Who knew Facebook (News - Alert) could invent an app that would make your personal information even more accessible? Well, apparently it wasn’t the best idea, as Facebook has temporarily suspended activity on its new app which has only been out since Friday. It gives third-party app programmers the access to user’s information based on their set permissions. This is not the first time the company has altered its page that in a way that leaves users’ personal information completely uncovered.
When creating a Facebook account, people have always been required to check off whether or not they want certain things displayed, such as name, picture, birthday,- and friends list. This new addition required another request-if you want your cell phone number and address displayed to the masses.
Many issues arose right away, such as if people clicked on the wrong choice by mistake anddidn’t truly think about their choice beforehand, or viruses were designed to extract the information in countless ways.
Yesterday, through a blog post, Facebook stated it had received useful "feedback" from users over the weekend on ways to make the process more transparent. As a result, the company has temporarily taken the feature offline with the hopes of changing it to clearly get across the message to users that they're the ones in control of the choice of whether or not to divulge such pertinent information. Facebook promised that an improved version will find its way back in the next couple of weeks.
Another huge social media site is Myspace. MySpace (News - Alert) has also had a variety of privacy issues and recently had a re-launch giving its users more ways to consume music, movies, and entertainment related gossip. Before, MySpace tried to be an all–purpose social networking site like Facebook but MySpace said it is no longer trying to compete with Facebook. Now that Myspace has changed its vision, their privacy concerns have ceased.
Although countless people use Facebook on a daily basis, most of them don’t completely grasp how easy it is to have your confidential information leaked to the wrong person. Even though certain things can be fixed, how much damage will it do in the process?
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Jamie Epstein is a TMCnet Web Editor. Previously she interned at News 12 Long Island as a reporter's assistant. After working as an administrative assistant for a year, she joined TMC (News - Alert) as a Web editor for TMCnet. Jamie grew up on the North Shore of Long Island and holds a bachelor's degree in mass communication with a concentration in broadcasting from Five Towns College. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.
Edited by Jamie Epstein