I’m guessing this is against both Twitter and Facebook’s terms of service, but apparently the folks who run the NYCC – ReedPop – have hijacked attendees social media accounts.
What happened is mysterious tweets and Facebook posts began popping up on people’s accounts promoting the NYCC.
It looks as if people who purchased tickets attached their social network profiles to their NYCC accounts, and the NYCC took full advantage through the use of a new RFID chip.
Basically what happens when you give an App permission to access your various accounts is it asks for permission. A majority of the Apps ask for access to your walls, posts etc., but none of them (at least that I have used) will post something without the user’s specific knowledge (as is the case here).
Well, when attendees swiped their NYCC badge this year, tweets and Facebook posts went out – and they weren’t from the person. The NYCC is using RFID chips this year to keep track of all the attendees whereabouts at the Con, so when an attendee first swiped their badge something like the following was sent out (via Bleeding Cool):
I just checked in to #NYCC 2013 http://t.co/0PFvCHPCOz
— cullenbunn (@cullenbunn) October 10, 2013
#NYCC is the Best Four Days of my Year! http://t.co/r0mjC7v87b
— Harry Knowles (@headgeek666) October 10, 2013
RT So much pop culture to digest! Can’t. handle. the. awesome. #NYCC http://t.co/XShKBd3LVP This wasn’t me. It was NYCC tweeting for me :/
— Brian Crecente (@crecenteb) October 11, 2013
We also see the links are using bit.ly, which enables the NYCC to keep track of all the clicks.
Kinda shady.
To remove the permissions:
On Twitter go to: https://twitter.com/settings/applications
On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/appcenter/my
Update: ReedPop offered the following response:
As you may have seen yesterday, there were some posts to Twitter and Facebook issued by New York Comic Con on behalf of attendees after RFID badges were registered. This was an opt-in function after signing in, but we were probably too enthusiastic in our messaging and eagerness to spread the good word about NYCC. We have since shut down this service completely and apologize for any perceived overstep. Please accept our apologies and have an absolutely excellent time this weekend. – Your friends at NYCC
