Privacy Concerns of FOAF-Based Linked Data

In this position paper, we introduce a potential problem that arises with the emergence of publicly-available, FOAF-based linked data. The problem allows a spammer to send context-aware spam, which has a high clickthrough rate. Unlike online profiles within social networks, FOAF-based structured data provides a more reliable and accessible “food” for spammers and attackers. Current solutions (e.g. Digital Signatures) and proposed methods to restrict unauthorized accesses to FOAF files can prevent a subset of such activities; however we show that they are not widely used. Moreover, some of these solutions may be contrary to the mission of the Semantic Web and open data initiative.