Facebook to resume phone and address sharing; How to prevent it
Facebook is to carry out its long awaited plan to allow third-party developers who write applications and games for the site, to access users current address and phone numbers if added to profiles.
However, Facebook in a letter said that it yet to decide how to inform users of this significant change, and only then will the new sharing of personal information go ahead.
Last month, Facebook was heavily criticised by two members of Congress over the privacy concern relating to these changes in permissions.
Three days after announcing the change, the social network backed down citing clear privacy worries about its own platform, holding their hands up and saying: "we are making changes to help ensure you only share this information when you intend to do so."
One of the major arguments was how these changes would be highlighted to the user. As many just want to get to the application or game content, they overlook the formal 'request for permission'as seen above, and simply allow the changes without a second glance; not realising what information is being handed to developers outside Facebook.
Since Facebook's recent response, however, Rep. Ed Markey who previously complained, said that he was still not satisfied.
How to fix this privacy setting permanently
- Login to your Facebook profile.
- In the upper right hand-corner, click Profile.
- On this page, in the upper right-hand corner, click Edit Profile.
- On the left-hand side, click Contact Information.
- Under Phones, make sure that the middle box containing any phone numbers is left entirely blank.
- Under Address, make sure that this box containing your address is left entirely blank.
- Click Save Changes at the bottom of the screen.
These steps are detailed in the Definitive Facebook Lockdown Guide, but this privacy setting in particular can be found by clicking here.
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