, Freebie or whatever, should be ignored, they are frauds. Even if it looks as if a trusted friend is endorsing a profile color change they just made, you should ignore it.

Special Note:

While there is NO WAY to completely Remove Facebook’s “Timeline” and NO Facebook applications capable of changing your Facebook profile color, there are 4 Recommend Browser Plug-ins that can tweak how the “Timeline” appears to YOU and give you the option of displaying different colors on your Facebook profile page. “FBPurity” along with simple browser trick will allow you to view the older version of your Facebook profile page. It effectively hides the “Timeline” from YOUR view, (Your Friends Will Still See Your Timeline.) “Social Fixer” can tweak how the “Timeline” appears to you and give you the option of displaying different colors on your Facebook profile pages, amongst other features. For a lot of Facebook users it is a must have plug-in for many reason. "Timeline Remove" and "FB Timeline Remover and Disabler" are the new kids on the block and they basically give Facebook users the ability to turn the Timeline on or off in the chrome browser. From what I’ve seen of them, they are easy to use and do what they say they do. Please remember, as with the other plug-ins, they DO NOT remove the Timeline, they simply hide it from your view as you surf Facebook with them. When you surf to your friend' s Timelines with the "Timeline Remove" or the "FB Timeline Remover and Disabler" plug-in you will also see their old style profile. HOWEVER, please note, people who do not use these types of browser plug-ins will still see your Timeline.

REMINDER!

The Timline is PERMANENT. These plug-ins only change what is visible to YOU, they DO NOT change what is visible to people who do not use them. THEY STILL SEE YOUR TIMELINE. Also, you must have a browser like Firefox or Chrome to use most of these plug-ins. Currently only "Timeline Remove" has a plug-in for Internet Explorer, the rest do not.

Read More About FBPurity Here:
http://www.fbpurity.com/remove-facebook-timeline.htm

Read More About Social Fixer Here:
http://socialfixer.com/

Read More About Timeline Remove Here:
http://www.timelineremove.com/

Read More About FB Timeline Remover and Disabler Here:
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/nkcokgbocjdimlmboepiomecihakbinp/details

Disclaimer:

I do not endorse any of the above browser plug-ins. Though I personally know that they work as promised and many users find them useful, I do not advise or tell Facebook users to install any 3rd party tools such as these. FBPurity and Social Fixer (Formerly Better Facebook) have been around a very long time and have very good reputations. If you must use these types of tools, I would start with them first. Timeline Remove and FB Timeline Remover and Disabler are relatively new and as far as I can see they are performing as promised and I haven't found many complaints about them. However, I urge users to watch the browser permissions "Timeline Remove" and "FB Timeline Remover and Disabler" request. In my view they are a bit intrusive for simply hiding something from yourself and to make it kind of worse, these two browser plug-ins have no Privacy Policy or TOS. So even though they work, you've really got no idea what they may end up doing with the data their plug-ins can access.

Browser Permissions For Timeline Remove

Browser Permissions For FB Timeline Remover

~Black Knight

An Open Letter To Facebook Via The Privacy And Security Guide!

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On February 4 2012, an Open Letter was presented to Facebook in reference to the escalating issue of ‘Sick Child Hoaxes, or “baby charity scams” as a Facebook spokesperson later referred. The letter stated that several websites had made collective efforts to prevent the spread of these photographs, and called for their removal. It also requested that Facebook increase public awareness of the issue and act more proactively in preventing and removing these hoaxes/ scams. To date we believe Facebook's efforts appear lacking at best. Please read our new letter to Facebook and take the time to sign the included petition. Help us help you.

An Open Letter To Facebook -RE: Sick Child Hoaxes, or baby charity scams 
http://facebookprivacyandsecurity.wordpress.com/2012/03/13/an-open-letter-to-facebook/

~Black Knight

Sharing and Liking Photos Of Children With Sicknesses Does Not Bring Donations From Facebook.

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<< Hoax Alert - Baby Cancer & Heart Transplant >>

(Additional Resource Added - There are now 12 known Hoaxes)
Facebook user should be on the lookout for "re-posted" PHOTOS that claim people should share or like them so that Facebook will donate money to help children depicted in the photos obtain free heart transplants or other needed surgeries. Despite what is stated in the widely circulated Facebook messages, (Examples Attached), the photos should not be re-shared or re-posted.

Why These Photos Are Scams/ Hoaxes:
First, Facebook or the Facebook Team is very aware of what they call a "baby charity scam/ hoax issue" and have basically confirmed that they will not pay or donate money to anyone simply because a photo was shared or liked. Secondly, the baby charity scam/ hoax messages currently on Facebook are a reincarnation of old money for forwarding or re-posting hoaxes. These types of messages have been circulated for years, first via email and more lately via social media posts. In many confirmed cases the images of sick children are being uploaded to facebook and shared through the network without the parents expressed permission or consent, which actually violates Facebook's TOS. Many of the parents become distraught to find out someone is using pictures of their sick child in this manner and have been requesting that Facebook remove the photo's for quite some time now.

Why The Baby Charity Scams/ Hoaxes Have Become So Prolific On The Social Network:
Many people believe they are doing a "compassionate" or "caring" thing by re-sharing the hoax messages and photos. That the act of sharing or liking the photos shows their want to help the children. Since the social network is known for it's huge user base it's very easy to find millions of compassionate people willing to simply take your word for it and click like or share, when they see a photo depicting a sick child stating money will be donated for that simple action. This spreads these photos to their friends and so on, allowing others to fall into the trap as well. Though their actions are admirable, they are misguided into aiding pranksters and con-men in increasing likes, shares and interactions on their pages and profiles. My colleagues and I have seen some of these photos reach 600,000 shares in a manner of hours to a few days. For the con-men who shared the photo, the increased traffic to the photo also translates into to likes to their useless fan pages and subscriptions to their fake profiles.

Another reason these hoaxes have become so prolific is that, while Facebook has stated they need to work on getting the photos removed quicker they seem to be failing in both removing old instances of the hoaxes and stopping people from creating new instances of them. My colleagues and I have seen a sharp increase in the instances of these photos and although it may appear extremely viral instances are cut down more quickly the slower ones are never touched. Many are being left in place on the network for extremely long periods of time, even after they have been reported hundreds or thousands of times. In some cases users who report the photos receive emails back stating the Facebook can not confirm the hoax/ scam, is a hoax/ scam, (???) - Since these photos are of children and are being use in the way they are, I and many others consider this UNACCEPTABLE. By all standards it is child exploitation and if Facebook doesn't step up to combat it properly, I and many other people are left to believe they are getting something from it as well.

What Can Happen to Users who Participate In these Hoaxes/ Scams:

Beside the fact these hoaxes/ scams cause users to spread misinformation and unauthorized photos throughout their friends and Facebook, there is a serious risk to certain users who may be extremely believing and compassionate of the hoaxes. Since the bulk of the hoaxes are being uploaded by scammers who want to increase their foot print on the social networking site, users who participate in the ruse become exposed to these con-men. If someone has wholeheartedly fallen for the photo they may leave comments stating such or asking how they can help. The con-men see this and may quickly turn sharing and liking into asking the victim to send money to him for the child. It is possible that this maybe happening very regularly but many of the victims may never speak up due to being embarrassed they got scammed out of money. This is why it's extremely important the people understand it is better to recognize the con and avoid liking, sharing or commenting on the photos. Since Facebook can be a very open network, taking those actions can open you and your friends up to losing money. Never comment on, like or share these hoaxes, even if it is to inform others of the hoax/ scam. It is better to simply report the photos to Facebook.

How to Report The Photos:

If you should see any of your friends re-share or re-post any of the pictures shown below, let your friend know their efforts are better served finding a legitimate childhood sickness charity on Facebook to support. Then you and your friend should REPORT the PHOTO at it's source. You can report the photo's at their source by simply clicking on the photo in the new feed, then clicking on the "Report This Photo" link shown below the photo, to the right, or if the photo loads in Facebook's "Photo Viewer" you can click the "Gear Menu", (Top Right Corner of the Viewer) and select "Report This Photo" from the drop down menu that appears. 

Current Baby Cancer & Heart Transplant Hoaxes

 

 

 

UPDATE 1: All "Event Invites" that use any of the sick child photos shown in the examples are to be ignored and reported.. You can report scam events by simply clicking the "Report" link on the lower left side of the event page. Select "Scam Or Spam" in the option box that opens, then click submit. Do not click to "Attend" the events..

UPDATE 2: Via Thatsnonsense.com -Administration

We've had some success getting rid of photos of the sick children in hospital with several popular instances being removed. However there are still several instances that have been up for a while. They are listed here. If you have a minute or so free please report these photos.

Our Facebook article on this hoax is here:
http://www.thatsnonsense.com/viewdef.php?article=facebook_babies_hoax

*Resources: Master List

An Open Letter To Facebook -RE: Sick Child Hoaxes, or baby charity scams
http://facebookprivacyandsecurity.wordpress.com/2012/03/13/an-open-letter-to-facebook/

Anti-scam websites beg Facebook to remove sick baby hoaxes
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/facebook/anti-scam-websites-beg-facebook-to-remove-sick-baby-hoaxes/8613

Ramona Mother Fights Online Exploitation of Child
http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/Ramona-Mother-Fights-Online-Exploitation-of-Child-139191913.html

A Special Appeal to Facebook Users - Unauthorized Use of Baby Zoe Chambers Photograph
http://www.hoax-slayer.com/zoe-chambers-story.shtml


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2376494/Heart-transplant-child-Zoe-Chambers-has-died.html

Hoax - Facebook Will Pay Three Cents Per Share to Help Baby With Facial Cancer
http://www.hoax-slayer.com/child-three-cents-per-share-cancer.shtml

Baby cancer and heart transplant hoaxes on Facebook
http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2012/01/10/baby-cancer-and-heart-transplant-hoaxes-on-facebook/

Boy with courage in a class of its own: Brave meningitis boy, 4, starts school after losing ALL his limbs
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1316191/Harley-Lane-4-starts-school-losing-ALL-limbs-meningitis.html

Grieving mother distraught after conmen set up Facebook site asking for donations to help fund heart transplant for her dead toddler daughter
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2088292/Conmen-set-Facebook-site-asking-donations-help-fund-heart-transplant-dead-toddler.html

Ectopia Cordis Sick Baby Facebook Hoax
http://www.hoax-slayer.com/ectobia-cordis-sick-baby-hoax.shtml

Hoax - Facebook Will Pay One Dollar Per Like to Help Baby With a Face Cancer
http://www.hoax-slayer.com/fb-dollar-cancer-hoax.shtml

Another Facebook Nonsense Post - Share to Help Baby With Brain Disorder
http://www.hoax-slayer.com/baby-brain-disorder.share.shtml

My boy refused to die: Medical miracle Ryan is the first baby to survive being born with his heart outside his body
http://www.parentdish.co.uk/kids/medical-miracle-ryan-marquiss-is-the-first-baby-to-survive-born-with-heart-outside-body/

Boy is world's first to survive being born with heart outside his body
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2103342/Boy-worlds-survive-born-heart-outside-body.html

Mother sacrificed her life by refusing cancer treatment so her premature baby would live
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-510308/Mother-sacrificed-life-refusing-cancer-treatment-premature-baby-live.html

Boy Shot By Step Dad Charity Hoax
http://www.hoax-slayer.com/boy-shot-stepfather-text-message-hoax.shtml

Facebook Prayer Request For Baby Found in the Bin
http://www.hoax-slayer.com/baby-bin-prayer-request.shtml

Life-Saving Surgery Saved A Boy With 3.3kg Cancer Tumor In His Stomach
http://palscience.com/health-medicine/life-saving-surgery-saved-a-boy-with-33kg-cancer-tumor-in-his-stomach/

Mother's anger as girl, three, is sent home from nursery looking like this after being beaten black and blue by a two-year-old nicknamed Chucky
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2077039/Katie-Ann-Guttridge-3-attacked-Leicester-nursery-2-year-old.html

Two-month-old baby 'happy and healthy' after miraculous surgery to remove neck tumour the size of her head
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2041294/Two-month-old-baby-happy-healthy-miraculous-surgery-remove-neck-tumour-size-head.html

Facebook removes sick baby hoaxes, urges users to report more "????"
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/facebook/facebook-removes-sick-baby-hoaxes-urges-users-to-report-more/8675

Appeal for assistance From The Administration Of  Hoax-Slayer

"Hi there!

As some of you may be aware, I have spent a considerable amount of time the last couple of weeks assisting Julie Chambers in getting the picture of her and her sadly departed daughter Zoe removed from Facebook after Em Franklin alerted us to it being used as a "share to help get surgery" hoax which, after my investigations, transpired to be funding a scam run by a Jamaican (http://www.hoax-slayer.com/zoe-chambers-story.shtml). This instance even made national press in the UK (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2088292/Conmen-set-Facebook-site-asking-donations-help-fund-heart-transplant-dead-toddler.html) and we have been quite successful so far. There are however a few unauthorised shares of this photo on FB that we are still working on as we find them.

Three days ago, the mother of the child with the cavernous hemagioma, Hope Cantu Ettore learned that a picture of her son, Samuel, was being used in a similar hoax, albeit without the scam element (there has been one instance discovered though where the page sharing the photo has included a link to their Sri Lankan travel company in the caption). Samuel is now 7 years old and had the hemagioma removed a number of years ago and is doing brilliantly. I am also now assisting Hope with trying to get this picture also removed from Facebook.

As you can imagine, both mothers are very distressed at pictures of their children having been misappropriated in this way and I do have a couple of support groups I am a member of on FB assisting in our efforts to get these pictures removed. This is, however, quite a large task and I am now asking the hoax and scam busting communities on Facebook to please also assist with this if you would be so kind.

The plan of attack we are taking is to report the picture where it is being shared from, rather than the instance where is is being shared. This way the workload is lessened somewhat in that when the "original" post of the photo is removed - all shares of it also instantly disappear. Where possible we are also commenting on the photo where it is shared and messaging the person who shared it.

I would be very grateful for any and all assistance offered in this task, as I am sure both mothers would also be very appreciative.

~This post has been cross-posted to: Bulldog Estate, That's Nonsense, Facecrooks, Sophos and Hoax Slayer.~

Thank you for your time and assistance.

Steve.

UK Admin for Hoax Slayer on Facebook.

**Share This Alert With Your Friends**

~MBK

Checked and Verified by The BULLDOG Estate

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