Google Friend disConnected

Stephen Withers
Friday, 16 May 2008 03:53

Business IT - Networking

"We think MySpace's Data Availability, Google Friend Connect, and Facebook Connect can be part of a great movement in the industry to give users a better and safer experience online, while respecting user privacy," he said.

Facebook's stance has some support from outside the company. On the announcement of Friend Connect, Gartner research director Ray Valdes said "we believe that these initiatives will succeed only to the extent that they maintain user privacy and control over information disclosure."

Though it's not as if Facebook has clean hands when it comes to privacy issues. The company's Beacon advertising system triggered a user backlash when people realised its default behaviour was to reveal details of purchases and other transactions made on any of more than 40 affiliated sites (notably Blockbuster.com and Overstock.com) to the user's friends.