How concerned should be users of the social network Facebook is making it a little too easy for private phone numbers to share?
This has been a hot topic of debate in our office this week after a piece for The Guardian suggesting that the iPhone Facebook application could lead to phone numbers that are uploaded to the site without the user noticing.
The piece, said all that then would take someone's Facebook account to be cut and a lot of private numbers to be exposed. That does not seem particularly worrying, unless you think Facebook is less secure than other services - after all, the same would be true if your Gmail account was cut.
But then my colleague Jonathan Fildes begun to examine their own agenda of Facebook - and found some fairly disturbing. He said:
. "After reading the Guardian piece, I reviewed my own fate agenda, the document explains how to find, since it is not entirely clear that the role profile still exists - but you can find your own www.facebook. Com / agenda.
"Everything seemed in order. There was no sync contacts from my iPhone, so I only had about 20 numbers there, most of aspirated from friends who had decided to share with me your phone number."
Most but not all?
"It was a rarity: a prominent technology blogger I knew, but I was not a friend on Facebook and whose contact information was not on my phone.
"I checked his profile, in fact, he chose to share your number with anyone there is no violation of privacy, but, how is the number on my agenda.?
"I talked to Facebook, after a talk with the engineering team, a spokesman suggested that I might have more details contact blogger my Gmail address book and that I could have decided to import my contacts from there.
"I found that he had emailed the blogger and in my address book of e-But I sent him earlier this year for the first time; .. The only time I import my contacts from Gmail's when I started my Facebook account in 2007. "
So how do you think your number is put in the address book?
"I told Facebook that suggests one of two things: Facebook regularly trawl my Gmail account for new contacts without my consent or that the agenda makes recommendations based on my friends, four of them are friends technology blogger.
"Facebook categorically denied my first theory and pointed to his friend finder, it says." We will not store the password after importing your friends Information We may use email to upload through the importer to help you connect with friends, including the use of this information to generate suggestions for you and your contacts on Facebook. "
"What came out of my second theory:. Number blogger suggested by Facebook on the basis of my connections This seemed likely, Facebook, he said, and sent me a link to explain:" When you import contacts from your email Facebook, mobile instant messaging service or other network, we can use this information to create suggestions of friends for you and your friends. Also show these contacts on your agenda Facebook. "
Therefore, is that the explanation?
"Well, then I sent another email:" .. Just to confirm that his second proposal is incorrect suggestions not on the agenda "
"At this point I was getting more and more confused. Agenda does not make suggestions, but someone who was a friend of four of my friends appeared in my calendar automatically. Therefore, I asked him what was going on?
"The most likely explanation, Facebook, he said, was that" one of four mutual contacts have used the tool in contact with the importer and uploaded contact details for you and [blogger], creating that link.
A "link". "Therefore, it was suggested to me?" No, "Facebook reiterated," we do not feedback. This was a relationship. "
What is the difference between a "suggestion" and a "link"? I'm confused.
. "I also in this case, there is nothing sinister -. I am very happy to have the number of this particular blog and your profile shows you are happy to share with anyone, but this is just one example we have been. In contact with many more people confused by people who are on the agenda. You could see the phone number of his wife, but it was appended to the profile of someone who did not know.
"Facebook, says this could be because the algorithms and the system used to match phone numbers may not be working correctly. Or the person who now attached to the phone number of his wife might have gone wrong number or a number without the country code is correct. says it is reviewing the system.
"It could be a technical problem that is easily fixed. But I think what really sets this episode is the current confusion around the issue of what we share and how to share at Facebook."
I agree. Facebook continues to refine its privacy options, and is promising to offer users new ways to manage their data. But which of us do not even know there was a choice of agenda?
And we are clearer about how it works and if we can be confident that our data is passed around by people who can not even know?
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