Antisocial Media

Congress Presses Facebook on Privacy

Following revelations of yet another privacy loophole.

Facebook is quickly racking up enough drama for a Social Network sequel: Two congressmen are pressing the company for more information about its privacy practices following a report of a loophole in the social network’s popular applications. Reps. Edward Markey (D-MA) and Joe Barton (R-TX), co-chairmen of a privacy caucus, sent site founder Mark Zuckerberg a letter detailing their worries that third-party applications sent out information that could identify users and their friends to dozens of advertisers. The apps used an ID number for users that could be used to uncover the users’ real names, and in some cases, the info was publicly available and could tie users to their app activity. The lawmakers asked Zuckerberg to estimate how many people had been affected by the breach—a term that Facebook rejected. "The suggestion that the passing of a user ID to an application, as described in Facebook's privacy policy, constitutes a 'breach' is curious at best," a spokesman said.