KTM News

KATHMANDU, DEC 26 -

Facebook users in Nepal are flooded with pornographic and violent images after an attack by hackers. Links, videos, and images, including doctored photographs of celebrities in compromising situations, have been appearing on Facebook accounts, putting users on tenterhooks.  

As the postings depicting acts of violence, self-mutilation and even bestiality show no sign of ebbing, unsuspecting users are trembling to think what will happen when their relatives and friends find out indecent photos and links being sent out from their accounts.

The attacks come in spam such as messages and tagged photos and those hacked have the images pop up on their news feeds and in their messages while the spam is passed along to their friends.

Some people have been taking extra precaution by posting written apologies on their walls. Users have been getting messages such as “Hey (username)! You won’t believe! I dare you can’t watch this video for more than 25 seconds. Along with the message is a attached video whose caption reads that 97 percent people can’t watch this video for more than 25 seconds…”

Alarmed by such posting, Shivani Pyakurael writes on her wall, “Let people know that video posted on their walls was actually not posted by me!”

In the same vein, Deepa Dahal writes she too has been getting spam messages and was totally disturbed when her friends said that she had sent those messages to

her friends. She, however, said that she is not aware of such spams.

Binaya Bohara, president of Internet Service Providers Association of Nepal (ISPAN), said people should report such kind of spam messages. “As Facebook has massive users, some might have hacked the site and sent the messages.

But one shouldn’t open it, instead report it availing of the facility given by Facebook,” Bohora said.

“If anybody clicks this video, then it is automatically sent out to all friends who are in the user’s ID.”

Police are also watching out for this latest terror on Facebook. Spokesman of Metropolitan Police Range DSP Dhiraj Pratap Singh said if some people intentionally send out such illicit materials they will be booked under the Electronic Transactions Act 2006. “People will be charged a fine of Rs 50,000 to Rs 100,000 and also will be sentenced for three to five years in prison depending upon the severity of crime.”

The Facebook management is also

seems to be taking necessary action. “We have recently experienced an increase in reports and we are investigating and addressing the issue,” FoxNews.com quoted Facebook Spokesman Andrew Noyes as saying. 

“We are always working to improve our systems to isolate and remove materials that violates our terms. Protecting the people who use Facebook from spam and malicious content is a top priority for us.”

The FoxNews reported that the flood of explicit material appears to be linked to

some sort of spam virus that propagates when unknowing users click on infected

content. It quoted Graham Cluely, a senior technology consultant from internet

security firm Sophos, as saying that it was not yet clear how the malicious content was being spread, but added that the website could face long term consequences.

On the other hand, the Delhi court on Saturday issued summons to 21 social networking websites, including Facebook, Google and Youtube, for facing criminal proceedings for allegedly web casting objectionable contents.