Researchers devise transparent third-party Facebook app interface

Researchers from Pennsylvania State University have created a security interface for Facebook users. The new sign-up interface will help users stay clear of apps that might not disclose their information sharing settings. It does this by showing users exactly what information will be disclosed.

While users might have clearly set their Facebook privacy and sharing settings, most apps and games share information with their own set of rules. Facebook app developers mandatorily have to post a link to their own terms and conditions, however, these are not always very clear about how they may modify their Facebook settings, and users don’t always read them, unaware they might be different from Facebook’s own.

The new interface will allow members to decide what information will be sharing, with whom they want to share it. The researchers presented the new interface at the Association for Computer Machinery Symposium on Computer Human Interaction for Management of Information Technology, Boston.

They presented two types of interfaces there, with different ways of highlighting the information. So far, no details about when such an interface will become an accessible feature for users.