Palo Alto (ip-192.com): Facebook is starting to implement changes that will require applications to specify what personal information they will access and use. Eventually all third party applications users install will have to disclose the private information they access.
"Last month, we announced a number of changes to make privacy simpler and to give you more control over the information you share with other people. Today, we're taking the next step by providing more transparency and control over the information you share with third-party applications and websites with a new, simpler application authorization process," said Bret Taylor, Facebook’s Chief Technology Officer, in a blog post. "With this new authorization process, when you log into an application with your Facebook account, the application will only be able to access the public parts of your profile by default. To access the private sections of your profile, the application has to explicitly ask for your permission."
Facebook announced the changes in 2009 following mounting international criticism, especially from the Canadian Privacy Commissioner. Until now, 350 million Facebook users that wanted to open an application did receive a message saying that the application may "pull your profile information, photos, your friends' info, and other content that it requires to work."
"Today, Facebook announced positive steps to ensure that platform applications will begin adhering to a new standard of transparency: before users connect to an application, they will interact with a dialog box that details exactly what pieces of personal information the user will have to share in order to use the app," said the Center for Democracy & Technology in a statement. "...once Facebook fully implements the announced changes, users who install new applications will be told exactly what information these applications are requesting, whether it is their political interests and work history, friends' photo albums and current city, or all of the above. By giving users granular and easy-to-understand notice of an application's data collection practices, Facebook will be empowering them to make more informed decisions around sharing their data."
The social networking site has grown rapidly since its launch in 2004 and has grown to almost 500 million users. Privacy issues have plagued the site for years, and frequent changes have annoyed users.
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