The newly acquired Moves app of Facebook recently proved its fickle-mindedness, following a change in its earlier posted privacy policy - from not sharing to eventually sharing data - that sparked an outcry online among its users. Facebook, however, was quick to defend its new baby, saying sharing is only meant to provide support and help enhance the app.
Recall that in a blog post on April 24, Moves assures users that there is no change in the privacy policy regardless of the acquisition deal with Facebook, which has always been surrounded by controversies regarding how it handles data of its users.
"For those of you that use the Moves app - the Moves experience will continue to operate as a standalone app, and there are no plans to change that or commingle data with Facebook," Moves writes in its blog.
Days after Moves is singing a different tune, as stated in its updated privacy policy on May 5.
"To provide and support the services we provide to you, information we collect and receive may be disclosed to third parties in and out of the European Economic Area...," Moves states.
Further, the company says that disclosure of user data may be under the following circumstances: for service providers or partners working on its behalf to support its business; for its affiliates such as Facebook to assist in providing, understanding and improving the apps' services; for detection, prevention and address of abuse, fraudulent or illegal activity and protect the business and its users from any harm, only when necessary; or when the business is sold or transferred in part or as a whole to third parties and in the event of bankruptcy.
Moves is a highly valuable app in the sense that it holds a different kind of user data: it tracks movements of users and their health- and fitness-related information, which have the possibility of being shared and sold to advertisers, marketers or businesses in the health and fitness industries. Much like Google, research says Facebook has always monetized information by selling it to advertisers, and thus making data from Moves a potential money-maker.
In a recent statement sent to The Verge, Facebook however clarifies its stand on data sharing and commingling. It says the company has no plans to commingle or merge data, which would allow them to identify users of Moves who are likewise users of Facebook.
"In other words, Facebook is not adding Moves user data to a Facebook user's Facebook account. But, Facebook will be providing support and services to the Moves app and to be able to do this, we have to have access to the data that Moves already collects from its users - which is "sharing" data," Facebook explains.
Regardless, citizens are worried over the recent privacy policy changes in the app. For instance is executive director Jeffrey Chester of the Center for Digital Democracy, who says to The Wall Street Journal how the issue raises very disturbing concerns on privacy and that the company is just covering this up with semantics. He plans to bring up the recent privacy issue of Moves app with the Federal Trade Commission in a meeting this Tuesday.
