Facebook widgets pose privacy risks - Los Angeles Times

Facebook widgets pose privacy risks - Los Angeles Times

Facebook fanatics who have covered their profiles on the popular social networking site with silly games and quirky trivia quizzes may be unknowingly giving a host of strangers an intimate peek at their lives.

Those mini-programs, called widgets or applications, enable users to personalize their pages and connect with friends and acquaintances. But they could pose privacy risks. Some security researchers warn that developers of the software have assembled too much information — home town, schools attended, employment history — and can use the data in ways that could harm or annoy users.

“Everything requires you to give access to personal information or it forces you to ask your friends to do the same — it becomes a real nuisance,” said David Dixon, 40, an information technology consultant who recently deleted most of the applications he had downloaded to his Facebook profile after reading on a blog that developers may have access to his information. “Why does a Sudoku puzzle have to know I have two kids? Why does a postcard need to know where I went to college?”

DUH!
Ya, most of you know that you’re giving away all your personal information everytime you use your airmiles card too. But why do you sell yourselves so cheaply? I play with Facebook, et al., as part of my job, and a lot of my information is public because I work for a public institution, but without that need would I be giving away personal information to people and companies for free? Nope. It happens, but it is a judicious decision as much as possible, and lamented when it is not.

Fight the theft.