Facebook gets poked in latest privacy gaffe

Jethro said:
To access more, applications have to ask for permission for each piece of information.
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Are you even familliar with Facebook? Ever installed an application? What do you think that popup does? Read through it next time, it'll shock you. By installing the app, you agree to let it pull your data:
App name is requesting permission to do the following:
  • 41762_1070994993_5669_q.jpg
    Access my basic information
    Includes name, profile picture, gender, networks, user ID, list of friends, and any other information I've shared with everyone.
  • KN6oP-OJFtm.png
    Post to my Wall
    App name may post status messages, notes, photos, and videos to my Wall
  • nSIVDOUBk5l.png
    Access posts in my News Feed
  • qOXdFdzDGVh.png
    Access my data any time
    App name may access my data when I'm not using the application
  • AhfTKMr_YL2.png
    Manage my pages
    RSS Graffiti may login as one of my Pages
  • Vs3FoRETpFA.png
    Access my profile information
    Groups and Events
​
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​
 
Dude I'm no longer arguing with you, since you refuse to understand the simplest statement if it doesn't support your position then it's a complete waste of my time to continue this. Continue with your FB love affair and turn a blind eye to reality.
 
Jethro said:
Dude I'm no longer arguing with you, since you refuse to understand the simplest statement if it doesn't support your position then it's a complete waste of my time to continue this. Continue with your FB love affair and turn a blind eye to reality.
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Believe me, it's not a 'love affair'. Facebook has many, many issues, however, this time it's not Facebook that has the issues. The issue is what 3rd party developers do with information given them with user's consent. They brought this up with the developers and chewed them out for it. Personally, I'd love to see them ban these specific devs and their applications, but I also think that's a bit extreme.

The moral to the story is very simple. ALWAYS know whom you give your information to, and make sure it's a trustworthy source.

You think I'm wrong? Ok, fine, name ONE thing that Facebook has done here that breaks their terms. Giving information out without consent? Sorry, you consent to give your info when you install the app. Next?
 
twhiting9275 said:
Believe me, it's not a 'love affair'. Facebook has many, many issues, however, this time it's not Facebook that has the issues. The issue is what 3rd party developers do with information given them with user's consent. They brought this up with the developers and chewed them out for it. Personally, I'd love to see them ban these specific devs and their applications, but I also think that's a bit extreme.

The moral to the story is very simple. ALWAYS know whom you give your information to, and make sure it's a trustworthy source.

You think I'm wrong? Ok, fine, name ONE thing that Facebook has done here that breaks their terms. Giving information out without consent? Sorry, you consent to give your info when you install the app. Next?
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The bolded part of the quote from Facebook: "Applications can only see information you've already made visible to everyone. To access more, applications have to ask for permission for each piece of information, and it can only be information that's needed for them to work"

Since when is additional, private, market-research-pertinent information that I have not made publicly viewable on my profile "necessary for the application to work"? I don't think it is. Facebook makes it seem as though the apps can only pull additional data if it is required for the operation of the app. Such is obviously not the case if app developers are taking additional, unnecessary (for the operation of the app) information to sell to marketing companies.

Yes, I know I have explicitly granted the app to utilize this private information, but only for the purposes of my utilization of the app. Nowhere in your screenshot or anytime I've started using an app have I seen that "the data I allow the app to access may be sold or otherwise given to third parties."

Facebook's statement is misleading. More importantly, they do not clarify exactly what you're defending: that what apps do with your data is not Facebook's responsibility, and users should proceed with the use of apps at their own risk (whether or not Facebook should be responsible for what applications do with data is a whole other discussion).
 
I fully agree that the data shouldn't be sold or given to 3rd parties (in this case 4th, I guess, since they get it from a 3rd party), but is Facebook responsible for the actions of 3rd party developers?

What was given out, based on the article? From what I can tell, all of this is public information anyways, and if not, the user specifically gave permission to the app to obtain. Friends list, UID, Name, all covered here. That's all we know (for now) that was released. Maybe more will come out, I'll agree, but from what I can gather, those 3 are the only things that were released, and all 3 of those are covered in the installation.

I'm not sure Facebook's statement is misleading here. Was Facebook leaking the data, or were the 3rd party devs? The devs were clearly mining the data, but then again, what part of that is unnecessary?
Farmville (to use the most popular breach here) uses friends lists to connect you with your friends farms. They use your UID, like everyone does, to identify you. They don't need your name, but you agree to give that anyways .
 
"It said that the 10 most popular Facebook apps [...] were transmitting users’ IDs to external firms."

Is that really a surprise to anyone?

An app that becomes popular on facebook has its hooks in millions of users. That is a personal data harvester's (AKA "external firms") dream. You can be sure that those "external firms" are on top of every popular app, filling the author's eyes with potential dollar signs.

People want everything on line to be free, but they don't want to sacrifice anything for all that free stuff. It's a naive worldview. I could understand outrage over personal details being sold by someone who is taking your money in exchange for a product or service, but "free" rarely comes without strings.
 
mjp said:
"It said that the 10 most popular Facebook apps [...] were transmitting users’ IDs to external firms."

Is that really a surprise to anyone?

An app that becomes popular on facebook has its hooks in millions of users. That is a personal data harvester's (AKA "external firms") dream. You can be sure that those "external firms" are on top of every popular app, filling the author's eyes with potential dollar signs.

People want everything on line to be free, but they don't want to sacrifice anything for all that free stuff. It's a naive worldview. I could understand outrage over personal details being sold by someone who is taking your money in exchange for a product or service, but "free" rarely comes without strings.
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Couldn't have said it better myself only because I'm english.
 
Lucas said:
Like facebook? Use it. Don't like facebook? Don't use it. End of story. :) You all know enough to get your own point of view/opinion on facebook and know whether or not it is for you.
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The problem is that issues like this are coming up after millions of people decide they like Facebook and use it. It's like a sabotage. I'm sure if people knew prior to registering that these privacy issues would exist, there probably wouldn't be half as many Facebook users as there currently are.
 
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