Peter wrote a pretty good article which he shamelessly hawks (just kidding, Peter) above. It is worth reading and very much on the same topic as this one. Interesting that just today there were stories about how Facebook may well have to divulge their financial information even if they don’t go the IPO route. That might tell us how much they are (or aren’t) spending on the virus protection issue.

Ravi, you have great points, but I do think that Microsoft kept working diligently (just not successfully) on providing protection for their operating system. In fact, don’t I remember that some of their efforts were met with lawsuits from folks like Norton Antivirus expressly because some of their protection would put Norton out of business.

Anyway, I’m less (and think Peter may be, too) concerned about the background technology than I am with how Facebook handles (or doesnt’ handle at all) the issues of communication and concern. That’s why I say, if they were a politician and stonewalled like they do, we’d throw them out on their ear.

Thanks to both of you for continuing the conversation.

What I’m getting is that Facebook is taking a similar attitude – basically a ‘buyer beware’ philosophy, and (unless there’s a major backlash from consumers), they’re probably waiting for some third party operation to come out and sell a ’social media virus checker’ – some sort of interface you’d go through to get to Facebook. At least that’s my guess.

I’m not saying it’s right. I’m just saying that’s what I see.

Your thoughts?

Here’s my blog post on the subject:

Weak Response to Virus Attacks Show a Lack of Community Spirit at Facebook. http://bit.ly/c761N8