PRIVACY

Facebook Stops Demanding Users’ Email Passwords After Daily Beast Report

“We understand the password verification option isn’t the best way to go about this,” Facebook said in a statement.

Facebook has stopped demanding email passwords from users after a Daily Beast report exposed the invasive practice. Just a couple of weeks after Facebook admitted it mishandled millions of users’ passwords for the site, it required that some users provide the password for the email account they gave to Facebook when signing up. “To continue using Facebook, you’ll need to confirm your email,” the message stated. “Since you signed up with [email address], you can do that automatically …” A form below the message then asked for the users’ “email password.” Small print below the password field promised, “Facebook won’t store your password.” But the company has been criticized for repurposing information it originally acquired under the guise of “security.” In response to the Daily Beast story, Facebook said it would stop asking users for email passwords. “We understand the password verification option isn’t the best way to go about this,” Facebook said in a statement. “So we are going to stop offering it.”

EXCUSE ME?

‘Beyond Sketchy’: Facebook Demands Users’ Email Passwords

Kevin Poulsen