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As most of you know, I was quite pissed off to find out that the compare people application over at Facebook was now selling details of the rankings it had promised on the application page would be anonymous.
The nosy as hell whore couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see exactly what the app was “publishing” for premium users before uninstalling the app, and since he’s also busy as hell, he forwarded me all of the the screenshots. Below is a small sampling… please note, in the who he won and lost against, I blurred out the pics and names because, well, I do have a very small heart, very occasionally… tell anyone and die. ;-)
Now, the good news on the comparisons is that while we can see who he won and lost to, he cannot see who was the exact person who made the specific vote for or against him. But, if you think “well, that ends the privacy concerns” - think again.
Above is the “who you should date” screen. Now, I’ve never seen an explanation of what the hell they are using to come up with the answers in this area… Lisa and Alex are both cool and I’m hoping assuming they won’t mind having their very “appropriate pictures” being shown here.
Now, a commenter named Rodney on my blog yesterday accused me of “overreacting” to the whole privacy issue and that asking people to report them wasn’t “valid”. Well, Rodney, here is why you’re dead wrong…
If you notice, I stated at the end of my post on September 7th that I had removed the compare people app from my Facebook profile, after also opting out of being compared. The above screenshots were taken on September 10th, three days after I unequivocally stated my desire to have nothing to do with this app. Notice anything about the above screenshot?
I am listed as his #4 reference. Even though I both opted out of the application and removed it days before these rankings were generated. Yet, I’m still listed in the rankings. They are still utilizing my information after I have specifically requested that they remove me from their application (today I took it a step further and actually blocked the application as well). So, you can claim reporting them isn’t valid, but I’m going to cry bullshit in regards to it.
The screenshots above are of the “true friends” listing (for the record, there I am listed again at #21). My question on references and true friends is how the hell are they being ordered? By percentage of good votes? By sheer number of “good votes” they throw your way? And who the hell decides what a “good answer” is? Granted, if you’re sexier, it’s obviously good, but what about something like “crazier”?
And what if someone is *not* on your “true friends” list? Do you automatically assume you have a knife in your back? Those of you who aren’t listed on his “true friends” screen - how do you like that he may now have reason to think you’ve somehow wronged him or given him the wrong end of the stick when comparing him? I’m saying this to illustrate a point. Got it? Good.
Personally, I’m not fucking happy with Chainn.com (which is listed as being owned by this guy - wonder where Ivko fits in), Ivko or Facebook at this point. When I opt out, I expect you to take me the fuck out. Now, when you opt out of an email list, the person or company behind the email list has ten days to remove you from the list. Is there an equivalent law for applications? If not, I think we’ve hit a timeframe where we need one.
So, if you still have the compare people application installed after reading this post, then I don’t know what the hell to tell you. But, I’d highly recommend removing it and reporting it. Now, Li made a post about the Facebook terms of service and how it applies to third party applications. Yeah yeah - you grant Facebook the right to use anything you post on the site - BUT, take note this very important sentence within granting those rights…
If you choose to remove your User Content, the license granted above will automatically expire, however you acknowledge that the Company may retain archived copies of your User Content.
And I’d highly recommend to Facebook, Chainn.com, Ivko Maksimovic and Nival Ravikant that you remove my ass from your database since I have specifically requested to have my content removed (and showing me on premium results pages certainly is not “archives”)… before I actually get loud about it.
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{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Thank you for putting that out. From the little I know about you, you seem amazingly calm about this. It is total bullshit that they are doing this, and if you do take any action in the form of communication somewhere or somehow, let me know and I will send similar shit, or tear into people publicly who are screwing with others.
Okay you totally sold me with this post.
Consider the app deleted. I’ll also report the stupid app.
And if I meet Ivako at a conference, I will happily beat on him for good measure.
Thanks. :)
Rae,
I stand corrected, I was incorrect. (I did not notice it was 3 days later) You are 100% correct. This application developer is in violation of facebook’s Terms and Conditions. They should be reported. All personal data is to be purged after 24 hours.
There are a very minuscule percentage of apps that do not abide by the facebook TOC and violaters should be reported. The bottom line is that is part of the reason we rate and review applications: to separate the good from the bad.
Thanks for pointing this out. This is actually the first time I have seen an application have user data available after 48 hours of removing the app.
The reality is that the facebook application actually does not have your name (only your facebook user id #) which is public. They also have very limited data sets of knowledge about you from facebook.
Either the app developer is a sloppy programmer or has gone over the edge and should be bitch slapped. ;)
Overheard at an amusement park:
Little kid - Blah blah blah… hurt my neck…
Mom - Well, is it bad enough to sue?
Little kid - No.
Mom - Well then shut up…
True story. I don’t know why I thought of it. Now you hate me. Love your blog BTW.
sing it, sister! I’ll drop a line on my sideblog about this.
Hi,
I’m the developer of the app. I’m sorry that I didn’t reply to your message earlier if you’d set one. I missed it in the huge flood of emails that I get daily.
I appreciate your post, but I don’t believe that it’s correct at all. I’ve gone very far out of my way to protect the users’ anonymity.
We DO NOT violate anonymity and we DO NOT reveal who voted on you how, even in the premium section. The premium feature is based off an internal algorithm which combines non-anonymous (the ok to notify winner rating data) as well as your own votes and presents it back to you in an aggregated fashion to make suggestions. At no time does it tell you who voted on you in which way. The suggestions are just that - suggestions with no numbers or data or votes next to them. There is a wins and losses feature that shows who you won against and who you lost against, but it goes to great pains to NOT show you who did the voting.
We’ll work on the opt-out. It’s a batch process on the calculations so it’s not instant.
I’ll also disable the premium feature for new signups until we get this all figured out.
Okay?
Best,
Ivko
Find me at Sphinn | Twitter | WebmasterWorld
Thanks for this one Rae. Another shining example for me anyway , of why not to piss you off.
I will agree though this app is pretty invasive and as for Ivko fixing things and making it better as he says in his comment, we’ll see.
I tend to see people that run these apps as cash machines,(design,test, then sell for the quick $) trying to hide more info than they reveal and scurry when things come out in the light of day.
Glad I didn’t install that app when I got a bunch of invites for it. Thanks for the info Rae, definitely passing it onto other facebookers.
I agree with you. People who don’t even have the application shouldn’t be able to still be ranked….also, people shouldn’t be able to write whether they agree or disagree.