Friday, Facebook unleashed a new feature upon the masses. There was a public (the internet) uproar about it and Facebook has put the feature on hold but I expect to see it back up and running in one form or another soon. What it did was allowe third party app developers to access your phone number and contact information. To their credit, this was strictly an opt-in procedure. You know when you’re adding a game or app to your profile and you get that message that says:
Well, on Friday, below the paragraph about accessing your “basic information,” there was another heading which requested permission to “Access my contact information.” This was only your address and cell phone number and while it was opt-in, how often do you actually read the request for permission any more since it’s become standard fare at this point. For parents who have children on Facebook, this is definitely something you’re going to want to discuss with your little ones and I’d suggest removing their information all together just to be on the safe side. Facebook has a history of slipping info and I don’t trust it not to happen again. So, how do you remove your personal info? First, click on “Home” in the upper right hand corner of the screen and then “Edit My Profile” (as seen below):
Once you’ve done that, you will come to the screen where you can edit your profile settings. Click the link for “Contact Information” on the left pane and from there you can remove your cell phone number and address (as seen below):
And there you have it! You’ve now removed your personal info from the site so you don’t accidentally forget to clieck “Don’t Allow” next time that addictive, “must play” game is released.
