Report: Leading Facebook apps guilty of leaking user information

by Steven Mostyn - Oct 18 2010, 04:39

Seemingly never too far away from the ever-raging online privacy debate, Facebook is back in the firing line after a report revealed that the majority of software applications (apps) available on the social network are guilty of leaking user information.

An investigation conducted by the Wall Street Journal claims that “tens of millions” Facebook app users have already had their Facebook ID numbers passed on to third-party advertising and tracking companies – regardless of whether they've set their accounts to the highest possible privacy level.

News of the leaks, which break Facebook's usage laws, have led the social network to say it is preparing to launch new technology designed to prevent apps from passing on identifying information such as specific user names and names of user friends.

“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,” a spokesperson for Facebook told the Journal.

Worryingly, the investigation also found that it's not just obscure apps that are guilty of leaking personal Facebook ID numbers, user names and names of user friends, exposing hugely popular independent apps such as Farmville, Frontierville, and Texas HoldEm Poker.

According to the report, the Facebook apps reviewed were sending details “to at least 25 advertising and data firms, several of which build profiles of Internet users by tracking their online activities,” and at least one of which that's known for selling that information.

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