Facebook is walking a fine line again by rolling out Facebook Connect, a feature the company first talked about in May. Facebook Connect allows one log-in to easily share content across other social networks and Web sites.
The convenience of no longer having to type in profile information on multiple Web sites may be valuable to users, but at what risk to users’ privacy? The popular social-networking site said the new feature will let a user connect a Facebook account with a Web site, using a trusted authentication process.
As the user moves around the Web, privacy settings will follow so the user’s information and privacy settings are up to date, according to Facebook. Already the company said it will roll out the service to Discovery.com, Digg and Hulu in the next few weeks.
When Facebook first announced the new feature, company officials said they would work with identity providers to develop the best policies and standards to protect information.
The key with Facebook Connect is the disclosure of user data to third parties, according to Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC). “Facebook needs to put in place clear privacy rules that limit the disclosure of user data,” Rotenberg said. “Only information that is necessary for authentication should be made available.”
“There should also be transparency obligations so that Facebook users know the information that is being disclosed and how it is being used,” he added.
“Facebook has run into trouble with similar arrangements in the past when data became available to advertisers and then to application developers,” Rotenberg said. “Facebook needs to do a better job as it considers the disclosure of user ID to third parties.”
Rotenberg referred to Beacon, an ad-based service Facebook rolled out last year. The company announced last November that 44 Web sites…