Here’s another problem that addicted Facebook users have to worry about: Pranksters have discovered a relatively easy way to “bump off” their friends on Facebook by declaring them legally dead.
All a “friend” has to do to declare you dead — and lock you out of your Facebook page — is to navigate to the “Memorialization Request” page and fill out the form, including a link to an obituary.
The obituary doesn’t even have to match your name exactly — as one user found out when he returned from vacation to learn he was dead and his facebook page was locked.
According to ABC News, when Rusty Foster returned from vacation and tried to log into his facebook page, a dialog box popped up informing him that he was “Memorialized.”
Foster tweeted Thursday, “Facebook thinks I’m dead. I’m tempted to just let it.”
After several failed attempts to convince Facebook he was in fact alive, Foster tweeted. “Did you know that you can report any of your Facebook friends dead & Facebook will lock them out of their account with no evidence needed?”
When reached by ABC News, a Facebook spokesperson stated that the Memorialization system was is in place to “respect the privacy of the deceased.” But it’s the privacy of the living that users are worried about.
Foster said he understands the position Facebook is in when it comes to the death of one of its users, but believes there are better options for the social media site.
“There ought to be an email sent to the account’s email address informing it that the account has been reported dead and providing a link or something to dispute the report before any action is taken,” Foster wrote.
Foster said the most frustrating part of being “Facebook dead” was not being able to get into his account to “click the ‘I’m not dead’ button that should also be there.”
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