Please note that it is not technically possible to hack a Facebook group.
- Facebook
Who killed British Columbia’s biggest Facebook group with over 130,000 members – NO BC HST – for three days?
And how was it miraculously brought back to online life, with no explanation from Facebook or notice?
So far, I have no idea – even though I created and administer the protest group against B.C.’s planned seven per cent Harmonized Sales Tax and reported its complete disappearance to Facebook authorities.
It’s a disturbing mystery without many clues.
But answers are needed, not just because this group temporarily vanished but because any Facebook group could disappear too.
In fact, another group I created with over 8,000 members – Axe The BC Gas Tax – has also gone missing and not reappeared by press time.
One expert is not surprised, nor does he have advice on how to avoid Facebook group problems.
Dale Jackaman, president of Amuleta Computer Security, says the disappearance of NO BC HST has only three possible explanations.
“The common link is you, so the question is whether Facebook had a technical issue with your account, or a security issue, or was one of your computers hacked,” Jackaman said on Sunday.
Given that two of the five Facebook groups I administer – that are the largest and most damaging to the B.C. Liberals – disappeared, it’s hard not to think that it was a politically-motivated attack, not a strange coincidence.
Meanwhile, Jackaman wasn’t encouraging about discovering what happened, based on Facebook experience.
“We may never find out. You can try contacting Facebook for security and personal account issues but it’s very difficult to do,” he said.
But this story is not about me – it’s about you.
I’ve been honoured by the amazing response to NO BC HST since I created it in July 2009, shortly after Premier Gordon Campbell and Finance Minister Colin Hansen made the surprise announcement that B.C. would add an extra seven per cent tax on a wide range of goods and services that previously only had a five per cent GST.
It’s clear the phenomenal growth of NO BC HST is solely due to the fact that so many people on Facebook told their friends, family and co-workers to sign up.
At over 130,000 members, NO BC HST is actually bigger than the Vancouver Canucks official Facebook fan page, with 121,000 supporters, and much larger than Campbell’s 2,500 or Hansen’s 300.
What happened on Friday is that someone tried to take away the voice of 130,000 British Columbians who publicly stated their democratic opposition to this unfair tax.
This is our online community – and we have a right to know it is a safe place that cannot be stolen from us – not by any technical failures and definitely not by political hackers.
Join NO BC HST – go to my blog billtieleman. blogspot.com and link to it.
