Facebook in address privacy u-turn

Facebook was forced to beat a hasty retreat over the previous week as plans to allow third party access to user phone numbers and addresses caused strong concerns among security experts, even before the feature was fully rolled out. Less than 72 hours after a blog post announced the new capabilities, another posting was made stating that the capabilities were ‘temporarily on hold’ until required changes were made to the system.

As a repository of one of the largest collections of personal information that has ever existed, Facebook is no stranger to privacy controversies, with at least one major issue blighting the company every year. Yet for a company that prefers to plough through its problems by simply refusing to acknowledge that they exist, the quick reaction and retraction mark a paradigm shift towards PR friendly policy.

In Facebook’s vision of this mobile-friendly future, users could use their mobiles to access up-to-the-minute deals while shopping or eating out, while shops could benefit from having direct contact with customers who shop regularly at their stores, instead of having to route their ads through Facebook.

While an advertiser’s dream tool, such open access poses a huge number of privacy concerns. Facebook already suffers from a sizeable data mining problem as profiteering devlopers attempt to gain access to user data under the guise of providing some other service, and it’s not a stretch to imagine the trouble this would cause if they were allowed to reach you at home or at work.

The problem with the Facebook development system is the ease by which a developer can start distributing an application. Facebook only requires developers confirm their phone numbers or their credit card details, after which they can publish any number of applications. This is different to the system at Apple, for example, where developers have their code vetted before it enters the market.

Facebook’s reversal suggests that if they do launch a revised version, users might be in much more control of when and where they may be contacted by developers. Yet it again brings up the question of whether users understand what they sign up for on the Internet, and if they do, whether they really care.