Robert Scoble has been banned from Facebook. He had been beta testing a new feature on Plaxo that enables users to import names email addresses and birthdays into a Plaxo account. Honestly, there is nothing remotely smart about Robert Scoble’s decision to use this feature. It blatently violates Facebook’s terms of service. Not even applications have access to email addresses.
So should Scoble get his account back? Probably if he stops using the tool he was using but then again so should the countless individuals that have had their Facebook account banned without warning. I have had quite a few people contact me to tell me that Facebook had banned their account and they wanted to know how to get it back. I’m not quite sure what they did but whatever it was they are now feeling the pain of living without Facebook.
So will Plaxo continue with their plans to scrape email addresses, names and birthdays from Facebook? You betcha! Adam Ostrow of Mashable quotes John McCrea, VP of Marketing for Plaxo:
We are a bit stunned by Facebook’s reaction to Robert Scoble’s alpha testing of our upcoming Facebook Import feature. While this development will cause us to have to put some warnings in the UI, we are committed to releasing this really useful feature. It’s time for the social web to open up.
Plaxo should really reconsider their decision. Do you think Scoble is at fault for this?
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Well if it violates Facebook terms of service, there's no reason he should be allowed something anybody else can't do.
Comment by xavierv — January 3, 2008 @ 9:47 am
I think a facebook application should be allowed to import any and all of a user's contact information into its own database for permanent storage…PROVIDED THAT THE USER THE INFORMATION BELONGS TO EXPLICITLY ALLOWS THE APPLICATION TO MAKE A COPY OF HIS/HER DATAThe information is the property of the users. Facebook is simply keeping that information with its users' implicit trust that it won't abuse the privilege. Facebook should not release this information to anyone without the users' consent.Similarly, if users want an application such as Plaxo to have their personal information, it is not Facebook's place to stand in the way and force the user to reenter it.I think the options presented to the user when s/he adds an application (and later in the application preferences) should give users the opportunity to make clear what they prefer to share with applications and whether they consent to having the applications store that information long-term. The default settings should be chosen to protect the user, but the user should have the final say.
Comment by Charlie — January 3, 2008 @ 11:13 am
I think a facebook application should be allowed to import any and all of a user's contact information into its own database for permanent storage…
PROVIDED THAT THE USER THE INFORMATION BELONGS TO EXPLICITLY ALLOWS THE APPLICATION TO MAKE A COPY OF HIS/HER DATA
The information is the property of the users. Facebook is simply keeping that information with its users' implicit trust that it won't abuse the privilege. Facebook should not release this information to anyone without the users' consent.
Similarly, if users want an application such as Plaxo to have their personal information, it is not Facebook's place to stand in the way and force the user to reenter it.
I think the options presented to the user when s/he adds an application (and later in the application preferences) should give users the opportunity to make clear what they prefer to share with applications and whether they consent to having the applications store that information long-term. The default settings should be chosen to protect the user, but the user should have the final say.
Comment by Charlie — January 3, 2008 @ 12:13 pm
I think Facebook should come out with a statement soon. The issue is here is that there was no warning given ( is that true?) Facebook should warn people first before disabling their account.I think they should restore his access for after all he is a hon guy and so are mnay tohers who may have used the app/script. I am sure they don't plan to use it now that they are painfully aware that it is against the TOS.Second aren't all Facebook apps vetted by Facebook?
Comment by shashi bellamkonda — January 3, 2008 @ 12:28 pm
@Shashi, I actually disagree with you. Let's say a hacker compromised someone's account and started crawling the site. That account needs to be at least temporarily banned to prevent ongoing hacking. In regards to your second question, this wasn't a Facebook application. It was a generic script that was automatically logging into Facebook as a user and crawling their friends.
Comment by Nick O'Neill — January 3, 2008 @ 1:14 pm
I think Facebook should come out with a statement soon. The issue is here is that there was no warning given ( is that true?) Facebook should warn people first before disabling their account.I think they should restore his access for after all he is a hon guy and so are mnay tohers who may have used the app/script. I am sure they don't plan to use it now that they are painfully aware that it is against the TOS.
Second aren't all Facebook apps vetted by Facebook?
Comment by shashi bellamkonda — January 3, 2008 @ 1:28 pm
@Shashi, I actually disagree with you. Let's say a hacker compromised someone's account and started crawling the site. That account needs to be at least temporarily banned to prevent ongoing hacking.
In regards to your second question, this wasn't a Facebook application. It was a generic script that was automatically logging into Facebook as a user and crawling their friends.
Comment by Nick O'Neill — January 3, 2008 @ 2:14 pm
Well if it violates Facebook terms of service, there’s no reason he should be allowed something anybody else can’t do.
Comment by xavierv — January 3, 2008 @ 1:47 pm
Ah, well yeah, a script shouldn't be allowed to just crawl the site like that.But I am sticking with what I said about facebook applications and users' data. I'm hoping people will back me up on this and get facebook to make this change.It's the difference between a walled garden and an open web. It would essentially solve the multiple login problem and establish facebook, and other similar platforms, as providers of an online identity that other sites can tie into.
Comment by Charlie — January 3, 2008 @ 2:58 pm
Ah, well yeah, a script shouldn't be allowed to just crawl the site like that.
But I am sticking with what I said about facebook applications and users' data. I'm hoping people will back me up on this and get facebook to make this change.
It's the difference between a walled garden and an open web. It would essentially solve the multiple login problem and establish facebook, and other similar platforms, as providers of an online identity that other sites can tie into.
Comment by Charlie — January 3, 2008 @ 3:58 pm
Nick could you write a post on accounts being banned, talking about the main reasons this happens and what actions people can take to restore them? It's something I'd find interesting and I'm sure you know more than most about this.
Comment by Ollie — January 6, 2008 @ 3:23 pm
Nick could you write a post on accounts being banned, talking about the main reasons this happens and what actions people can take to restore them? It’s something I’d find interesting and I’m sure you know more than most about this.
Comment by Ollie — January 6, 2008 @ 7:23 pm
I feel oddly satisfied in regards to my earlier comment on this thread. Now that facebook and google have joined DataPortability.org, I feel like they listened to me, just five days after I wrote that.
Comment by Charlie — January 9, 2008 @ 8:12 pm
I feel oddly satisfied in regards to my earlier comment on this thread. Now that facebook and google have joined DataPortability.org, I feel like they listened to me, just five days after I wrote that.
Comment by Charlie — January 9, 2008 @ 9:12 pm
[...] a couple weeks ago Scoble got banned for testing out a new Plaxo tool that crawled Facebook and imported all your contacts into Plaxo. [...]
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