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Specifically: "The apps, ranked by research company Inside Network Inc. (based on monthly users), include Zynga Game Network Inc.'s FarmVille, with 59 million
by jakarta 16y ago
Specifically:
"The apps, ranked by research company Inside Network Inc. (based on monthly users), include Zynga Game Network Inc.'s FarmVille, with 59 million users, and Texas HoldEm Poker and FrontierVille. Three of the top 10 apps, including FarmVille, also have been transmitting personal information about a user's friends to outside companies...
The information being transmitted is one of Facebook's basic building blocks: the unique "Facebook ID" number assigned to every user on the site. Since a Facebook user ID is a public part of any Facebook profile, anyone can use an ID number to look up a person's name, using a standard Web browser, even if that person has set all of his or her Facebook information to be private. For other users, the Facebook ID reveals information they have set to share with "everyone," including age, residence, occupation and photos.
The apps reviewed by the Journal were sending Facebook ID numbers to at least 25 advertising and data firms, several of which build profiles of Internet users by tracking their online activities."
- cmarv 16y agoI don't understand why there aren't more stories about this-- it is beyond rampant, I'd call it business as usual for most popular apps since the Apps platform launched. I'd like to see an article about creative uses for all that data.
- rhizome 16y agoIronically, fb_id is one of the big missing pieces in the personal datadump that Facebook users can now download.
- sanj 16y agoIt is trivial to identify. If you don't have a vanity URL, it is in your profile URL.
- raptrex 16y agoHow do you find it if you do have a vanity URL?
- harryh 16y agoView source on your profile page and search for profile.php?id= Right after that will be your id. (There are other ways as well, but this is a pretty easy way)
- whakojacko 16y agoas linked below, http://www.rabidgremlin.com/fbprivacy/ http://www.rabidgremlin.com/fbprivacy/ will give your FB id.
- far33d 16y agohttp://graph.facebook.com/<user_id> http://graph.facebook.com/<user_id>
- rhizome 16y agoIt's trivial to find out your own, sure, but Facebook handed out ids for every friend of the game users. Facebook is so Microsoft.
- Tomek_ 16y agoSo, if I understand this correctly, stripping it from all the decorative wording, it would go like this: 1) FB apps can obtain ids of one's friends 2) once having user's id you can obtain his name 3) ...and see the data that he (that user) has set to be visible to "everyone" Personally I only find first point to be controversial, the other ones are rather obvious for anyone who uses Facebook.