Guy's Blog Blog from May, 2009

"...this is not about what I produce, this is all about what others receive."

Can you feel the change happening? I'm not sure everyone can, but for those of us who've seen it coming and been working towards it, this short film gives an idea of how pervasive the change is...

http://www.usnowfilm.com/

This is a completely new one on me - has anyone else seen this sort of thing before? Could be a real problem for Facebook...

I just received this via email:

We have decided to focus on something more exciting. My Aquarium's name and functionality will be changed next week to SpeedDate, a fun way to meet new people. Data entered into the original app won't be used anymore. Feel free to check it out.

Thanks,
My Aquarium

That's right, the fish tank on my profile page is going to suddenly become a speed dating widget! Completely different app to the one I installed years ago, yet with the same permissions as the original aquarium!

Think about it:

• You could install an innocent looking app
• Years later, perhaps without your notice it changes in to something else entirely
• It instantly assumes the same permissions you provided to the original innocent looking app

Taking this further, there's nothing stopping another company buying an app - eg. Vampires that millions of people seem to have installed - and then turning it in to a data-mining app or delivering porn to your facebook account, or loading viruses in to your profile, etc.

Quite scary when you think about it. Also, it won't be long before spammers and scammers start taking advantages of these weaknesses in facebook app controls - imagine them getting a widely used app and then harvesting millions of email addresses, birthdays, etc.