Imagine a sweaty, pockmarked, agitated man gripping an ancient computer monitor while he sits alone in his low-lit, derelict apartment. The blinds behind him are broken and twisted. Things are falling apart, knocked over. He clearly lives alone. His mouth is hardened, glaring hard at something on the screen.

Suddenly, you get a glimpse of that which he's intently focusing.

Those faces look familiar.

Those people on the screen are your friends.

That's you at the fair last year.

Hey... That's... That's your latest profile picture! He's stalking your Facebook profile and he is definitely not your friend. Just what is he planning from there?

It's the premise of Take This Lollipop, the Halloween equivalent of Elf Yourself, created by the same man, Jason Zada, music director and creator of popular interactive campaigns with Ray-Ban, Coupons.com and Office Max. The site, when given permission by visitors, will access your very own Facebook account, using it to create a sinister story in which the user is the target of the man at the computer.

I won't tell you how it ends--and hopefully no one will spoil the experience for you either--but it's an eerie phenomenon. With the increase in demand for virtual experiences (Need I remind you of the 3D excess?), it's no surprise that within the first 24 hours of public access to www.takethislollipop.com, more than 300,000 people linked their Facebook accounts for the personalized horror story. Zada believes the site taps into the “broader concerns that people have about their personal information” when it comes to misuse, according to an interview with The New York Times.

I would agree with that idea, however, a site like Elf Yourself is fun. This isn't basic Halloween fun. It's a real, everyday fear for many, something not increased by whether or not it's Halloween or Friday the 13^th. There's no full moon or anniversary of a death to bring out an ax murderer. It's not a vampire, a werewolf, a gremlin or a gigantic spider behind the mouse. We know those things are imagined (or are they? I'm not going down that road...).

The guy in this video was, in a sense, using information I had already put out there to “track” me down. If my profile was not protected, he could see videos of me, pictures of places I frequent, names of my friends (and maybe their profiles aren't as protected as mine).

Once again, we're struck with the question: how much should we trust to our Facebook friends? Information of whereabouts, interests, addresses, e-mail, phone numbers and social events are all freely acquired for the most part. Facebook's default setting provides full access to friends. Privacy must be added by the user.

Do you really know all of your social network friends? You trust them with your Facebook. Would you trust them with your life?