Something Every Facebook User Should Know
Upate: Note that the contents of this post are relevant to all Facebook users, not just those who themselves use Facebook applications.
Did you know your personal information may already be shared with third parties around the world: without your explicit permission and without any checks by Facebook as to how they will use the information?
One of the most popular features of Facebook is applications. A huge number of Facebook users take quizzes, play games and hunt virtual vampires. Flixter boasts 19,143,791 monthly users (and is used by about 1 in 5 of my friends on Facebook). 2,013,459 make their own quizes each month using the “Make A Quiz” application.
The vast majority of applications on Facebook are unverified (Flixter being an rare exception). This means that Facebook (and you) have no real idea who the author is or what they are doing with your information.
When you add a quiz, game or any other application to Facebook you share a huge amount of personal information with the author. That can include your status updates, political views, name, location, who you are friends with and relationship status. Even worse: if one of your Facebook FRIENDS installs an application YOUR details are, by default, shared with the author of the application – even if you haven’t installed the application yourself. That’s right: your information shared with third parties around the world, possibly without your knowledge.
One of Facebook’s successes has been its ability to create a semi-private world where you share news and photographs with your friends. Facebook is running roughshod over that trust by allowing third party develops to access information without explicit authorisation, unless the user heads to an obscure section of their settings.
There are three things all Facebook users should do now:
1. Fix their own security settings.
Go to: http://www.facebook.com/privacy/?view=platform&tab=other
Untick everything under “Share my name, networks, and list of friends, as well as the following information”. Note that you can’t hide everything from third parties unless you use no applications yourself.
We also recommend that you tick “Do not allow friends to view my memberships on other websites through Facebook Connect.” and “Don’t allow Beacon websites to post stories to my profile.” which are potential privacy risks.
2. Share the link to this blog post on Facebook to let your friends know about the risks.
3. Complain to Facebook. They should NEVER allow a default setting to exist which shares information to third parties without explicit permission. Full stop. http://www.facebook.com/facebook.
The American Civil Liberties Union have developed an application of their own to highlight the problem.
Related posts:
- A Lesson In Facebook Engagement What makes people want to engage with a Twitter post...
- Take Care Who You Befriend on Facebook Sophos has discovered that a high percentage of people will...
- Spotify Hits The iPhone: Is There A Revenue Share Deal? The music community is buzzing with the news that Spotify,...
- The Guardian Comes Up With An App Worth Paying For The Guardian newspaper has launched its iPhone app. They’re far...
- Dixons Staff Get Caught Insulting Customers (But Don’t Blame Facebook) The BBC, Telegraph, Guardian and others have reported that Dixons...
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
