Posted by According to a recent Wall Street Journal investigation, several Facebook apps (application) were illegally transmitting users’ identification via unique Facebook user ID to advertising and internet tracking companies. This user ID can be used – illegally – in order to search for the person’s name and view his or her profile even if the user has set all of his or her Facebook information to be private.
This latest debacle on social networking sites is allegedly affecting millions of users (even those who set their profiles to Facebook’s strictest privacy settings). Well, this news isn’t new to our ears since Facebook was cited for several privacy issues in the past.
The report had mentioned that these tracking companies allegedly build databases on people in order to track their activities online. The investigation team of the Journal however, wasn’t clear how long this breach in security had been taking place.
On the other hand, a Facebook spokesman had clarified that the company is taking necessary steps in order to “dramatically limit” the exposure of its users’ identity information.
Our technical systems have always been complemented by strong policy enforcement, and we will continue to rely on both to keep people in control of their information, the Facebook official said.
Among the top ranked apps identified transmitting users’ identity over the internet is FarmVille which is currently the most popular Facebook application with over 59 million users. Other apps like Texas HoldEm Poker and FrontierVille – also among the big ones – were reported to be allegedly transmitting their users’ ID unlawfully. As it turned out, Facebook had made several of these apps unavailable to members after the Journal had reported this latest privacy breach.
Perhaps, this is an eyeopener to many Facebook (and other social networking site) users that one’s personal info would be “impossible” to secure once it goes online. Our advice is to limit the amount of details you divulge in your profile pages, so that you don’t need to worry of anything in the future.
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