Angela Gunn's picture
Angela Gunn

Pushing Buttons

Facebook and privacy, milk and lemons, cats and dogs...

We've heard repeatedly about Facebook's pitiful privacy protections, but thanks to the BBC we have a blow-by-blow example of just how easy it is for even a moderately talented programmer to hop on the social-networking service and start skimming info not only anyone foolish enough to download some random Facebook quiz / game / X-of-the-day toy, but everyone who's friends with one of those people. (And hasn't everyone got one friend that will download any shiny thing that comes along on Facebook?)

With all respect to the mighty Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, under these circumstances it's hard to be too shocked by those idiots in London that gave away their security information for a chocolate bar. At least they got an actual, edible piece of chocolate! The Facebook shiny-objects crowd was apt to be giving their away for a pretend chocolate bar -- probably with zombie chunks in it or something, and you could throw it at your "friends" like a sheep. (Is it just me, or are Facebook's "fun" applications, aside from the rampant data-theft potential, just not really fun at all?)

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