Ooops! It seems as if Facebook has somehow managed to inadvertently leak the private e-mail addresses of an unknown number of users.
“A brief rift in the Facebook privacy shield has been healed, but not before dozens of people documented it,” wrote Gawker’s Maureen O’Connor.
“For about 30 minutes late Tuesday, private email addresses were revealed—and then, just as suddenly, they were hidden again.”
Indeed, one very angry Gawker tipster successfully documented the disturbing incident in real time:
“6:46PM: I cannot fuc**** believe it. Everybody’s email has been turned on to the public for at least the past 30 min,” the anonymous tipster observed.
“I tried going into my account to remove my email b/c I have an issue with a crazed stalker. But I wasn’t able to. God I fuc**** hate FB!! When will they ever learn?!”
Meanwhile, PC World’s Brennon Slattery reacted to the security snafu by speculating that Facebook’s recently proposed privacy changes could be to blame for the unfortunate “hiccup.”
“A slight tweak to broadcasting profile information could have resulted in this embarrassing flub,” opined Slattery.
“[Yes], Facebook desperately wants to be known as a site where users can expect a reasonable amount of privacy, but sometimes this isn’t the case. Briefings of previous mistakes make it clear that Facebook has a lot of work to do, possibly at the risk of tarnishing its original smiles and hugs philosophy.”
