Report: Social Networks Still Leak Users' Data

Following up on a report by researchers at AT&T Labs and Worcester Polytechnic Institute, The Wall Street Journal found that Facebook, MySpace and other social networking sites continue to "leak" information about users. The sites leak data by providing the user names or IDs of people who click on ads to the marketers. Some companies including Facebook and MySpace reportedly tweaked its code after being contacted by the Journal.

When the report first came out last year, Future of Privacy Forum director Jules Polonetsky told MediaPost that the leakage problem wasn't new or limited to social networking sites. But, he said, the vast amount of information that people post to social networking sites exacerbates the privacy issues. "It's the latest variation on a very old problem -- but on steroids," he said at the time.

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