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Facebook Phones In Privacy Change

Before users and privacy advocates had the chance to mount a full-scale revolt, Facebook just disabled a new feature that let users -- knowingly or not -- share their phone number and address with third-party applications and Web sites. "Either the company was blind to the potential for user uproar, or it figured it could sneak in the feature without users noticing," writes VentureBeat.

To some, the move demonstrates Facebook's heightened sensitivity to privacy issues and bad press. "Facebook is learning that it may need to move slower and more thoughtfully as it pushes users to share more sensitive information," writes GigaOm. "It not only protects those users but it signals that Facebook is concerned about its users' privacy, something many are not quite convinced of."

For others, meanwhile, the bungled release only proves that Facebook still has a lot to learn about user privacy concerns and clear communication.

Privacy researcher Christopher Soghoian tells CNNMoney.com that Facebook botched the message by publicizing the change on its developer's blog. "They should have had an announcement: 'This is why were doing this, and is why it's not a privacy problem,'" he said.

According to Facebook, it plans to re-enable the feature once it has figures out how to better educate users about the risks associated with sharing such information.

"Sharing a home address and/or mobile phone number isn't something its 600 million or more users should be able to do without thinking things through a little," writes TechCrunch. "It's Facebook's responsibility to explicitly warn users about the risks involved."



With or without explicit warnings, however, many critics don't think the change is a good idea. As HuffPo reports, internet security firm Sophos warns that the new policy "could herald a new level of danger for Facebook users," noting, "the ability to access users' home addresses will also open up more opportunities for identity theft, combined with the other data that can already be extracted from Facebook users' profiles."

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