Archive for June, 2008

More Advertising Issues on Facebook (Updated)

Friday, June 20th, 2008

Originally posted June 7
Today I logged into Scrabulous and was greeted with a rather unusual ad.  Above my games list, a banner encouraged me, “Put one of Your FRIENDS on an Album cover!”
What was unusual is that the banner included the names and profile pictures of several Facebook friends.
Since the ad is appropriating the likenesses (and [...]

Facebook Open to Homeschoolers

Thursday, June 19th, 2008

As a homeschool graduate, this news made me happy this morning.  While I get after Facebook on privacy and security sometimes, I do appreciate the priority they place on such issues - I’ve long felt their privacy controls were some of the best on the Web.  Kudos to the Facebook team for resolving this issue [...]

A Gate for the Walled Garden

Wednesday, June 18th, 2008

In researching my last post, I came across an interesting clause in the Facebook Developer TOS:
You may retain copies of Exportable Facebook Properties for such period of time (if any) as the Applicable Facebook User for such Exportable Facebook Properties may approve, if (and only if) such Applicable Facebook User expressly approves your doing so [...]

Checking the security and privacy of social networking applications, white hat style…