Facebook Launching News Feed Tool to Let Users Quickly Revoke Permissions From Apps

[MacRumors]

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg this afternoon addressed the ongoing Cambridge Analytica situation, in which Cambridge Analytica used personal data acquired from Facebook in an illicit manner by a third-party app to create targeted political advertisements during the 2016 election.

Zuckerberg outlined a multi-step response that Facebook plans to take to prevent this situation from recurring, and one feature Facebook will add is a new tool at the top of the News Feed which will let people see which apps they've used.

Any app used on the Facebook platform has access to a user's personal data, so the Facebook tool will let people see which apps have their info and it will offer up an easy way to revoke permissions.

​

This tool is already available through Facebook's privacy settings, but the company plans to make it more accessible to all users.

Back in 2014, Facebook implemented changes to reduce the amount of data apps had access to (the CA data was pre-2014), and Facebook says it will now investigate all apps that had access to large amounts of information before the platform change.

We will conduct a full audit of any app with suspicious activity. We will ban any developer from our platform that does not agree to a thorough audit. And if we find developers that misused personally identifiable information, we will ban them and tell everyone affected by those apps.

Zuckerberg also says Facebook plans to remove developers' access to data if an app hasn't been used in three months, and the amount of data provided to an app when a user signs in will be further restricted to name, profile photo, and email address. Access to posts or other private data will require users to explicitly approve the action.

The Cambridge Analytica scandal has resulted in a massive "Delete Facebook" movement from users concerned over the data Facebook collects and how it's used, and Facebook stock has sharply declined this week.

Facebook users who are not satisfied with Zuckerberg's response can permanently delete a Facebook account by clicking this link. Before doing so, it's recommended Facebook users download an archive of their content so no photos are lost.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Article Link: Facebook Launching News Feed Tool to Let Users Quickly Revoke Permissions From Apps

 

[Solomani]

Google is next (for a much-deserved backlash) with their predatory information-gathering information-snooping culture.

 

[Dominicanyor]

Stop talking about it and take care of it.

 

[budselectjr]

This is how Facebook makes money. People shouldn’t be surprised that they don’t care about your privacy.

 

[FoxMcCloud]

A good change.

 

[now i see it]

While I've made it clear that I'm not a fan of FB, what boggles my mind is that people still continue to use it. Why?

 

[farewelwilliams]

Mark could at least change his profile pic if he really wants me to read his post in a serious manner.

 

[BMcCoy]

If you’re not paying for a product, you ARE the product..

 

[jerry16]

If you are shocked that your Facebook data has been used for something other than connecting you with friends, then you are part of the problem. I'm genuinely shocked by the outrage. When I read the news my initial reaction was, "par for the course."

 

[thadoggfather]

Trying to revive a sinking ship

I love it I want Facebook to be MySpace relevant. Society will be better off

You know this, Weinstein/Hollywood and all other sorts of revelations, including many that likely have yet to come to light, wouldn’t have occurred if we had the opposite candidate as Pres

 

[itsmilo]

While I've made it clear that I'm not a fan of FB, what boggles my mind is that people still continue to use it. Why?

social media is one hell of a drug

 

[scrapesleon]

It’s a little too late the damage is already done

 

[BWhaler]

Facebook is gross.

And it sucks to boot.

 

[69650]

This is why I have never and will never use Facebook.

 

[BWhaler]

Here’s the thing. The greatest trick Facebook ever pulled was framing privacy as controlling your info against third parties, not Facebook itself.

It’s some kaiser souse level stuff. The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing you he didn’t exist. The greatest trick Facebook ever pulled was convincing you privacy was not sharing with other people.

 

[nutmac]

Nice talk but it doesn't change the fact that changing privacy setting is extremely complicated. That complexity makes Facebook is a very opaque platform for average user. It's difficult to know what will be visible and shared. The safest thing to do is use Facebook in extreme moderation and lock down setting as much as possible (and best you can understand).

 

[philipk]

I deleted my account yesterday. It was a bit hard to do as I will miss seeing friends who live at a distance. However, I was tired of my privacy being sold. Someone has already stated, if you were not paying for the product you are the product.

 

[dogslobber]

facebook is a marketing company and these controls are illusions. Smoke and mirrors from the Great Zuck.

 

[fairuz]

This feature has nothing to do with how the analytics firm got the private user data. Nobody signed up for an app for that. If you used Facebook AT ALL, your data was up for sale/free to those guys, thanks to their privacy policy:

We transfer information to vendors, service providers, and other partners who globally support our business, such as providing technical infrastructure services, analyzing how our Services are used, measuring the effectiveness of ads and services, providing customer service, facilitating payments, or conducting academic research and surveys. These partners must adhere to strict confidentiality obligations in a way that is consistent with this Data Policy and the agreements we enter into with them.

^ I don't want to hear anything about problems being fixed until this paragraph is removed from the policy.

Any app used on the Facebook platform has access to a user's personal data, so the Facebook tool will let people see which apps have their info and it will offer up an easy way to revoke permissions.

Zuckerberg also says Facebook plans to remove developers' access to data if an app hasn't been used in three months.

These are welcome changes, especially the second one, but I still haven't seen him address the actual issue with their privacy policy that was exploited, so these are only smokescreens IMO.

 

[Apple_Robert]

I do not have a Facebook account anymore. Several years ago when Facebook showed its true colors, I ditched it and erased by account and history. Even when i had it, I barely used it. I would like to see Facebook die a quick and painful death.

People are selling the digital souls and privacy away to Facebook and millions are cluelessly happy in doing so.

 

[Zombie Acorn]

Deleted my FB account, the content on there has been garbage since they started prioritizing videos over relevant content.

 

[thadoggfather]

I do not have a Facebook account anymore. Several years ago when Facebook showed its true colors, I ditched it and erased by account and history. Even when i had it, I barely used it. I would like to see Facebook die a quick and painful death.

People are selling the digital souls and privacy away to Facebook and millions are cluelessly happy in doing so.

I wonder if deleting your account actually does anything tho

mine has been inactive for over a year, would delete, but it feels like it wouldn't make any difference?

 

[341328]

Google is next with their predatory information-gathering information-snooping culture.

Form data on every form that uses reCaptcha!

 

[pratikindia]

If you grant permission to an app to access your data and if you revoke the permission later, then also the data is retained with the app developer. It's not deleted automatically. Anyway, I have deleted my Facebook account long ago.

 

[vmachiel]

While I've made it clear that I'm not a fan of FB, what boggles my mind is that people still continue to use it. Why?

What boggles my mind is that half the world is mad at Facebook, but they are using Instagram..