FarmVille Leaks Facebook User Data to the Internet

[Ninonybox_v1legacy]

i always knew farmvill was evil

 

[BaronFelX]

This is not a surprise to people who know things.

 

[Rofl-Mayo]

This is why i haven't and never will play any of those stupid facebook games.

 

[Danpascooch]

Alright, this is total bullshit.

I can't believe they have the nerve to call this a "leak"

Something like a photo of a game studio that accidentally caught something secret in the background is a leak.

SELLING INFORMATION TO ADVERTISERS IS NOT A leak.

I mean COME ON!

Whoops, we accidentally sold thousands of people's information, oopsie!

 

[Fearzone]

It's clear to me by now that the kind of user who gets into Facebook (as a hobby or pastime rather than business) doesn't care much about privacy, and wants to be seen and known.

 

[accountdeletethis]

This is a job for: http://www.dramabutton.com/ !

 

[ark123]

...
A user ID is a string of numbers that allows you to see a person's facebook page. It's exactly what you get when you search for a person with the "search" function on FB.
Andy Chalk, the dude that wrote this article, has ID number 1296236781 [http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1296236781]. Why anyone would pay for this kind of information is beyond me, and why this would be called "a leak" and reported as such is also amazing in my opinion. This is as big a leak as saying www.google.com will lead you to google's main page.

 

[Andy Chalk]

why this would be called "a leak" and reported as such is also amazing in my opinion.

Because it's in direct contravention of Facebook's policies. I thought that was fairly clear, sorry for the confusion.

 

[Sewer Rat]

Always knew there was something insidious about that 'game'. Does this mean that I will finally stop getting spam from my 'friends' about how they found the golden squash?

 

[ark123]

why this would be called "a leak" and reported as such is also amazing in my opinion.

Because it's in direct contravention of Facebook's policies. I thought that was fairly clear, sorry for the confusion.

I guess I just think you guys should be more on the side of "this is not a big deal, since we routinely give away such numbers" instead of the side of "this is hacking-style data mining". I mean, read these comments with all the clueless people yelling about privacy and how evil Zinga is.

 

[ark123]

anc[is]LOL poo fart ass XD

You can't delete your farmville can you? I tried it and quit months ago, and yet I'm still probably screwed. Well not really, none of that info is real. Still.

Leave it untouched for a month or so and it'll be deleted, like any account in any facebook app.

 

[Alar]

Alright, this is total bullshit.

I can't believe they have the nerve to call this a "leak"

Something like a photo of a game studio that accidentally caught something secret in the background is a leak.

SELLING INFORMATION TO ADVERTISERS IS NOT A leak.

I mean COME ON!

Whoops, we accidentally sold thousands of people's information, oopsie!

Yeah... Facebook and Zynga are hilarious. I'm still not sure how there haven't been more lawsuits against them (that have won).

 

[Tom Phoenix]

It never ceases to astound me how people keep playing Facebook games in spite of the overwhelming amount of indicators that their private information is being abused.

Honestly, this latest news shouldn't come as a suprise to anybody, but apparently some people haven't gotten the message yet...

 

[samsonguy920]

Anybody still on Facebook after everything else that has happened deserves this. But the way it sounds the worst they are in for is even more spam.
That last bit in the article might just get Zynga in trouble after their bossman openly admitted to being a crook. Things like this get the SEC to start sniffing around.

 

[ark123]

So social games are practically spyware eh?

Nnno. The only thing "stolen" here is the link to their profiles.
Here: http://www.escapistmagazine.com
OMG I JUST STOLE ESCAPIST'S IDENTITY, JUST LIKE SPYWARE!


Seriously people, instead of reacting like sheep to the tone, try to understand what's actually being said in the article.

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

PLEASE PLEASE PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE fuck Zynga with a MASSIVE fine!

For...what exactly? Let's just, for the moment, assume that this "leak" was intentional - the worst of all possible cases. What crime has been committed? The information being lost was publicly available anyhow. It offered no access to anything other than knowledge of your basic existence. In that way, it offers no better means of identification than, say, your e-mail address does. Even though I don't like what has been done, I cannot think of a crime even tangentially related to such an act. Invasion of privacy? You submitted that information to the internet. Encrypted page or not, it is a public network where every bit of traffic can be intercepted and decoded given sufficient resources (and a willingness to do so) by anyone else on the network. The right to privacy on the internet is hardly a right but rather an inconvenient hurdle that is sufficient to stop the most passive of attempts to invade.

But, obviously this information has value or else it would not be collected and then widely disseminated. Is such an action slimy? Certainly. But Zynga has never been in business of catering to the players. The customers they serve are their advertisers and their user base is nothing more than an audience held captive by an ever changing assortment of gaudy baubles. Why then, when the commodity primarily being traded in this exchange is your time and attention, do we think it might be criminal when we add to that list the simple acknowledgment that you exist as an online persona?\

That then begs a further question. If there is no violation of criminal law, that still means one party could try and sue the other for breach of contract. The trouble is, Facebook needs Zynga and, until something rises to the sheer level of popularity as Facebook, Zynga needs facebook as well. They can't very well go around suing one another as the well being of one entity is so closely linked to another.

 

[Ghengis John]

Everything you hear about zynga makes them sound like a bunch of ner-do-well scam men. I can't believe anyone would STILL be using their apps at this point and if they are, for their own sake the should stop already.

 

[aaronmcc]

PLEASE PLEASE PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE fuck Zynga with a MASSIVE fine!

For...what exactly? Let's just, for the moment, assume that this "leak" was intentional - the worst of all possible cases. What crime has been committed? The information being lost was publicly available anyhow. It offered no access to anything other than knowledge of your basic existence. In that way, it offers no better means of identification than, say, your e-mail address does. Even though I don't like what has been done, I cannot think of a crime even tangentially related to such an act. Invasion of privacy? You submitted that information to the internet. Encrypted page or not, it is a public network where every bit of traffic can be intercepted and decoded given sufficient resources (and a willingness to do so) by anyone else on the network. The right to privacy on the internet is hardly a right but rather an inconvenient hurdle that is sufficient to stop the most passive of attempts to invade.

But, obviously this information has value or else it would not be collected and then widely disseminated. Is such an action slimy? Certainly. But Zynga has never been in business of catering to the players. The customers they serve are their advertisers and their user base is nothing more than an audience held captive by an ever changing assortment of gaudy baubles. Why then, when the commodity primarily being traded in this exchange is your time and attention, do we think it might be criminal when we add to that list the simple acknowledgment that you exist as an online persona?\

That then begs a further question. If there is no violation of criminal law, that still means one party could try and sue the other for breach of contract. The trouble is, Facebook needs Zynga and, until something rises to the sheer level of popularity as Facebook, Zynga needs facebook as well. They can't very well go around suing one another as the well being of one entity is so closely linked to another.

So you think they are dicks. I think they are dicks. Hence I wish them to be screwed over for their disgraceful practices, it's not like I researched the law regarding this area before I knocked out my post. I just don't like them.

 

[kementari]

Yuck.

I'm on Facebook, and have been since a couple of months after it got started up. But I saw this coming, and haven't had any apps since before it was no longer college-students-only. Just make sure you don't post anything to Facebook (or anywhere on the Internet) that you wouldn't mind your mom, your boss, and your daughter seeing.

And for me personally, due to unrelated things, everything anyone could find out about me on FB using just my name is much more easily available elsewhere on the internet. Sucks in some situations, but I just have to be a little more careful (and care a little bit less).

Hope nobody gets seriously hurt or damaged as a result of this. :l