I guess no one should be surprised enough hearing this that social networks are leaking user information to a agencies. The news caught my eye earlier today that social networking sites, Facebook, MySpace have been caught leaking user data to ad networks like Yahoo's Right Media and DoubleClick of Google. Weren't these social networks vowing that they will never share user data with third parties, especially ad networks? I guess someone hacked into the social networking and sold data..
Putting the joke aside [if it passes as a joke], the social networks have released usernames and IDs to the ad platforms. Now if that is true by any means, these ad networks have more than just your username; access can be as deep as your employment history, location, etc. Upon being informed Facebook was prompt at taking action and altering the software to prevent such leaks and so are other networks which include MySpace, Digg, etc.
Well if you are on any of the social networks, I would like always request you to put off putting up too much information there. I mean you guys must be lucky to be still there, I have absolutely no idea how exposed is my data given that Facebook has been banned in Pakistan. Whatever the case be, it appears Facebook for one, has everything coming wrong its way despite it trying to enforce privacy and making the social network more secure.
Perhaps you might want to hook yourself to Diaspora, which promises to provide you with a more secure social platform.
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