Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Business
Jemima Kiss

The BBC has hacked Facebook

Highlighting vulnerable personal data on Facebook, the BBC cobbled together an application called 'The Miner' that scrapes personal information from the profile it is added to - and from the profiles of all the friends of that person.

Facebook told the BBC it has an entire team dedicated to remove applications that break its terms of use, but how long does that take?

While much of the information on Facebook is soft, this is still a rich data buffet for identity thieves. I can't quite see how the balance of communication and security can ever be totally resolved, but no doubt there will be plenty more scare stories to come before we move in that direction.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.