A Facebook application that allows users to stream live video from their mobile phone to their profile page has provoked new fears about privacy.
Bambuser enables anyone with a mobile phone or webcam to transmit real-time video to Facebook and other social networking sites including MySpace and Twitter. But the unregulated use of video in public spaces has angered privacy campaigners.
Simon Davies, director of Privacy International, said that it showed Facebook’s control over private information “sliding into the quicksand”. He added: “Now you can catch in real time images of people who won’t be neccessarily giving permission for their actions to be recorded and broadcast.”
Hans Eriksson, head of Bambuser, admitted that although they had systems monitoring it, it was hard to regulate: “We can’t really control it. If you’re concerned, you shouldn’t use it.”
The concerns are the latest in a row about Facebook’s privacy regulations. Last month, it was forced to redesign its privacy settings after users complained that they had become too complicated. On the May 31, a “Quit Facebook Day” was established in protest against the site’s handling of data.
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Yesterday Ethan Beard, director of platform marketing for Facebook, said that privacy was a problem but vowed to tackle it. “We will continue to invest so that users have the right level of control over privacy,” he said.
The application was showcased at the Facebook Developer Garage in London, hours after Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, met with Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt in Downing Street to discuss the role of social networking in the Government’s “big society” policy.
Bambuser is the latest website to fall foul of privacy campaigners. Google Street View that allows users to “zoom in” to street scenes caused international outcry when it published images of naked sunbathers and views showing the interior of houses. The European Union has warned that Street View may contravene the law in some countries. The Greek Government has halted the project for a year pending further inquiry.
Earlier this month, Privacy International accused Google of “criminal intent” after it collected information from wi-fi networks for its Street View site. In April, residents of Broughton, Buckinghamshire, formed a human chain to halt Street View’s vans.