This article was published on August 28, 2012

McAfee launches an app to ‘protect’ your Facebook photos from unwanted attention


McAfee launches an app to ‘protect’ your Facebook photos from unwanted attention

Security software company McAfee today announced the launch of ‘Social Protection’, a new Facebook app and browser plug-in developed by Intel’s Software and Services Group that basically protects your photos from being shared without your permission.

Announced (but not launched) earlier this month, the app + browser extension lets users select which friends have access to their photos and makes pictures appear blurry to anyone else. For selected friends, the photos will be displayed properly once those friends have installed the app.

This, of course, also helps McAfee promote the app.

Even when friends gain access to your photos, they still won’t be able to share, copy, print, or take screenshots of them, McAfee notes.

Thing is: McAfee’s Social Protection is only available as a Facebook app and browser plug-in for PCs using Internet Explorer 8 or Firefox 8 (and higher).

Seriously, what are the chances that none of your friends use a Mac, or Google Chrome or Safari for their Web browsing needs for that matter? This is actually quite asinine when you stop and think about it.

Also: if your photos are really that sensitive, you might want to reconsider if you want to share them on the Web altogether. Because requiring your buddies to install an app and a browser plug-in just to view your photos will not exactly be making you the most liked person in history.

Besides, what’s going to stop them from taking a picture with their camera?

McAfee Social Protection

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