Facebook Inc.’s top 10 applications have been transmitting data that can be utilized to identify users to advertising and Internet-tracking firms, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing its own investigation.
The applications, known as apps, have been providing users’ “Facebook ID” numbers, which can be used to obtain such information as people’s names, to the third-party companies, the newspaper said today. The apps include Zynga Game Network Inc.’s FarmVille, Texas HoldEm Poker and FrontierVille, it said.
Passing on the information, which affects tens of millions of app users, including people who set their profiles to the site’s strictest privacy settings, breaks Facebook’s rules and renews questions about its ability to keep personal information secure, the Journal said.
Facebook is planning to introduce new systems that will “dramatically” limit the sharing of user IDs, the company said in an e-mailed statement, without elaborating. There is no evidence that personal information was misused or collected, said the Palo Alto, California-based Facebook, which has more than 500 million users.
Facebook may have shut down some applications that the Journal found were transmitting user IDs, the Journal said.
No comments:
Post a Comment