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back to article Facebook apps must now seek permission for user data

In a move hailed by privacy advocates, Facebook on Wednesday deployed a feature that allows its users to better control what personal information can be accessed by third-party applications and websites. The new authorization process, which Facebook CTO Bret Taylor announced in a blog post, is activated whenever a user …

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  1. Graham Marsden
    Thumb Up

    And about time too!

    Why should an application need access to all my personal data simply to allow me to play a poxy game?

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    1. ChrisInBelgium
      Reply Icon
      Big Brother

      Just the point

      The game is just the bait, all they're after is your personal data, which they can then sell on. Big brother IS watching us all the time.

      Sooner or later, greedy creeps always shoot themselves in the foot though. Example? The Scrabble facebook game. They aren't getting enough money from your personal data, so they'll stick a minute of adds in front of the game you have to sit through before even getting to the game. That's game over for me. I don't want to spend a minute waiting for a game I'm going to spend 30 seconds on to begin with...

      The thing about Facebook is also: if it had sucked so badly from the beginning as it does now, they would never have had so many users...

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      1. Graham Marsden
        Reply Icon

        Re: The Scrabble facebook game.

        Of course if you use AdBlock Plus you just get the countdown which you ignore for 44 seconds or less and then play the game :-)

        (You could always come and visit the Gamehouse Scrabble Forums whilst you're waiting!)

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  2. Anonymous Coward
    Grenade

    title

    "In a move hailed by privacy advocates" - are they out of mudslides ?

    Seriously, "permission" is just like "bend over" but with some more letters. Dumb Firetrucks like that, and it just became a lot harder to prove Facebook ignored you.

    "That Stalin is an ahole, I'll protect you!", Sure Beria, I mean Zuckerhead. This is the "Safe Harbor" which makes the repeated accidents all better.

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  3. multipharious

    Naturally this does not override friends' settings

    I love how the dialogue box gives the option to grant access to your friends' photos, and information. The way to block this in the past was to disable the API, which worked supposedly, until the changes in December.

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  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I'm still waiting for the "new privacy controls" they added last month

    mine never changed.

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  5. Anonymous Coward
    Coffee/keyboard

    But what about the....

    Applications n such that just plain 'ole wont let you use them unless you agree to share said information? Does this mean that this is now sorted?

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    1. EvilGav 1
      Reply Icon

      Nope

      As far as I can tell they all still ask to see all of your personal information.

      The problem is, unless FaceBook vet app's to determine whether they actually *need* all the personal info they ask for, then the problem will remain.

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  6. Pascal Monett Silver badge

    Looks like the best thing

    Seems that the best option is still not to have a FaceBook account.

    But I recognize that the investors in FaceBook are pushing hard to get acceptance from the users.

    I say "the investors", because I can't, for the life of me, imagine that Mr. "Dumb Fucks" Big Z actually gives a toss about user privacy.

    And as long as he is at the helm, it is simply out of the question that I open a profile on FaceBook.

    I'm not going to be his bitch, no way.

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