Facebook apps often ask for a lot more access to you and your information than they need, such as posting stuff in your name, or accessing information when you're not online. Now there's a free Chrome extension, fPrivacy, that's supposed to keep them from running wild.
Add this extension from Chrome's Web store and up pops a bar above the authorization dialog box when you're adding a new Facebook app. It lets you uncheck the boxes of the permissions you're not comfortable with and wipe them out before you even agree to including the app in your Facebook family.
Of course, the creator, Chad Selph, says this may break some apps that might not function well without all those permissions. At that point, you can re-add those permissions (they're sure to pop up, anyway) or remove the app entirely if it gets too annoying.
For all the apps you've already installed, ones that you might have given permissions to already, there is a way to undo the carte blanche to your data. Best of all, you can do it without using the Chrome extension.
Hit the drop-down menu next to the Home tab on the upper right corner of any Facebook page you're logged into, choose Privacy Settings and then, under Apps and Websites, hit Edit Settings. Go into each one to remove whatever isn't required.
Facebook's own process is cumbersome, but if you value this sort of thing, it's worth it. Here's hoping that with this Chrome extension on board, future additions should be easier to control.
As Selph writes on his website, "Phew! I feel much safer now."
More stories:
- FTC settlement aside, Facebook still owns your privacy
- Q-and-A about Facebook and privacy
- Facebook glitch reveals private photos — including Zuckerberg’s
Check out Technolog on Facebook, and on Twitter, follow Athima Chansanchai, who is also trying to keep her head above water in the Google+ stream.