Facebook forces app makers to seek permission for user data

The move forms part of the social networking giants efforts to appease critics of its privacy practices. The changes will apply to all third-party applications and games that a user installs on their profile.

Under the new system, a user will be presented with the permissions box every time they install a new application or first log in to an external website with their Facebook account.

For example, JustGiving requests to access basic information, send the user emails, post updates to their wall and access profile information such as likes, music, and favourite TV shows.  Meanwhile, on the app Fifa Superstars, Playfish now asks to access the users friend lists in order to create a social and interactive game.

The social network currently offers more than 550,000 applications, including games such as the popular Farmville.

The site says that more than 70% of its 500 million users use an application every month.

"With this new authorisation process, when you log into an application with your Facebook account, the application will only be able to access the public parts of your profile by default," said the firm's Bret Taylor in a blog post.

"To access the private sections of your profile, the application has to explicitly ask for your permission."

The changes were first announced in 2009 in response to work with the Canadian Privacy Commissioner.  Last month, Facebook was forced to simplify its privacy settings after storms of protest from users and privacy groups. The new system brings all of the site's settings into one page, with suggested default settings.

More information on today’s announcement can be found here: http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=403443752130