AN internet free-for-all broke out yesterday as thousands of so-called cybersquatters assumed the identities of celebrities, members of the royal family, politicians and companies on the Facebook social networking website.
They were taking advantage of a new feature introduced by Facebook, which yesterday morning began handing out personalised web addresses on a first-come, first-served basis.
The idea is for the site's 200m users to register their own names, but there is nothing to stop them hijacking the names of well-known companies or individuals if they are still unregistered, a practice known as cybersquatting.
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This could give them the opportunity to sell the addresses at a later date to internet users wanting to reclaim their own names.
In the first 15 minutes yesterday, 500,000 addresses were snapped up. While cybersquatters moved quickly, many well-known people and organisations were slow. Internet users typing in www.facebook.com/princecharles were directed to the profile of Charlie Nordholm from Hawaii.
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Downing Street's Facebook address led to a profile in the name of Guile Simtron, whose true identity was unclear.
While nobody had bothered to register Gordon Brown's address, David Cameron was quicker and laid claim to his own name. Buckingham Palace also secured its page.
The new system - already offered by MySpace and Twitter - makes it easier for people to find and share online profiles by giving them a unique address such as www.facebook.com/joebloggs. Previously they were assigned addresses with strings of random numbers.
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The mass popularity of Facebook makes it highly vulnerable to cybersquatting, which started in the early days of the internet.
Alberto Nardelli, chief executive of UnLtdWorld, a business networking site, said: "There's nothing to stop (people) setting up a page and selling it on. In some cases the value of a page can be compared to an advert that reaches 1m people."
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Names snapped up yesterday by cybersquatters ranged from stars such as Girls Aloud to firms including Rolls-Royce, Waitrose and Morrisons.
Facebook says it reserves the right to close accounts and that it gave companies the chance to register their names and trademarks in advance.