Facebook Punishes Devs Who Shared User IDs 71
A couple weeks ago, we discussed news that some Facebook application developers were selling or accidentally sharing user IDs to advertisers and data brokers in violation of Facebook's privacy terms. Now, the company writes that they've updated the policy to dictate how UIDs can be handled within applications, and also punished the offending developers by blocking access to the site's communication channels for a period of six months. Quoting:
"While we determined that no private user data was sold and confirmed that transfer of these UIDs did not give access to any private data, this violation of our policy is something we take seriously. As such, we are taking action against these developers by instituting a 6-month full moratorium on their access to Facebook communication channels, and we will require these developers to submit their data practices to an audit in the future to confirm that they are in compliance with our policies. This impacts fewer than a dozen, mostly small developers, none of which are in the top 10 applications on Facebook Platform. We have also reached an agreement with Rapleaf, the data broker who came forward to work with us on this situation. Rapleaf has agreed to delete all UIDs in its possession, and they have agreed not to conduct any activities on the Facebook Platform (either directly or indirectly) going forward."
Translation (Score:5, Insightful)
Translation: If Rapleaf wants to see the sun rise tomorrow, they will do *exactly* as we say.
Sincerely, Facebook's Legal Team.
Re:Right ... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Right ... (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm still trying to wrap my brain around the idea that Facebook has a privacy policy.
Re:Right ... (Score:4, Insightful)
Couldn't (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Right ... (Score:1, Insightful)
I'm still trying to wrap my brain around the idea that Facebook has a privacy policy.
It's easier when you don't take sensationalist headlines at face value.
Scope of the crime? (Score:3, Insightful)
Those stories about the great privacy terms violations said that Zynga, via Farmville, was a big offender (the story linked to in the back link to the older Slashdot article says this, in fact).
I wonder if they say "anyone who grabs the UID is punished" b/c that freed up some of their biggest developers, like Zynga, who were doing other bad stuff, but not that bad (for some subjective definition of bad)?
Re:Translation (Score:1, Insightful)
Bah... No impact.
At which point Rapleaf immediately declares bankruptcy and a new corporation called RapTwig comes into being. RapTwig being a new entity CAN conduct any business they wish...
Re:Translation (Score:5, Insightful)
Or to further translate:
This isn't being done by companies that pouring money into Facebook like Zynga.
If Zynga has been the offending party, do you *really* think they would kick Zynga off for 6 months, and cut their revenue by 90%? I don't think so. The only reason they are being "tough" on "these companies" is that "these companies" don't contribute in any significant way to their bottom line.
Re:Right ... (Score:1, Insightful)
So why isn't Zynga being punished?
Re:Great platform security there... (Score:3, Insightful)
I know, right! It's like a news site leaving their articles completely accessible to the public and then threatening the public that if they read more than the first page that they have to pay or face legal action [slashdot.org].
Total morons...
Re:Right ... (Score:3, Insightful)
So why isn't Zynga being punished?
How do you punish the biggest game company on the planet? That's like trying to punish Microsoft because your webpage doesn't render well in IE.
Re:Right ... (Score:5, Insightful)