After Rogue Apps, personal details getting accessible in Facebook

VARINDIA- INDIA'S FRONTLINE IT MAGAZINE

After Rogue Apps, personal details getting accessible in Facebook

Sophos is advising users of Facebook to remove their addresses and phone numbers from the site, after the social network plunged itself into controversy by announcing to developers that users' off-site contact details will now be accessible programmatically.

"This change isn't as drastic as it might first appear, because users will need to give permission for third-party Facebook applications to access this data," explained Graham Cluley, Senior Technology Consultant, Sophos. "But it still sounds like a recipe for disaster, given the prevalence of rogue scam applications already on Facebook, all of which benefit from apparently being blessed by the Facebook name and brand."

Facebook is already plagued by rogue applications that post spam links to users' walls, point users to survey scams that earn them commission - and sometimes even trick users into handing over their cell phone numbers to sign them up for a premium rate service. Now, rogue app developers will find it easier than ever before to gather even more personal information from users.

Sophos believes that Facebook should be making a more publicly visible effort to eliminate rogue application providers first, before opening up such valuable and easily abused personal information to its developer community.

Suggestions are flying around Twitter that users should change their mobile number to that of Facebook's US customer service line, thus ensuring that any misuse of this new feature ends up paining Facebook.

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