Facebook gave access to data to advertisers
Facebook steckt erneut im Datenschutz-Arger. Das Online- Netzwerk ermöglichte Werbekunden laut einem Zeitungsbericht teilweise die Identifizierung von Nutzern.
As the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, this contradicts Facebook's privacy policy. This is because it states that advertisers only receive non-identifying information without the user's consent. However, other providers such as MySpace or Hi5 have also passed on data, as was also reported.
Facebook is said to have stopped the practice in the meantime. According to the report, it concerned cases in which users of the social network clicked on ads on their own profile page. Under certain circumstances, the advertisers were provided with data from which they could identify the user. It is generally common practice in the Internet industry to only transmit additional information in anonymized form when users click on advertisements.
It is interesting why the Wall Street Journal, of all publications, which in addition to MySpace also belongs to Rupert Murdoch's media group News Corp, is reporting on this. MySpace, which has long been the world's largest online network, has recently been clearly left behind by Facebook. And the revelation comes at an inopportune time for Facebook, as the company is currently being criticized by data protectionists for pushing users to be too permissive with personal information and at the same time not being transparent enough when it comes to data protection. Many no longer trust the online network. Of 1,588 users surveyed, 16 percent are said to have already left the social network, according to Netzwoche.ch. When asked whether they were leaving Facebook because they had concerns about their privacy, 30 percent answered "possibly" and 30 percent "very likely".
According to the Wall Street Journal, recipients of the data, such as the advertising marketer DoubleClick, which belongs to Google, and Yahoo's subsidiary Right Media, both stated that they were not aware of the transfer and had not used the data.
Facebook is said to have stopped the practice in the meantime. According to the report, it concerned cases in which users of the social network clicked on ads on their own profile page. Under certain circumstances, the advertisers were provided with data from which they could identify the user. It is generally common practice in the Internet industry to only transmit additional information in anonymized form when users click on advertisements.
It is interesting why the Wall Street Journal, of all publications, which in addition to MySpace also belongs to Rupert Murdoch's media group News Corp, is reporting on this. MySpace, which has long been the world's largest online network, has recently been clearly left behind by Facebook. And the revelation comes at an inopportune time for Facebook, as the company is currently being criticized by data protectionists for pushing users to be too permissive with personal information and at the same time not being transparent enough when it comes to data protection. Many no longer trust the online network. Of 1,588 users surveyed, 16 percent are said to have already left the social network, according to Netzwoche.ch. When asked whether they were leaving Facebook because they had concerns about their privacy, 30 percent answered "possibly" and 30 percent "very likely".
According to the Wall Street Journal, recipients of the data, such as the advertising marketer DoubleClick, which belongs to Google, and Yahoo's subsidiary Right Media, both stated that they were not aware of the transfer and had not used the data.
