Facebook's Next Scandal

Looks like Facebook is looking for more controversy. Probably not actually, but they will run into conflict with their user base as long as they continue to exploit the private information.  This article here explores yet another study that exposes the  workings of Facebook secretly exploiting user's private information without their knowledge.

A simple demonstration of one type of hidden exploitation:

In order to install an application, a Facebook user must first agree to "allow this application to...know who I am and access my information." Users not willing to permit the application access to all kinds of data from their profile cannot install it onto their Facebook page.

And here's the point of view from some of the researchers:

 Some applications may make use of all this data, but as researchers from the University of Virginia have detailed in a recent report, Facebook provides applications with access to far more private user information than they need to function. Adrienne Felt, a student and lead researcher on the project, told me that of the top 150 applications they examined in October 2007, "8.7 percent didn't need any information; 82 percent used public data (name, network, list of friends); and only 9.3 percent needed private information (e.g., birthday). Since all of the applications are given full access to private data, this means that 90.7 percent of applications are being given more privileges than they need."