Boycott Watch  
                            
December 9, 2011
 
Facebook App Violates Privacy by
Demanding & Releasing Personal Information
About You & Others To Third Parties
 
Summary: You do not have to allow businesses to sell send you spam emails, nor should you have your personal information and information about your friends sold to others without the explicit permission of everyone affected.
 
    Privacy of your information on Facebook has been top news for a while, and Facebook has had to apologize for releasing information without the consent of their members. Now, a game on Facebook has gone much further, not only demanding access to private information before allowing people to play, but you have to accept their terms before complaining to Facebook. Most importantly, by agreeing to their terms, you are giving the app developers permission to release information about you, and potentially minors and personal relationships with people who are not even playing the game.
Facebook Privacy Violation
   As shown here, Click to enlarge, the Mob Wars application requires three points of access, or you cannot play, and Boycott Watch questions the need for any of this information as it has nothing to do with actual game play. "While all kinds of people play games on Facebook, there is just no reason a game needs to know your personal email address and who you are dating" said Fred Taub, President of Boycott Watch. "Their demand can also reveal the type of relationship a person is in, be it hetero or homosexual, with whom you are in such a relationship with and other information the player may not want released. We recently saw a case where someone committed suicide after a homosexual relationship was revealed, and this app wants your email address too, potentially advertising your personal information and even using the personal information to solicit, via email, sexually inappropriate items to Facebook members, including to minors."

   Boycott Watch believes people have the right to secure private information. Most people just press the 'allow' or 'agree' button without reading the details. In this case, there is no reason a game would need personal information other than wanting to target the game player with advertisements geared toward their sex, age and personal relationship information. It is the same as cyber-fishing for information, and in this case getting people to opt-into their lists, not realizing their personal information can be used to be sent spam emails.

   Boycott Watch believes this is a fundamental violation of personal privacy, including the new Facebook privacy rules. Boycott Watch President Fred Taub sent a complaint to Facebook and the app developers but has yet to receive a response.

    We will post a follow-up.
 
 
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