Facebook has put its plans to share users’ mobile and home address data with developers on ‘temporary hold’, after a privacy outcry.
The social media giant revealed its plans over the weekend, which would mean that users on third-party applications, such as Farmville and Mafia Wars, will see a pop-up window asking for access to “contact information” including address and mobile phone number.
However, critics have pointed out that such a system would be ripe for exploitation from rogue app developers.
The feature has been put on “temporary hold”, the social networking firm said in its developers blog.
It said it needed to find a more robust way to make sure users know what information they are handing over.
“Over the weekend, we got some useful feedback that we could make people more clearly aware of when they are granting access to this data. We agree, and are making changes to help ensure you only share this information when you intend to do so,” the firm said.
The updates would be launched “in the next few weeks”, it added and the feature will be suspended in the meanwhile.
Last year, the firm was forced to radically simplify privacy settings, but Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has made no secret of his desire to open up the relationship between the network’s 500 million members and the wider internet.
Having access to mobile phone numbers and physical addresses could have real benefits for users, the firm said in its blog.
“You could, for example, easily share your address and mobile phone with a shopping site to streamline the checkout process, or sign up for the up-to-the-minute alerts on special deals directly to your mobile phone.”
Facebook has introduced a dashboard which allows users to decide what level of access to grant various apps they sign up for.
It also said that users would have to grant permission to any apps or sites that had wanted to access people’s home address or phone number.
Read the full blog here:
http://developers.facebook.com/blog/post/447
