{"id":2085,"date":"2010-10-18T14:40:19","date_gmt":"2010-10-18T13:40:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.intego.com\/?p=2085"},"modified":"2010-10-18T14:40:19","modified_gmt":"2010-10-18T13:40:19","slug":"facebook-apps-share-confidential-user-information","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/facebook-apps-share-confidential-user-information\/","title":{"rendered":"Facebook Apps Share Confidential User Information"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Wall Street Journal article<\/a> published today has some pretty serious news for Facebook users:<\/p>\n

\nMany of the most popular applications, or “apps,” on the social-networking site Facebook Inc. have been transmitting identifying information\u2014in effect, providing access to people’s names and, in some cases, their friends’ names\u2014to dozens of advertising and Internet tracking companies…\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Wall Street Journal reporters, who investigated a number of popular apps, say that this issue “affects tens of millions of Facebook app users, including people who set their profiles to Facebook’s strictest privacy settings.” <\/p>\n

Apps users allow to access their profiles get access to a “Facebook ID,” a unique ID attributed to each user. But since this ID is a public part of the user’s profile, anyone can connect the ID to the user, and thereby obtain information about them, “even if that person has set all of his or her Facebook information to be private.” <\/p>\n

The article gives a number of examples of apps that have collected such information and passed it onto third-party advertising and tracking companies, or includes it in cookies, that are accessible to other companies.<\/p>\n

It’s not clear how common this is, or which apps are harvesting this information, but Facebook users should be very careful about allowing apps to access their personal information. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Wall Street Journal article published today has some pretty serious news for Facebook users: Many of the most popular applications, or “apps,” on the social-networking site Facebook Inc. have been transmitting identifying information\u2014in effect, providing access to people’s names and, in some cases, their friends’ names\u2014to dozens of advertising and Internet tracking companies… Wall […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2086,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[53,106],"class_list":["post-2085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-software-apps","tag-facebook","tag-privacy"],"yoast_head":"\nFacebook Apps Share Confidential User Information - The Mac Security Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A Wall Street Journal article published today has some pretty serious news for Facebook users: Many of the most popular applications, or "apps," on the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/facebook-apps-share-confidential-user-information\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Facebook Apps Share Confidential User Information - The Mac Security Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A Wall Street Journal article published today has some pretty serious news for Facebook users: Many of the most popular applications, or "apps," on the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/facebook-apps-share-confidential-user-information\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Mac Security Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-10-18T13:40:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Facebook-icon.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"128\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"132\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Peter James\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Peter James\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intego.com\\\/mac-security-blog\\\/facebook-apps-share-confidential-user-information\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intego.com\\\/mac-security-blog\\\/facebook-apps-share-confidential-user-information\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Peter James\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intego.com\\\/mac-security-blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d0c16bd0a4dd8f82d91204f400c8d116\"},\"headline\":\"Facebook Apps Share Confidential User Information\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-10-18T13:40:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intego.com\\\/mac-security-blog\\\/facebook-apps-share-confidential-user-information\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":225,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intego.com\\\/mac-security-blog\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intego.com\\\/mac-security-blog\\\/facebook-apps-share-confidential-user-information\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intego.com\\\/mac-security-blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2010\\\/10\\\/Facebook-icon.png\",\"keywords\":[\"Facebook\",\"Privacy\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Software & Apps\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intego.com\\\/mac-security-blog\\\/facebook-apps-share-confidential-user-information\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intego.com\\\/mac-security-blog\\\/facebook-apps-share-confidential-user-information\\\/\",\"name\":\"Facebook Apps Share Confidential User Information - The Mac Security Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intego.com\\\/mac-security-blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intego.com\\\/mac-security-blog\\\/facebook-apps-share-confidential-user-information\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intego.com\\\/mac-security-blog\\\/facebook-apps-share-confidential-user-information\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intego.com\\\/mac-security-blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2010\\\/10\\\/Facebook-icon.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-10-18T13:40:19+00:00\",\"description\":\"A Wall Street Journal article published today has some pretty serious news for Facebook users: Many of the most popular applications, or \\\"apps,\\\" on the\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intego.com\\\/mac-security-blog\\\/facebook-apps-share-confidential-user-information\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intego.com\\\/mac-security-blog\\\/facebook-apps-share-confidential-user-information\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intego.com\\\/mac-security-blog\\\/facebook-apps-share-confidential-user-information\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intego.com\\\/mac-security-blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2010\\\/10\\\/Facebook-icon.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intego.com\\\/mac-security-blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2010\\\/10\\\/Facebook-icon.png\",\"width\":\"128\",\"height\":\"132\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intego.com\\\/mac-security-blog\\\/facebook-apps-share-confidential-user-information\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intego.com\\\/mac-security-blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Facebook Apps Share Confidential User Information\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intego.com\\\/mac-security-blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intego.com\\\/mac-security-blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Mac Security Blog\",\"description\":\"Keep Macs safe from the dangers of the Internet\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intego.com\\\/mac-security-blog\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intego.com\\\/mac-security-blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intego.com\\\/mac-security-blog\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Intego\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intego.com\\\/mac-security-blog\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intego.com\\\/mac-security-blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intego.com\\\/mac-security-blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/10\\\/intego-organization-logo-for-google-knowledge-graph-875x875-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intego.com\\\/mac-security-blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/10\\\/intego-organization-logo-for-google-knowledge-graph-875x875-1.png\",\"width\":875,\"height\":875,\"caption\":\"Intego\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intego.com\\\/mac-security-blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intego.com\\\/mac-security-blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d0c16bd0a4dd8f82d91204f400c8d116\",\"name\":\"Peter James\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/02040a1b56c0554236733a69e59ffeacde3aff8b1d8fb9818a2b71ebbc0e2484?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/02040a1b56c0554236733a69e59ffeacde3aff8b1d8fb9818a2b71ebbc0e2484?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/02040a1b56c0554236733a69e59ffeacde3aff8b1d8fb9818a2b71ebbc0e2484?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Peter James\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.intego.com\\\/mac-security-blog\\\/author\\\/peter\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Facebook Apps Share Confidential User Information - The Mac Security Blog","description":"A Wall Street Journal article published today has some pretty serious news for Facebook users: Many of the most popular applications, or \"apps,\" on the","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/facebook-apps-share-confidential-user-information\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Facebook Apps Share Confidential User Information - The Mac Security Blog","og_description":"A Wall Street Journal article published today has some pretty serious news for Facebook users: Many of the most popular applications, or \"apps,\" on the","og_url":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/facebook-apps-share-confidential-user-information\/","og_site_name":"The Mac Security Blog","article_published_time":"2010-10-18T13:40:19+00:00","og_image":[{"width":128,"height":132,"url":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Facebook-icon.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Peter James","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Peter James","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/facebook-apps-share-confidential-user-information\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/facebook-apps-share-confidential-user-information\/"},"author":{"name":"Peter James","@id":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d0c16bd0a4dd8f82d91204f400c8d116"},"headline":"Facebook Apps Share Confidential User Information","datePublished":"2010-10-18T13:40:19+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/facebook-apps-share-confidential-user-information\/"},"wordCount":225,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/facebook-apps-share-confidential-user-information\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Facebook-icon.png","keywords":["Facebook","Privacy"],"articleSection":["Software & Apps"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/facebook-apps-share-confidential-user-information\/","url":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/facebook-apps-share-confidential-user-information\/","name":"Facebook Apps Share Confidential User Information - The Mac Security Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/facebook-apps-share-confidential-user-information\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/facebook-apps-share-confidential-user-information\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Facebook-icon.png","datePublished":"2010-10-18T13:40:19+00:00","description":"A Wall Street Journal article published today has some pretty serious news for Facebook users: Many of the most popular applications, or \"apps,\" on the","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/facebook-apps-share-confidential-user-information\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/facebook-apps-share-confidential-user-information\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/facebook-apps-share-confidential-user-information\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Facebook-icon.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Facebook-icon.png","width":"128","height":"132"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/facebook-apps-share-confidential-user-information\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Facebook Apps Share Confidential User Information"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/","name":"The Mac Security Blog","description":"Keep Macs safe from the dangers of the Internet","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/#organization","name":"Intego","url":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/intego-organization-logo-for-google-knowledge-graph-875x875-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/intego-organization-logo-for-google-knowledge-graph-875x875-1.png","width":875,"height":875,"caption":"Intego"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d0c16bd0a4dd8f82d91204f400c8d116","name":"Peter James","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/02040a1b56c0554236733a69e59ffeacde3aff8b1d8fb9818a2b71ebbc0e2484?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/02040a1b56c0554236733a69e59ffeacde3aff8b1d8fb9818a2b71ebbc0e2484?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/02040a1b56c0554236733a69e59ffeacde3aff8b1d8fb9818a2b71ebbc0e2484?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Peter James"},"url":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/author\/peter\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2085"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2085\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}