cshen.ca

Today I stumbled by chance across a Facebook flaw, which will show you all the guests of an event, even if the event creator unchecked “Show the guest list.”

It’s pretty simple, actually. To use a random example, I’ll demonstrate with the “University Relations Officer” event.

As you can see, the guest list for this event is hidden.

But that doesn’t stop us from seeing the guest list. Just click “Invite People to Come”.

Use the drop-down box at the top to show guests which might be attending, not attending, and have not yet replied.

Try it yourself!

We all know that Facebook has not had the best track record in the privacy department, with employees viewing profiles for fun, showing your profile to an employer, and having reserved the right to use your information at will. But apparently a new feature goes beyond all that, and actually collects information about your activity on other websites.

The new feature is the Facebook Beacon, you may have noticed it on your feed, something of the form “Jane Doe has played Pacman at Retroarcade”. If you have played a game at any website that uses the Beacon, you would have seen a Facebook-style pop-up at the bottom right corner of the screen, telling you that it is sending the information [of what your playing] to your Facebook profile. As with most Facebook features, there is, of course, a privacy option on it.

But that, apparently, isn’t enough.