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Top Facebook Apps Violate Privacy Terms

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the dying-from-not-surprise dept.

cgriffin21 writes "No stranger to privacy concerns, Facebook is once again in the privacy spotlight, following a Wall Street Journal report that some popular Facebook applications leak personal information to advertisers. 'Many of the popular applications, or 'apps,' on the social-networking site Facebook Inc. have been transmitting identifying information — in effect, providing access to people's names and, in some cases, their friends' names — to dozens of advertising and Internet tracking companies,' according to The Wall Street Journal, which wrote about Facebook Sunday in the latest installment of its recent 'What They Know' series about advertising and the Internet."

15 of 95 comments (clear)

  1. Re:facebook is the end of privacy as we know it... by Culture20 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It makes me wonder why Facebook had a privacy "policy" for app writers when they could have easily scrubbed data before letting Zinga et al get their grubby mitts on them. A "Do not walk on grass" sign carries less weight than a groundskeeper, security guard, or a fence.

  2. Re:facebook is the end of privacy as we know it... by DJRumpy · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Ah, my life for a Mod point. The point of security is to enforce the rules, not to ask for them to be enforced. I've been forced to turn off almost everything across the board on facebook. It's become a joke in it's 'safety' features and 'privacy' (or lack thereof).

    How long before we see the release of Diaspora?

  3. Facebook needs a default block by grub · · Score: 2, Insightful


    One thing that pisses me off are the endless "Joe Blow has scored 100283 points on Fist the Goatse Guy"-type messages. You have to block that type of shit manually. They should have a default deny for that garbage.

    End of Rant.

    --
    Trolling is a art,
    1. Re:Facebook needs a default block by grub · · Score: 2, Insightful

      That's what I do but I need to be on a computer to do it. The Facebook app doesn't seem to have that feature. It's a royal PITA.

      --
      Trolling is a art,
  4. Re:facebook is the end of privacy as we know it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It makes me wonder why Facebook had a privacy "policy" for app writers when they could have easily scrubbed data before letting Zinga et al get their grubby mitts on them. A "Do not walk on grass" sign carries less weight than a groundskeeper, security guard, or a fence.

    Because that wouldn't have made Mark Zuckerberg stinking rich.

  5. FBPurity by scrib · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Firefox, greasemonkey add-on, and FBPurity. The "FB" stands for "Fluff Busting" not "facebook" for legal reasons...

    It blocks app messages, groups joined, events attended, everything. You can whitelist some things that you might want to see and create your own list of blocked words if you want. It's the only thing that makes facebook vaguely usable in my book...

    http://www.fbpurity.com/

    --
    Help! Help! I'm being repressed!
    1. Re:FBPurity by grub · · Score: 2, Insightful

      They don't work on the mobile app as they just hide, not block, the crap. As far as Facebook is concerned you're still a member of the group/whatever.

      --
      Trolling is a art,
  6. For the nth time already by TheABomb · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's not a "privacy leak" if you type the $#!% in yourself!

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    1. Re:For the nth time already by decipher_saint · · Score: 3, Insightful

      What about when acquaintances release personal information about you on Facebook?

      That's the real problem with these apps that violate privacy, if it violates an individuals privacy it violates everyones (to some degree).

      Like it or not there is shared information that defines you, with our without your input.

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      crazy dynamite monkey
    2. Re:For the nth time already by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You're wrong.

      I type my credit card in when I buy stuff online. I expect that only the appropriate employees at the cc processor have access to that information.

      I type my telephone number in on facebook. I expect that only people on my friends' list can see my phone number, but sure enough, it's accessible by Zynga et. al. because one (or several) of my friends played farmville or whatever during the day or so after facebook auto-reset everyone's privacy settings.

      You may be right that the term 'privacy leak' is a bit of a misnomer, as it generally refers to a large-scale breach of records, but the idea that 'if you type it in yourself' you deserve to have your information spread to any number of obnoxious companies is completely preposterous.

  7. Re:FB Privacy...FWIW by siriuskase · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Don't post anything you wouldn't want all your friends to know. Remember that you have friends you don't know about, the one's who pay FB to be your "secret friends". Isn't it nice to have so many friends?

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  8. Re:facebook is the end of privacy as we know it... by TheRaven64 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Yes it would. Facebook exists to sell your information to third parties. Restricting the information that third parties can get at without paying Facebook is directly in line with their goals. Of course, it also requires some moderate amount of competence, which is pretty unlikely for Facebook.

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    I am TheRaven on Soylent News
  9. I don't think it's a coincidence by mysidia · · Score: 4, Insightful

    That the apps with problems are the top ones.

    How do they become top apps?

    They work, are designed well, and are appealing to their audience both graphically and functionally.

    How do apps that best meet these criteria get built? By hiring top-notch programmers, web designers, and marketers.

    What do you need to hire top-notch programmers, designers, and marketers? Lots of financial backing?

    How do you get lots of financial backing and excellent investors? By selling a very good business plan.

    How do you get lots of money to fund development? Advertising and information brokering.

    What do advertisers pay a lot for? Extremely well-targetted ads that take into account specific characteristics of the audience.

    What do information brokers pay a lot for? Private information about your users.

  10. Re:Overhyped BS by mysidia · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It has privacy issues similar to tracking cookies. It is like a tracking cookie you cannot delete.

    It's not necessarily that it contains private information in itself, but it can be used to uniquely identify you.

    If someone records what information goes with that UID once, then it's possible to match your UID to that information in the future, either by a past or future gathering from that party, or by purchasing the information to match against the UID from an information broker

  11. Re:Facebook's policy writers can go fuck themselve by paeanblack · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Deselecting any of the items on the list blocks access to the application. An application, which, I might add, doesn't need any of that info to operate correctly.

    Given that the sole purpose of those apps is to collect such information, they actually do need that info to operate correctly.

    You didn't think they exist to entertain you, did you? Really?