What Farmville really has done is taken away gaming from the geeks and the nerds and given it to old ladies who can barely log onto Facebook and I think that really rubs the geeks and the nerds the wrong way.

As far as privacy concerns, I’m in the what’s the big deal? camp. So the amorphous “they” knows my name and that I have a Facebook page and can look at my locked down profile? Have at it. You can see my hiking photos and some photos of me and my girlfriend eating pizza. You might find out that I’m pretty liberal when it comes to social issues. Big deal- I advertise that on my car. Christ, I have an ACLU sticker on my laptop.

As far as being targeted for advertising- the system is laughably bad. I frequently get ads delivered to my FB page that couldn’t be more opposite of my interests. So I don’t really feel like my personal data is being used to unduly coerce me into buying stuff.

And if you’re dumb enough to post pictures of yourself dressed as a hooker, fellating a dildo and then a few years later you decide to run for public office, then you deserve what you get.

Put it this way: Since pretty much everybody knows someone who is playing Farmville/Mobwhatever, Zynga now basically has a copy of Facebook’s entire friend structure.

Since a Facebook user ID is a public part of any Facebook profile, anyone can use an ID number to look up a person’s name, using a standard Web browser, even if that person has set all of his or her Facebook information to be private

Why isn’t what Facebook did (“default to open”) illegal yet?

So while we might chuckle and shake our heads at the gullibility of people, it’s clear that we’re not exactly the norm. So rather than blame the masses, I’d rather put the blame squarely on FB.

The story doesn’t mention whether the reporter asked them if they transmitted these IDs or not. Perhaps reporters these days aren’t comfortable with catching people in lies.

Reading about every little mundane detail of their lives is also not what I have in mind. I don’t think I could read another “cute quote” from a new parent who is going on and on about how their kid pronounces the word “Gorilla” as “Gu-wuh-wuh”…(UGH!!!) No doubt, facebook is the most FAKE place on earth I hope we can someday come back to some type of normalcy in this world where people can reconnect in the real-life and meet out at bars or restaurants….(Which I actually do now, but you know what I mean.)

Goes to show people just aren’t paranoid enough.

Do you think Facebook is your friend, or that they *really* give a damn about your privacy? NO, they don’t. Their job is to sell every bit of info on you at whatever the market will bear. I find it disheartening that people still believe that the hundreds and hundreds of ongoing personal information “leaks” are unintentional. Give me a break- I couldn’t code that poorly on purpose.

Wake up, folks. It happens *regularly* and occurs in every single part of Facebook over and over again. And each time, lo and behold, it’s the advertisers who somehow end up with the data. Gee, what an amazing coincidence.

Oh come one…it’s “the only way” to talk to your son? Ever heard of chat rooms, or email, or telephones, or texting, or Skype? Please, at least try and come up with a believable excuse for using Facebook.

That include BoingBoing. Not that I think anyone here is likely to abuse data, but it can be spidered, and the way to maintain a habit is to never let yourself get _out_ of the habit.

There are reasons I have at least four separate online identities, plus an “employee” who registers for some things on my behalf. And I’m selective about what hits the net even in my e-mail.

Heck, I recently went thru and cleaned a bunch of stuff off my hard disk because I wasn’t using it and didn’t want to think about whether it posed a risk.

OK, I work for Zynga, so I’m probably already guilty of some heinous crime I’m not yet aware of, but referer is a browser-supplied field. When you click on a link, the browser sends the url of the page you were on when you clicked it, in the http header. If you’re in your FB account the url includes your userid. ZOMG.

Also, I wouldn’t put the comma inside the quote there.

It is not overly difficult to fix the design of the API in order to both allow privacy and flexibility in app creation.

BTW, the goal of this group is to come up with concrete solutions to FB’s privacy problems. Check it out here:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=122212854462445

Yes, I understand that what’s happening to other people here sucks. I fully believe that Zuckerberg needs a swift kick in the ass. But at this point, only a fool expects the stuff they do online to stay private. Make peace with that.

Personally I think your rule makes more sense, but it’s still a matter of convention, so I wouldn’t try to force other posters one way or the other.