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Congress Has Some Questions for Zuckerberg

Two representatives get involved in the latest privacy breach

By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff

Posted Oct 19, 2010 8:30 AM CDT

(Newser) – Congress is getting involved in the latest Facebook privacy snafu. Following Monday’s revelation that many popular Facebook apps are transmitting identifying information to dozens of companies, two House members are asking the social networking site for more information about how applications handle user details. Facebook has until Oct. 27 to respond, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The two reps sent Mark Zuckerberg a letter expressing their feeling that “this series of breaches of consumer privacy is a cause for concern.” They want to know how many users were affected, when Facebook learned of the problem, and what changes the site will make. A Facebook rep says, "The suggestion that the passing of a user ID to an application, as described in Facebook's privacy policy, constitutes a 'breach' is curious at best,” but says they are happy to address “any confusion."

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg speaks in the Galileo Auditorium on Microsoft’s Silicon Valley Campus in Mountain View, Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2010.
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg speaks in the Galileo Auditorium on Microsoft’s Silicon Valley Campus in Mountain View, Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2010.   (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 11 comments
CMBPARADISE
Oct 20, 2010 8:40 AM CDT
Ever since the foxtv people bought the wall street journal it has lost its impartiality and objectivity specially enjoying the bashing of facebook. Why, because us adults and professionals use facebook more while my space is for children just like the ¨mi gente¨ site is for latino nice kids and thugs. Please use some credible unbiased media other than the wall street journal when reporting about facebook.
ShortSchoolBus
Oct 20, 2010 7:36 AM CDT
I found that MySpace was posting user's telephone numbers when the users updated their activity stream via cell phone. Yeah, it was in the HTML for the webapge. Then the phone numbers became indexed on Google so when you did a search for a phone number, that number's MySpace profile would come up. So realistically, a MySpace user could be stalked if they posted to their activity stream with his/her phone. I had someone accidentally send me a text, so I Googled the phone number and found that person's MySpace profile, and from there, a trove of personal information. Good thing I'm not a serial killer or something.
EddyTeach
Oct 19, 2010 9:11 AM CDT
Unbelievable.

Our poorly protected critical infrastructure remains highly vulnerable to cyber attacks from a host of willing adversaries and our legislators are concerned about their Facebook profiles and Farmville accounts giving up their relationship statuses.

Focus on things that matter. Power plants. Water treatment. Air traffic control. Financial sector. All of these have severe gaps in cyber security because the private sector is reluctant to take action (because of costs) and the government is dragging its heels to enforce some norms and best practices. Shame.
 

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