When signing on to a new app, Facebook users are often confronted with a disconcerting choice — let Facebook access information about hundreds of your closest friends without their knowledge or permission — or perhaps just give up that particular product or service.
It’s surprising that such a policy did not generate more of a squeal, but maybe that’s because many apps let you opt out of revealing the most intrusive information.
Today, Facebook announced it is shutting all that down with its migration to the Graph API 2.0. Changes take effect on April 30th.
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Companies did have fair warning. Facebook had already announced its intent to close off that particular privacy-busting spigot at its F8 Conference last year, and all apps created since April 2014 already adhere to the new standard.
Moreover, the social network has engaged in extensive research alerting companies about how their apps would function under the new API in order to ease the transition.
That notwithstanding, the move will break certain apps like Job Fusion, which depended on the ability to use friend information. According to a report by Techcrunch, Job Fusion, CareerSonar, Jobs With Friends and adzuna Connect will all be shutting down as a result of this change.
While apps do not have to delete data they already have, if someone asks that their data be removed, the company will have to comply. And you can adjust your own privacy settings going forward to deny apps the use of your data.
Facebook has instituted other changes too. It is now requiring all apps to use its new login system which hands over more data control to users. A new “Edit the info you provide” link lets users pick and choose which permissions they want to grant.
A new Login Review system has Facebook employees examine any app that requires more information than the public profile so apps do not get into the habit of gathering more data than they need to operate properly.
When the policy goes into effect, it will be mostly transparent to users, though if an app has changed significantly, you may have to log in again.
➤ Facebook Is Shutting Down Its API For Giving Your Friends’ Data To Apps
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