Facebook is finally taking your privacy concerns seriously. Instead of asking you to mindlessly share all your data with third-party apps, Facebook will now give you the option to sign into the app anonymously, using the new Anonymous Login feature. Users will also be able to decide what information they share with each specific app.
For years, people have complained about Facebook's complete lack of concern for user privacy. Many view Facebook as an evil company, that hands out private user data like free candy at Halloween. Now, it seems that Facebook wants to change its image and put user data back where it belongs: in users' hands.
Anonymous Login allows users to sign into a third-party app anonymously, without sharing any of their private data with the other app. This is particularly useful for people who like to try out apps and don't want to go through the whole rigmarole of setting up a user account first.
"It's an experience that's synced without an app knowing who you are," CEO Mark Zuckerberg said. "If you want, you can always sign in with your real identity once you're comfortable sharing your information."
Although Facebook says that "people logged into apps and websites with Facebook Login over 10 billion times," last year alone so that they don't have "to remember separate usernames and passwords," there is still a lot of fear out there about just how much data we're sharing with unknown apps and services.
"We know people are scared of pressing this blue [Facebook Login] button," Zuckerberg said, admitting that users are leery of sharing their personal information with unknown apps "We don't want anyone to be surprised how they're sharing on Facebook."
In its description of the new feature, Facebook placed an emphasis on giving the control back to users.
"Sometimes people want to try out apps, but they're not ready to share any information about themselves," Facebook wrote in a blog post. "For this, we're introducing a way to log in to apps anonymously."
Once users know what's going on with the app and establish a certain level of trust with the app, they can then decide what information to share with the app.
Facebook also stated that it will introduce a control panel, so that users can decide what information they want to share with each and every individual third-party app they use the Facebook Login with. Line by Line Control allows users to decide every detail they share with third-party apps. For example, you can choose to share your birthday, but not your email address.
Facebook said that it will begin to roll out these new privacy-minded features out to users in the following months. Although Facebook still has a long way to go in terms of rehabilitating its reputation n terms of privacy, these new features should start the process off well.
