Every week, there seems to be a new controversy involving Facebook and privacy, as the world’s most popular social-networking site tests what is acceptable. Late last week, Facebook announced that user contact information — addresses and phone numbers — will be made available to application developers with permission from the user. But that permission is required if users want to participate in particular games or apps.
Facebook said that, after a user has granted access, developers won’t have access to addresses and phone numbers of the user’s friends. On its Developer Blog, the company added that the user’s address and mobile-phone number, once granted, become part of the User Graph object that is available to applications.
One Allow Button
Facebook said users “need to explicitly choose to share your data before any app or web site can access it, and no private information is shared without your permission.” However, the sample screenshot on the Developer Blog shows a Request for Permission that includes both Access to Basic Information and Access My Contact Information, with only one Allow or Don’t Allow button covering both.
Many apps and games require that the Allow button be clicked to participate. The same permission window also pops up when a user is logging into a third-party web site that uses the Facebook platform.
As an example, a user will be required to allow the release of both kinds of information to play the popular Farmville, assuming that the game maker wants that info. A malicious app or game could similarly request this information before letting you in so you can determine if participating is a good idea or not.
Some observers have noted that the Request for Permission screen looks the same as before, when only Basic Information was allowed. This makes it likely that less-experienced users will simply click…