Facebook Says Users Have Privacy Control

Social site Facebook has hit back at criticism of its information sharing policies, saying that users are always in control, and that sharing user details is always to improve their online experience.

Facebook sparked a protest when it added users’ mobile phone numbers and address details to the information that users can share with applications on the site. However, a statement from the company says that users have full control over their privacy, and casts doubt on its critics’ motives.

Users have control

“On Facebook you have absolute control over what information you share, who you share it with and when you want to remove it,” said a statement given to eWEEK Europe by a Facebook spokesperson. “Developers can now request permission to access a person’s address and mobile phone number to make applications built on Facebook more useful and efficient.”

Users have to explicitly give permission to share the data, and cannot share their friends’ information, the statement said. “No private information is shared without your permission.”

Rogue applications, which might attempt to trick users into giving this permission, were dismissed as a “separate point” by the spokesperson, who added that the permission request is “in a big box in the middle of your screen so you can’t miss it,” and can’t be described as “small print”.

What applications might want my number?

Facebook says the update is designed to “improve the user experience” of applications. Asked what kind of applications might benefit from knowing a user’s phone number and home address, the spokesperson pointed out that Facebook is encouraging e-commerce within the site.

Some airlines such as EasyJet, have apps allow users to book a flight from within Facebook, and others may include options to bid in auctions. Instead of going out onto the open Internet, Facebook believes users will want to stay on its own site, and likens the service to an entry in the phone book.

“For more than a decade, people have been going from website to website and entering their address every time they buy something that needs to be shipped, or their phone number when they might need to be called or sent an SMS to track an order or for general customer service,” said the spokesperson. “We saw an easy way to solve this problem in a way that can enable more efficient and user-friendly applications on the web in areas like commerce, ticketing and events.”

“For example, a frequently used e-commerce application or website is better when it has your address stored for a faster checkout,” says the statement, “and an airline can serve you better if it has an always-up-to-date mobile number to reach you for last minute itinerary changes.

On the danger of “rogue” applications, Facebook says: “We encourage developers to think about the information they really need to make their application effective and to keep this to a minimum to encourage more engagement. If you do come across an application that you find suspicious or inappropriate, we actively encourage you to block and report it in the same way as you can individuals, groups and Pages on Facebook”

Facebook claims security expertise

Finally, Facebook claimed to have strong security expertise  and cast doubt on the motivation of its critic, Sophos. “We’ve built numerous defenses to combat spam, phishing, and malware, including complex automated systems that work behind the scenes to detect and flag Facebook accounts that are likely to be compromised (based on anomalous activity like lots of messages sent in a short period of time, or messages with links that are known to be bad).” said the statement. “Once we detect a phony message, we delete all instances of that message across the site. ”

“Certainly, [Sophos has] expertise in security, but so does Facebook,” the spokesperson added.  “The reader can decide if we have any bias or motivation because it’s clear who we are.  Fewer people know Sophos, and so it may not be clear to them that they make their living by selling products that claim to solve the problems they are espousing.”

Facebook has been under sustained pressure over privacy for the past year. It has been revealed that applications are already sharing Facebook identities – and the company’s privacy policies have  sparked privacy criticisms on a number of occasions.