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Facebook Applications Must Give You Notice

Yesterday, Facebook rolled out a feature requiring outside applications and websites to make it clear to users which parts of their profiles are being shared.

Prior to the announcement apps were only required to ask permission to use profile information which wasn't public. So, for most facebook users email addresses, birthdays and photos posted to their facebook page was available for the taking, without the user knowing it. Facebook says approximately 70 percent of users use external apps in any given month.

Though this is evidence facebook is listening to user's privacy concerns, users won't be able to pick and choose which pieces of information they share. It's all-or-nothing decision. Clicking ‘no' means the app may not use the users information, period.

Bret Taylor, Chief Technology Officer says, “To access the private sections of your profile, the application has to explicitly ask for your permission. For example, JibJab is an interactive greeting card website that needs access to my photos and my friends' birthdays and photos so I can create personalized greeting cards. Based on the new model, JibJab must specifically ask for that information.”

This most recent “upgrade” is a continuation of the changes facebook made to its Privacy Policy in April, and appears to respond to concerns voiced by privacy officials in Canada. This isn’t entirely over though. Concerns continue to be raised about a users inability to determine which apps get access to their information when a friend loads the app. Though it doesn’t seem possible to have each user approve their friends’ use of an app, facebook may be able to provide users with the ability to know what personal information has been accessed by a friends’ apps.  Stay tuned!

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