Source: nakedsecurity
Facebook has announced that developers of Facebook apps can now gather the personal contact information from their users. This has led to a situation where third party application developers are now able to access your home address and mobile phone number. Its goes without saying, a lot of people can see the danger signs.
Facebook is already plagued by rogue applications that post spam links to users' walls, and point users to survey scams that earn them commission - and even sometimes trick users into handing over their cellphone numbers to sign them up for a premium rate service.
Now, shady app developers will find it easier than ever before to gather even more personal information from users. You can imagine, for instance, that bad guys could set up a rogue app that collects mobile phone numbers and then uses that information for the purposes of SMS spamming or sells on the data to cold-calling companies.
The ability to access users' home addresses will also open up more opportunities for identity theft, combined with the other data that can already be extracted from Facebook users' profiles.
Are you willing to risk your sensitive personal information falling into the hands of unsrcupulous third party developers or for that matter scamsters. I for one wouldn't. Right now, it would be advisable to remove your contact details from your Facebook page.
As of this moment, Facebook has temporarily removed this option.
Facebook has announced that developers of Facebook apps can now gather the personal contact information from their users. This has led to a situation where third party application developers are now able to access your home address and mobile phone number. Its goes without saying, a lot of people can see the danger signs.
Facebook is already plagued by rogue applications that post spam links to users' walls, and point users to survey scams that earn them commission - and even sometimes trick users into handing over their cellphone numbers to sign them up for a premium rate service.
Now, shady app developers will find it easier than ever before to gather even more personal information from users. You can imagine, for instance, that bad guys could set up a rogue app that collects mobile phone numbers and then uses that information for the purposes of SMS spamming or sells on the data to cold-calling companies.
The ability to access users' home addresses will also open up more opportunities for identity theft, combined with the other data that can already be extracted from Facebook users' profiles.
Are you willing to risk your sensitive personal information falling into the hands of unsrcupulous third party developers or for that matter scamsters. I for one wouldn't. Right now, it would be advisable to remove your contact details from your Facebook page.
As of this moment, Facebook has temporarily removed this option.
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