Damn you Facebook

I just want to look at a photo a friend has posted. No doubt the app in question makes it very easy for my friend to post the photo, but it’s difficult for me to see it without handing over a bunch of control to the app.

Facebook Photo of the Day app permissions

Now, I know it’s not Facebook’s fault specifically, but c’mon, why do I need to give an application access to my Profile and details of my friends just to look at a photo? I don’t want to do that.

Surely they could change the FB API around so it’s easier to have simple interaction with an application (eg to just look at the photo, not post my own) without handing over this kind of permission?

But then the app wouldn’t spread so fast virally, would it.

The fact that this kind of stuff is so typical is not exactly training users to be careful about minding their privacy online.

Fortunately in this case, it appears that the app is just re-broadcasting a photo from the user’s existing collection of photos, so I’ve been able to hunt it down and look at it there.

Of course, it’s in the FB photos standard lowish resolution, no bigger copy available, but that’s another story.

3 thoughts on “Damn you Facebook

  1. Philip

    When I got a couple of those Photo of the Day alerts, I tried to view them and discovered it wanted me to allow access to the application. I decided that since the application wasn’t going to show me a preview of any sort, it might have been some kind of spam or malicious stuff, so I ignored it. Is it legit?

  2. daniel Post author

    Yeah, the only preview is the one you get sucked into clicking on in the first place.

    I suspect it’s as legit as any other Facebook application — that is, it wants way too much information for simply displaying a picture.

  3. Pete

    When I got a couple of those Photo of the Day alerts, I tried to view them and discovered it wanted me to allow access to the application. I decided that since the application wasn’t going to show me a preview of any sort, it might have been some kind of spam or malicious stuff, so I ignored it. Is it legit?
    +1

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