Faced Off By Facebook API Insanity
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As I have stated before, I think Facebook is on the wrong track with the right idea. Extending their functionality through new APIs is always cool, but I am definitely concerned about potential security problems down the line. Yes, I am being paranoid, etc, etc. We’ve already been down this road before. I mean, it’s not like Facebook has issues with phishing schemes or malware, right? Oh wait…
Frankly, I think Facebook, Twitter and the rest have a long way to go before they should be adding in extra application functionality. I mean, the problem of most users being too stupid not to post their life story for all to see is clearly not addressed. So now we are going to open up things even further? I don’t know about this.
I guess this just makes me old fashioned or boring. Despite using Twitter myself, I hardly touch my Facebook account. Once burned, twice shy? Call it what you like, but I just have no use for Facebook and their new APIs at this point. And even on the Twitter front, I am pretty careful about the applications I give my credentials to.
One Comment
seemy
May 2nd, 2009
at 5:05am
People are desensitized to sharing their privacy. They share a little bit, and then a bit more, more, and more and more. Before you know it, they consider sharing everything about themselves the norm. It’s not until their identity is stolen, or they’re stalked or some other extreme occurs before they understand what a mistake it was. There should be a primer or a guide that everyone should read before joining a social site. Especially the younger kids. Compromising your privacy can have consequences. I used to participate on usenet quite a bit using my real name. Using your real name on usenet computer forums added an element of credibility and was deemed a necessity by the peers who were evaluating the accuracy of my answers. Google, long before it was even known, decided to take the usenet archive and put it on the internet. Bam! There’s my name all over the internet without my permission. I learned my lesson real quick. I much prefer privacy over popularity.