Facebook Pledges Steps on User Data

Facebook told lawmakers it had taken steps to prevent the sharing of personal information about users, including temporarily suspending certain applications from its site.

The statements came in response to a letter from Reps Edward Markey (D-MA) and Joe Barton (R-TX) to Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg, after The Wall Street Journal reported recently that certain applications on Facebook were sending users' ID numbers to marketers, in violation of Facebook's policies. A user ID can be used to look up a user's name and other publicly available information on the social network; it can then be linked to other Web-browsing activities, allowing marketers to build profiles of Internet users. The lawmakers sought details about Facebook's oversight of the 550,000 applications on its site. These "apps" are created by outsiders to let users play games or share information with other users. The news comes amid increasing government scrutiny of Internet privacy.