Facebook, Digg, Myspace sharing user data

This Sucks

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The privacy issues that have been hounding Facebook may be coming to a head.

A report in the Wall Street Journal indicates that Facebook, along with MySpace, Digg and a handful of other social-networking sites, have been sharing users' personal data with advertisers without users' knowledge or consent.

The data shared includes names, user IDs, and other information sufficient to enable ad companies such as the Google-owned DoubleClick to identify distinct user profiles.

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read complete story here

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/05/21/f....html?hpt=Sbin

I haven't read the story yet, or ever took the time to read the privacy policy at Facebook, but did they actually have permission thinly agreed to in their policy or did they break the terms of their posted policy.

If they broke the terms this could have a serious impact.

Rick
Universal4

Of the 500 million members at Facebook I would be willing to bet 4,999,000 never read the T&Cs or understood them or recognized their data was being shared. I think we will hear more and more of this due to several privacy related lawsuits filed against social networks.

Whether those 4,999,000 understood the terms or not means less to the courts than whether Facebook actually went against their posted terms.

I agree though, this is likely going to be a major wake up call to the public.

Rick
Universal4

Last week there was a media frenzy about this issue...

This story does not surprise me at all.

Facebook has responded quickly.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/10157454.stm

Ben Edelman did an analysis of the Facebook data leak.

His analysis consists of:
1) A Technical analysis of how it is leaking
2) That the leak contradicts specific statements from Facebook's privacy policy.
3) That Facebook was made aware of the leak in August 2009.
4) Recommendation of Workable Plugs to the Leak

Here is a link to his full analysis: Facebook Leaks Usernames, User IDs, and Personal Details to Advertisers.


I very highly recommend Professor Edelman's work. He is the single person that comes to mind when I think of expertise in combating malware, spyware, and online fraud. I'd write glowingly about his background and work but I'd simply be repeating information available on his site, so I'll let you see for yourself. Here is his bio, and a list of his recent articles/analysis pieces is available on the homepage of his site, www.benedelman.com.

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Originally Posted by Professor

This Sucks



read complete story here

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/05/21/f....html?hpt=Sbin

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Facebook can't ignore the backlash they're getting from this. Facebookers are quite upset. :pissed: