Facebook 3.1 Contact Syncing — Got Bikini Pics?
Posted: Sat Jan 16, 2010 12:04 amRecently Facebook released an update for iPhone which allows to sync all your phonebook contacts and facebook contacts. While it seems like a neat feature, it also has a major "flaw"...... This is what happened to one user:
Beware of your profile pics, or your boss might get one of you doing something you don’t want them to see! What happens is, [Facebook 3.1] takes [all] the emails and phone numbers on your iPhone and sends them to Facebook. It then cross-checks and syncs them back to your iPhone. That’s a major security flaw right there! It should only sync the ones you’re friends with.
So for an example I have my coworker’s email and cell but I am not her Facebook friend. All of a sudden when I got a call from my coworker I saw a picture of her in a bikini because that was her [Facebook] profile pic!
Given the more casual (read: sometimes drunken and debauched) profile pictures that appear on Facebook, and the potential from cross-contamination between trusted friends and respected colleagues, if this is widespread the potential for embarrassment is high. Even if this is an isolated or semi-isolated incident, as more and more social network contact pools are integrated together, its worth remembering that anything — and everything — you put on the internet will eventually be seen by those people you least want to see it.
Beware of your profile pics, or your boss might get one of you doing something you don’t want them to see! What happens is, [Facebook 3.1] takes [all] the emails and phone numbers on your iPhone and sends them to Facebook. It then cross-checks and syncs them back to your iPhone. That’s a major security flaw right there! It should only sync the ones you’re friends with.
So for an example I have my coworker’s email and cell but I am not her Facebook friend. All of a sudden when I got a call from my coworker I saw a picture of her in a bikini because that was her [Facebook] profile pic!
Given the more casual (read: sometimes drunken and debauched) profile pictures that appear on Facebook, and the potential from cross-contamination between trusted friends and respected colleagues, if this is widespread the potential for embarrassment is high. Even if this is an isolated or semi-isolated incident, as more and more social network contact pools are integrated together, its worth remembering that anything — and everything — you put on the internet will eventually be seen by those people you least want to see it.
