Office of the Privacy Commissioner on Facebook Apps & Privacy
Yesterday, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada wrote about Facebook’s laxness on privacy and third-party applications. I was a bit surprised by the quality of the post, because their blog typically provides a good amount of relevant information. However, even after following the links in the post, I found it difficult to piece together (a) how the applications can “steal” your information, or (b) what the applications can steal.
It wasn’t until I followed a link from one of the BBC articles to Click’s advice for worried Facebook users that I understood what the concern is. Applications can have access to your name, networks and lists of friends, plus your selection of the following:
- Profile Picture
- Basic Info
- Personal info (activities, interests, etc.)
- Current location (what city you’re in)
- Education history
- Work history
- Profile status
- Wall
- Notes
- Groups you belong to
- Events you’re invited to
- Photos taken by you
- Photos taken of you
- Relationship status
- Online presence
- What type of relationship you’re looking for
- What sex you’re interested in
- Who you’re in a relationship with
- Religious views
This was certainly not news to me (particularly after I wrote a Primer on Privacy & Facebook, available as a PDF or OpenDocument download. Although I agree that it would be good for Facebook to more actively promote usage of their privacy settings (someone suggested that they include a privacy setting walkthrough in the post-setup activities), I more strongly believe that users need to start taking accountability for learning to use the privacy controls at their disposal.
Tags: facebook, privacy, social networkingRelated posts
By Julianna Yau
On May 8, 2008
At 5:31 am
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Thanks for the comment on the post, Julianna. We’ll take your advice to heart and improve the detail and analysis we make available.
Colin McKay
Director of Research, Education and Outreach
Office of the Privacy Commissioner
Thanks for dropping by, Colin. It’s great to see how proactive the Office is!