Today marks a whole new set of concerns among Facebook users, as the site has suffered a major breach of personal data. According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), Facebook has been inadvertently transmitting private user data to advertisers via third-party applications.
It is a development that raises serious concerns over the long standing question of whether Facebook is capable of protecting the user data of its members. The WSJ is reporting that some of the most popular Facebook third-party applications, which include Farmville, have been transmitting personal user data to outside companies.
The breach happened through the use of user IDs, which are unique IDs given to every Facebook user which can reveal a users age, residence, and even occupation. These user IDs are made available to any Facebook app once a user connects to it, and a number of third-party apps have reportedly sent these user IDs to some 25 advertising agencies.
Considering that the majority of Facebook’s apps are made by independent software developers, the breach is quite alarming. There were ten total third-party apps named by the WSJ in their report, all of which have over 10 million users connected to them.
The big question everyone is asking is whether Facebook was aware of the breach or not, as it is a serious violation of the site’s privacy policy. Facebook has yet to release an official statement, but we will let you know when it does.
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