200K People Confirm Party Invitation Via Facebook Prank

[vansau]

200K People Confirm Party Invitation Via Facebook Prank

If you're having a party and want to use Facebook to send out the invitation, do yourself a favor and be careful about using privacy settings.

All that 15-year-old "Jess" wanted to do was invite some friends to a birthday party. What she wasn't counting on was that the invitation she sent out via Facebook would be used in a prank and she'd suddenly find herself with a guest list of over 200,000 people.

The Sydney-based girl apparently created the invitation for other kids in her grade, with the intention of having a small party. However, she allowed people on her guest list to invite other people because she she "didn't have enough time to invite everyone." Because of the invitation's open nature, someone hijacked it; exactly who did this isn't clear. The Daily Telegraph explains:

"The invitation appeared to have been hijacked by members of the notorious chat group Anonymous, or viral prankster David Thorne, resulting in it going viral worldwide.

A number of the postings on her party invitation Facebook site were using the Anonymous symbol as their own."

Unsurprisingly, the party was cancelled, but Jess is now worried about what's going to happen on March 26, the day the party was planned. As a result, police are stepping in to patrol her neighborhood that night and make sure the girl's house stays safe. The Daily Telegraph is reporting that police have charged a seventeen-year-old boy with the invitation's manipulation (though what he's officially being charged with isn't clear at this point).

I'm willing to bet that Jess will be much more willing to take advantage of Facebook's privacy settings. Honestly, she should have been careful in the first place, but this seems like a pretty mean-spirited prank.

Source: <a href=http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/chatswood-girl-cancels-facebook-party-after-20000-said-they-would-attend/story-e6freuy9-1226021316186>The Daily Telegraph

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[The_root_of_all_evil]

"Notorious chat group"

Oh, you berks.

Expect us.

 

[qbanknight]

Jebas people, what happened to the days of playing a prank on someone where the victim feels dumb but can brush it off after an hour with a good laugh? This is just plain malicious

 

[Speakercone]

If no one shows up, then this will have been pretty hilarious. Still, with 200k people signed there's some good odds that a few people are gonna cause trouble in her neighborhood. I hope for the girl's sake that she has an aunty and uncle in Bel-Air.

 

[Optimystic]

Oh come on, Daily Telegraph. The Anonymous logo is easy to find (first result when I google image search "Anonymous.") I'm sure they have better things to do than terrorize some fifteen-year old gi-

...oh god

 

[Knusper]

I remember something like this happening in the UK a few months ago, but she made it completely open (inadvertently, of course) and hundreds of thousands of people joined without even being invited. I bet her parents would have been a bit miffed to see thousands of people at their doorstep.

 

[Vaccine]

We had a thread about this on our WoW guild forums, was no where as good as Cory Worthingtons party. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_m-G2fCCY0]
Mostly because it really happened, and the fact he looks like a massive tool.

 

[AlexanderPeregrine]

Look up "Kate's birthday party" for more of the same.

 

[The Rockerfly]

Oh internet people, what under aged girls life will you do to next?

 

[ItsAChiaotzu]

Haha, that's genius. I love David Thorne, absolutely funniest guy on the internet.


Captcha: Deraus WIMP, more good band names.

 

[WorldCritic]

I'm pretty sure Anonymous has better things to do than play a prank on a fifteen year old girl. Unless maybe one of the members thought it would be funny, it just seems to me that the police are a little too quick to blame them.

 

[fix-the-spade]

Does anyone else think that "Being a dick" should me made a prosecutable offense?

The defendant has to stand in front of a judge and jury, the punishment fitted to the level of dick-ishness displayed. An offenec like this would get community service, it's a pretty dickish thing to do, but wasn't overtly malicious or violent like say, getting drunk and punching someone would be.

Feel sorry for 'Jess' though, that would have been an amazing party.

 

[HerbertTheHamster]

David Thorne is a godlike troll

 

[ProfessorLayton]

So a bunch of people jokingly hitting "confirm" on a party invitation probably thousands of miles away from where they actually live is grounds for having the police watching your house to keep you safe and suing some kid for sending out an open invitation? The internet is serious business, guys.

"The invitation appeared to have been hijacked by members of the notorious chat group Anonymous, or viral prankster David Thorne, resulting in it going viral worldwide.

A number of the postings on her party invitation Facebook site were using the Anonymous symbol as their own."

Oh yeah, and I lol'd.

I honestly have no idea why this is such a big deal, or even a mean spirited prank. The chick who made it left it open and a bunch of people said they were showing up. How is that guy even "hijacking" it, anyway? By sending it around? By posting it on Ebaums? I really don't get it.

 

[gigastar]

And people wonder why i dont use Facebook.

I doubt Anon is behind it. Hacking Facebook is probably last on the collectives list of things to do.

 

[MrGalactus]

I'd have loved 200,000 people at my party! How big a space would you need to fit that?

 

[kittii-chan 300]

come on now, what's wrong with inviting people to a party the old fashioned way? with a piece of paper?

 

[Therumancer]

Oh come on, Daily Telegraph. The Anonymous logo is easy to find (first result when I google image search "Anonymous.") I'm sure they have better things to do than terrorize some fifteen-year old gi-

...oh god

Yes well I remember Jessie Slaughter too.

http://youtube.wikia.com/wiki/Jessie_Slaughter

http://encyclopediadramatica.com/Jessie_Slaughter

I do agree with a lot of what Anonymous does, however I'm reluctant to consider them good guys or buy into the entire "hacktivist" thing that they seem branded with, since their bottom line is lulz. If they do some good stuff along the way so be it.

I wouldn't put it past them to phrank a 15 year old girl, because well, it wouldn't be the first time they terrorized a young girl.

Now granted, Jessie *WAS* being a bit of a twit by all reports, but I mean crud, she was like 11 when Anonymous decided to go after her.

 

[kotomeha]

And it happened again.
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/event.php?eid=196900146997774

Will 15 year olds ever learn?