Sunday, April 7, 2013

Facebook Home - Giving Zuckerberg Even More Info

Facebook recently unveiled a new product - an app for the android operating system called "Facebook Home." Facebook's announcement is already raising privacy concerns, at least partially because Facebook is notoriously bad at appeasing the desires of the privacy-concerned. Facebook attempted to alleviate those concerns with a preemptive strike, and to an extent the current limits on the data collected by "Home" are a good sign.

Most Facebook users are aware that their information is being collected, and most facebook users don't care. Some may not realize the extent to which their information is collected and subsequently sold. It doesn't matter which camp an individual "Home" user falls into; the bottom line is that more information is going to be put into Facebook's hands. Perhaps for the users who choose "Home" this isn't a concern, but it does raise concerns about third party protection issues - i.e., how much more information about those who choose not to use "Home" is going to be collected? American users cannot prevent the Facebook app from collecting information regarding how often they are calling or messaging a "Home" user, and potentially what those messages contain. The entirety of Facebook's "Home" data collection intentions are not clear, but once they've establish a large installed base, the capability to collect insane amounts of data and sell it would be only a small "Data Use Policy" change away.

After all, Facebook has a history of letting its users down on the privacy front, specifically by making mandatory, short/minimal notice changes.

Try combining this with Google Glass, running Andriod, for bonus privacy erosion.

1 comment:

  1. I may be in the minority on this, but I've always been surprised at the amount of privacy people expect on a social networking site where (most) people allow hundreds (if not thousands) of acquaintances see details of their background and daily life.

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