Most of the people are accustomed to internet programs protecting their information, some people struggle with the idea that applications on Facebook can steal their information. If you have a Facebook, I’d bet you have been exposed to the various games and applications you can interact with directly through the Facebook interface. Although there are some that were created purely to entertain Facebook users (like Pieces of Flair or and (lil) Green Patch), there are numerous applications that take your information without your knowledge such as Farmville and Frontierville, which have already been “busted” for sharing your unique Facebook ID numbers with advertisers. While Facebook claims the applications that violated their TOS by sharing your identifier data were not able to share any other personal data such as passwords, one can speculate if vulnerabilities in the API yet unseen could expose your online existence. However, with 500 million users and growing, it looks like no one really cares.
Facebook games may seem innocent, especially to users unaccustomed to internet fraud, but they have a dark side. When you as a user click “Allow” or “Accept” when first playing the game, you may be giving this game full access to your information. Even after the WSJ report in October 2010 about Facebook game applications giving outside companies personal user data, Facebook users continue to play these games and possibly allow them to steal their information.
To a lesser degree, or possibly even more intrusive, Facebook actually tracks your own likes and dislikes within their interface for the purpose of displaying ads they know will appeal to you. Remember when you signed up for Facebook? When you did, you gave them permission to do this. Facebook is “free” but you are exchanging your privacy for using this free service.
Go ahead, log onto your Facebook. See those ads on the side of the page? Notice anything odd? The advertisements on the side of the page are about the things you like. WOW! Your favorite actors, sports teams, activities are being advertised on facebook. A naive user may just think it’s a coincidence that adds of their liking are displayed on facebook. Hopefully after reading this you realize that it is no coincidence at all! Facebook sold your page and its information to advertisers. They have full access to your page, which includes your likes, activities and favorites. The advertisers use this information to specialize the ads on your page to fit your personality.
To keep your information safe, be aware of the scams that gamers and advertisers can use to fool you. Although there is not much you can do about Facebook selling your likes and such, you can still eliminate intrusion from outside interests by adhering to the following rules:
- Don’t click “Allow” – ever. This may release all of your personal information to an outside company. Most software is inherently flawed. The exposure comes when the developers realize there is an exploit, which is usually the result of an outside force not an inside agent. Ok, if you really have to play a game, please see the next 2 tips.
- Play games from an outside website such as addictinggames.com, miniclip.com, or freeonlinegames.com, not Facebook. Come on, they already have access to your friends, hobbies, likes, activities, and interests. Do they need any more information about you?
- If you are really game crazy, try to limit how much Facebook knows about you. Keep your hobbies and interests generic and try to limit how much personal information you are posting.
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