Amartya Sen blasts Facebook over fake profile

Nobel Laureate won't join social networking site as managers did not help delete page

After falling victim to identity theft on Facebook, Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen has said he got no help from the managers of the social networking site in closing the "fraudulent" page of someone impersonating him. Sen said he never intends to open any account on a site where it is difficult to check the 'genuineness" of a participant.



According to a report last week, an 'impostor' pretending to be  Amartya Sen created a page on Facebook, which showed Sen as having 490 fans, and was liberally posting views that radically contradicted the political and economic views held by the professor.

"I do not have any Facebook site of my own, and do not intend to open one. The story... is indeed correct, and the site referred to there, where someone pretending to be me answered questions - in first person - as Amartya Sen, had nothing whatsoever to do with me," Sen said. "The fraudulent Facebook page has been in operation, I understand, for some months now, but I came to know of it only two days ago when a young Italian enthusiast told me about this site, having been deceived himself in thinking it to be genuine."

Disappointed that he never got any help from the Facebook managers in sloving the issue, Sen said, "The managers of the Facebook system are not helpful in monitoring the veracity of the sites and communications. I got no help from them, and the fraudulent site pretending to be from me has now been closed - as I am told it has been..."

Efforts to get a specific response from Facebook did not materialise. The renowned economist, however, does  not completely disapprove of social networking sites.

"I don't use Facebook not because I disapprove of them. The genuine ones could help communication across the world, of which I am entirely in favour. Indeed, I think such communication can be very useful in getting people closer to each other despite the geographical distances separating them," Sen said. "If the honour system is respected, Facebook can have good effects, without the possibility of distorting people's views - as my economic and political assessments were distorted by that fraudulent site."