Facebook tackles latest privacy slip with encryption

Facebook yesterday said it will use encryption to deal with its latest privacy problem, but the question remains as to whether that move is enough for the social network to save face.

Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal reported that some of Facebook's most popular applications, including FarmVille and FrontierVille, have been sending users' personal information to dozens of advertising and Internet monitoring companies. The Wall Street Journal, which broke the story, noted that the issue affects tens of millions of users, even those who have set their privacy settings to the strictest levels.

It was just the latest privacy firestorm to hit Facebook, which has been besieged by such problems over in the last several months.

And now Facebook said it plans to solve the latest problem by encrypting the user IDs that are being transmitted to third-party Web sites.

:story: Full story: Computerworld