Privacy issues with Facebook just keep coming up. Now we have reports that Facebook had a security flaw that allowed users to see their friends' live chats and pending friend requests.
Facebook says it has been working on a solution but the issue goes to the heart of the way the web site is invading privacy,
In a blog posting last week, the online privacy group the Electronic Frontier Foundation said that Facebook had now blocked users' ability to control who could see their own interests and personal information. All done to enhance Facebook's relationships with its business partners. "The new connections features benefit Facebook and its business partners, with little benefit to you. But what are you going to do about it? Facebook has consistently ignored demands from its users to create an easy "exit plan" for migrating their personal data to another social networking website, even as it has continued – one small privacy policy update after another – to reduce its users' control over their information."
Add to that reports of privacy and consumer protection groups going to the Federal Communications Commission charging the social networking website with "unfair and deceptive" practices.
Meanwhile, Heather Kelly and Nick Mediati at Macworld report that users who visit certain sites while logged into Facebook have found pieces of software automatically installed on their computers without anyone knowing. "It isn't entirely clear what information these apps are pulling from user profiles or feeding back to Facebook. They aren't automatically visible to friends viewing your profile page, but if you go to an application's profile page, you can see a list of your friends who also have that app installed, essentially getting a unintentional peek at their browsing habits."
Frank Reed at Marketing Pilgrim says Facebook's latest disaster with chat is no coincidence. Reed writes: "It's bad enough that they have played so loosely with their users' privacy as of late but they can't seem to get out of their own way either. Yesterday's screw-up around their chat feature further reveals just how suspect Facebook really is regarding privacy."
Great post!