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AnonTechie [soylentnews.org] writes:

Inside Facebook's Brilliant Plan — to hog your data:

Companies want to get information about people — their location, age, relationships, interests, preferences and much more — because when they have that information they can offer more powerful, more monetizable apps and services and can make money with high-priced personalized ads. But people want to prevent companies from getting their personal information for fear of being exploited, surveilled, abused and sold out. It's in the context of this tension that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg this week announced a new offering called Anonymous Login. It's one of the most ingenious ideas Facebook has ever had.

Here's how it's supposed to work: If you provide your personal data to Facebook, you can then install and use apps that support Anonymous Login without giving your personal data to the app maker, at least initially. Facebook says the feature provides "anonymity." But that's not accurate, because you do have to tell Facebook who you are. And it's not "pseudonymity," either, because you're not using a surrogate identity. Facebook is walking a very fine line between the need to attract users (with a promise that they won't have to share their data) and the need to attract app developers (with promises of a greater number of users who will hand over some personal data eventually).

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9248078/Ins ide_Facebook_s_brilliant_plan_to_hog_your_data [computerworld.com]

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