Facebook Apps are really Insecure (and their creators know it)

The architecture of Facebook apps has some security problems, and according to this article, companies like Zynga (Farmville, Mafiawars) know about it and exploit it.

That means that you, the user take it in the chin ( and wallet ).

The problem is that when you load Facebook apps, they have access to your whole Facebook account, not just the piece they need. The app makers take advantage of this, or least point to people who do. This means extra charges on your credit cards at best, or identity theft at worst.

Moral of the story - be discreet when you load Facebook apps - do you really want to know which Anne Rice Character you are?

I don't. And I don't want to join MyCalendar, so no birthday requests(sorry), etc etc. I'm not sure about groups. Or Lists.

 Facebook is working on it - making your information disclosures selectable - no ETA though, I don't think.

Update 11/14/09 - ValleyWag says that there might be a class action suit in the works.  Zynga is going to have fun defending the "every horrible thing in the book"quote from their CEO, especially when it's on tape (nice touch).  Let's see how that IPO goes, huh?

Oh, another thing:  Do you use Facebook and care about your privacy settings? Are they all set to friends only?  I did a google search for myself (AKA vanity search) and found out my whole friends list was available to everyone.  I hadn't increased privacy on "search settings" - Click here to make those changes to your profile

Perry