Facebook Announces "Anonymous Logins" For Third-Party Apps

[Andy Chalk]

Facebook Announces "Anonymous Logins" For Third-Party Apps

Facebook's new "anonymous login" allows users to connect to third-party apps without sharing any personal information.

Remember when Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said that people who trusted him with their personal information are "dumb fucks [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/100652-Facebook-CEO-People-Who-Trust-Me-Are-Dumb-F-cks]" because he has absolutely zero regard for the concept of privacy? Things have changed an awful lot since then, as issues ranging from Edward Snowden to Heartbleed have dragged privacy concerns into the light of the mainstream consciousness, and now even Zuckerberg is singing a different tune.

Speaking at the f8 Developer Conference, Zuckerberg revealed Facebook's new "anonymous login" option, which will let users access third-party apps without sharing any personal information from Facebook. If the user decides to commit to the app at some point down the road, the login can be changed to share additional information if so desired.

The standard Facebook login is being changed too, and will now offer "line by line control" to allow people to choose what information they share with third-party app makers. The new Facebook login also won't post to Facebook without permission, ensuring that your Facebook friends won't know what sort of silliness you're up to if you don't want them to, and a redesigned App Control Panel will give users a full list of their apps and let them manage permissions or even remove apps outright.

I think it's fair to say that the changes are long overdue, but welcome nonetheless. Facebook's notoriety for its near-abusive treatment of personal information is well earned; I've always been careful about what I put on the site but I was still caught by surprise - a very unpleasant surprise - when I discovered that my phone was automatically uploading photos I'd taken to my Facebook account, simply because I failed to specifically tell it not to. That sort of "negative option" approach, which requires users to deny permission rather than grant it, is a terrible way to do business, especially in this era of runaway surveillance and security leaks.

The anonymous login option is currently being tested with just a handful of developers but will be opened up to more in the coming months; the App Control Panel is also planned to go live in the very near future.

Source: Facebook [http://newsroom.fb.com/news/2014/04/f8-introducing-anonymous-login-and-an-updated-facebook-login/]


Permalink

 

[wswordsmen]

No contradiction by Zuckerberg. If you trust him to keep your information private from his advertisers you are still a "dumb fuck". This just lets you not let other people, that aren't him, have access to it by having facebook integration. If they pay him he will still sell your information to them in a second though.

 

[Hero in a half shell]

No contradiction by Zuckerberg. If you trust him to keep your information private from his advertisers you are still a "dumb fuck". This just lets you not let other people, that aren't him, have access to it by having facebook integration. If they pay him he will still sell your information to them in a second though.

True, and by that train of thought this will actually benefit Zuckerberg further as it means these 3rd party companies can no longer rely on their personal metrics of Facebook logins to provide an accurate account of who is looking at their material.
The only way to see 100% accurately who is viewing your content via Facebook... is to buy the data from Facebook.

Clever girl.

 

[FalloutJack]

Well hey...nice job making Facebook the ideal habitat...for Anonymous.

*Obvious pun is obvious*

Seriously, though, when is someone going to stick a fork in this? It's frigging ridiculous.

 

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

Well, any step towards the beauty of anonymity is a good step in my book.

I still don't trust the motherzucker in the slightest and won't be putting anything other than the bare minimum on Facebook, but I say any day that goes by without a horrifically terrible piece of news for the internet is a good day indeed.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

You can still not log in using Facebook. I don't see any downsides to this and it won't change anything for me.

 

[alj]

Has anyone else logged in with Facebook ? Why would you ever do this.

I am not a facebook user i was a long time ago before it was the behemoth it is today but i mean you are basically giving that website all your personal info for no reason, there are times when we have to give up this information to make the service work but when its not needed don't do it.

 

[Micalas]

Very shrewd business decision. Now the app developers can't rely on free information gleaned from your Facebook. Grats on your new line of income, Facebook...

 

[Strazdas]

you mean a feature that every other service considers default protocol? Good job Facebook!

Has anyone else logged in with Facebook ? Why would you ever do this.

There actually are websites where the ONLY way to login to comment/ect is facebook. they dont provide other services or theri own accounts.