Facebook leaked personal data to advertisers

[Playinghardball]

Source: Raw Story
By Agence France-Presse

SAN FRANCISCO — US computer security firm Symantec on Tuesday said that Facebook accidentally left a door open for advertisers to access profiles, pictures, chat and other private data at the social network.

Symantec discovered that certain Facebook applications leaked tokens that act essentially as "spare keys" for accessing profiles, reading messages, posting to walls or other actions.

Facebook applications are Web software programs that are integrated onto the leading online social network's platform. Symantec said that 20 million Facebook applications such as games are installed every day.

The tokens were being leaked to third-party applications including advertisers and analytics platforms allowing them to post messages or mine personal information from profiles, according to Nishant Doshi of Symantec.

More at: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/05/10/facebook-leaked-personal-data-to-advertisers/

[NYCGirl]

1. And this is news somehow? NT

[Shagbark Hickory]

2. Anyone surprised by this? Facebook is a giant phonebook with everyone in it.

[alcibiades_mystery]

3. Who cares?

[Lifelong Protester]

4. It would be a "who cares?" if it weren't for the fact that a lot of

the organizing you have been witnessing in Wisconsin happens on Facebook.

So as an entertainment platform, yeah, so what.

But it has been an effective tool in keeping people up to date on the fast moving action in Wisconsin. Speaking from personal experience here.

[Atman]

5. OH NO! Someone will find out I had Cheerios for breakfast!

Oh, wait, I already posted it to 100,000,000 people.

Seriously...if you put anything more than your name and the most basic info into your FB profile, you're a fool. I have "friends" who post their home phone numbers, address, job, everything. And you're worried that FB allowed advertisers to get this info? Seriously?

You know who else does this every day, and has been doing so for years...Google. It is no coincidence that the ads that appear on your FB page, or any web site you visit, happen to be about stuff you actually are interested in. Keywords on the web sites, your surfing history, all that crap...if you ever posted anything, your junk is hanging out there. Don't be shocked that someone found it.

Edited for typo.

[CelticThunder]

6. Yes, so just bend over obediently for corporate America to rape you.

Yep, blame the victim.

Or is that not what you're saying?

[Atman]

8. That's not what I'm saying at all. I don't really even feel there is a "victim."

You posted your shit out there on Facebook, fer chrissake! I have FB friends, as I'm sure we all do, who post every little detail about their lives. Where they live, when they're hungover, what they ate for dinner, who they're sleeping with, etc, etc, etc...and all this is AFTER they fill in a profile providing everything from their e-mail address to their underwear preference. And then they're shocked when someone reads it and sends them an ad for new underwear? WTF?

No one is being bent over and raped here. What do you pay to use Facebook? Nothing. Ever heard the phrase "Ain't no free?" Well, it's true. FB didn't get to be a multi-billion dollar company by protecting your privacy. You offer up the goods, they allow advertisers to access the info. That is why I never do any of those insipid "Farmville" or Mafia games. They're not "games." They're data-mining operations. As any user should have been able to figure out when they clicked on the button ALLOWING the app maker to access all of your data. Hell, even New York Times does that if you want to read a story linked from FB. What did you think would happen when you clicked ALLOW?

Come on...I hate corporate America as much as the next guy, probably even more so. But I'm no fool. The dealer on the street corner always gives you the first package for free, too.

[IDemo]

7. I don't even have my real name on my FB account

I only created it to access FaceBook material I couldn't see otherwise. As far as friends and family are concerned, I still don't have an account.

By the way, what does "liking" something get you, anyway? Shouldn't there be a "dislike" button as well?