Internet Marketers Sell Facebook User IDs At Their Own Risk
By Anna Johnson on October 25th, 2010It seems that a few not-so-scrupulous Internet marketers and their clients are in the market for Facebook user IDs.
According to ClickZ, digital agency aimClear recently turned down a client request to get Facebook user IDs, although it still told the client how it could scrape user IDs from one of the Facebook templates.
Apparently the client decided not to go ahead with the deed, but allegations are swirling that some Internet marketers are acquiring Facebook ID numbers from Facebook applications (such as Zynga’s Farmville) and are using them to track the associated Facebook users and target them for advertising.
The allegations, published by the Wall Street Journal, prompted U.S. Representatives Joe Barton of Texas and Edward Markey of Massachusetts, co-chairs of the House Bi-Partisan Privacy Caucus, to question Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg over Facebook data security.
For its part, Facebook prohibits Facebook applications from transferring user data to ad networks, data brokers or other third parties. But the reality is that when someone uses a Facebook app they send their user ID to that app. So the question is whether any app makers are doing the wrong thing…
Source: Kate Kaye, “Market Exists for Facebook User IDs, But Risk May Outweigh Benefits,” October 20, 2010
