Business & Tech

Facebook Flaw Exposes Private Zuck Picks

Temporary flaw allowed users to access private photos of any Facebook user.

Personal photos of CEO Mark Zuckerberg have begun circulating around the net, highlighting an embarassing flaw in Facebook's security culture.

The news broke after BodyBuilding.com forum users exposed a flaw that allowed users to access personal photos of any other Facebook user.

Those users posted a number of images depicted the Facebook founder in a variety of harmless, mostly forgettable photos. But the hack is sure to shed further light on Facebook's privacy policies, which were in the spotlight again recently after complaints from privacy groups prompted a major settlement with the FTC.

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That settlement will require Facebook to allow users to "opt-in" to new changes that affect their privacy.

Following that settlement, Zuck said:

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"Overall, I think we have a good history of providing transparency and control over who can see your information," Zuckerberg wrote in a blog post. "That said, I'm the first to admit that we've made a bunch of mistakes. In particular, I think that a small number of high profile mistakes, like Beacon four years ago and poor execution as we transitioned our privacy model two years ago, have often overshadowed much of the good work we've done."

Perhaps now Zuckerberg will have another notch to add on that "high profile" list.


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