Facebook Gives Apps Access To Users' Personal Details
Facebook confirmed its decision in a blog posting Friday
. Till now when a user downloaded any application from a third party developer, he was asked for access to information like name, gender, picture, and user ID.
New Changes
But now Facebook has allowed the third party developers to ask for access to information regarding the address and phone number of the users before starting the downloading.
Cluey opined that only Facebook approved developers should have been allowed to ask this or the users should have a choice to allow access or not.
Though there will be a new section in the permission box asking for separate permission for granting access to this information, many security experts fear that lot of users will click on the Allow tab without noticing the change.
Facebook said in its blog post that specific permission of the user will be required for accessing this information.
The Facebook users and privacy advocates are particularly worried about the possibility of this information falling in wrong hands through devious developers who can use it for outright hacking or identity theft.
Why experts fear?
Security experts are particularly concerned as Facebook is already full of unscrupulous applications that send spam links to users and direct them towards survey scams and earn commission.
These applications sometimes even deceit users by obtaining their cell phone numbers and sign them up for a premium rate service.
Graham Cluley of security company Sophos said in a blog that users should remove your home address and phone number from your Facebook profile now.
Alternatively, the users can click on the Dont Allow button when asked for permission to access personal information before starting the download of a third party applications. Doing so will not interfere with the download.
Cluey opined that only Facebook approved developers should have been allowed to ask this or the users should have a choice to allow access or not.
Facebook is yet to comment on the issue to dispel the fears of security experts.