As I was perusing the web, one of my favorites spots is Mashable. They had an article titled “Facebook Will Continue To Share User Addresses & Numbers“. The article covers the announcement on January 14th, and the follow up on January 18, by Facebook that they will now allow 3rd party applications to access contact information like cell numbers, addresses, etc. Following an uproar by certain groups, and some Congressional leaders, Facebook has put this enhancement on hold, but not killed it. As part of the response, Facebook has even made their own privacy policy more user friendly and understandable by the non lawyer people. This has not stopped certain groups from decrying this and claiming that Facebook is not protecting privacy of its users.
I beg to differ. Facebook is providing a free service to half a billion people. This service has provided a valuable avenue for businesses, entertainment and non profits, among others. But nowhere in any part of this did I ever read that people are forced to share their information. It is about some common sense when going about browsing on the web, whether it is on a social network or not. If you do not want to have applications know your address or cell phone, then do not put it out there for them to grab. When a 3rd party application is asking to use your Facebook account to connect, you do not need to share your data. Never rely on other applications to protect your data.
And on the flip side of this, the 3rd parties building a Facebook engaged site/application, be open and upfront about what information they are wanting to collect and why. Establishing a good bond and trust with the consumer base is huge. And if you want to access their Facebook data, then let them know what you are going to collect and why you are going to collect it. Usually it is not a huge deal, and many people will allow it. Obviously if you are phishing their data to sell the contact information to telemarketers and other mail marketing streams, then you will not be allowed to have your Facebook application for long. 3rd party application builders have to live by certain standards established by Facebook. So if you want to build one of these applications, then follow the rules, and remember the customer.
After reading this article on Mashable, I can see why people may be concerned, but I think it is a hollow concern. Be aware of what you are doing, do not enter your contact information if you do not want to share it, and just use common sense. If someone really wants to get your address and cell phone number, it is really not that hard to get it.