Facebook changed everyone's email info without permission

[Mathew81]

If you have a Facebook account, they changed your email address in your contact information today. They didn't just add in this new email address. They removed the old one too. My gmail account no longer showed on my profile and instead this @facebook.com email address was there.

http://lifehacker.com/5921095/faceb...l-without-permission-heres-how-to-get-it-back

 

[devilalum]

But they don't actually provide a way to send and receive actual email?

 

[Mathew81]

But they don't actually provide a way to send and receive actual email?

If someone sends you an email at your @facebook.com address, it will show up in your facebook inbox like any other message. They launched this email functionality 2 years ago and nobody uses it. That's probably why they did this, to try and get people to use that email address.

The point though is that they changed everyone's personal information without asking or even notifying anyone.

 

[BigRedRage]

my facebook shows my real email AND my facebook email

 

[O]

It's very easy to change back.

 

[Linderbee]

I don't have timeline yet, and they haven't changed mine. I'm not moving to timeline until they make me.

 

[gmabel830]

I don't have timeline yet, and they haven't changed mine. I'm not moving to timeline until they make me.

Yeah, I never got used to the look of timeline. I rarely even veer off the main page with the news feed anymore.

 

[Mathew81]

If you have a smartphone that syncs your Facebook contacts, they may have changed your contacts's emails there as well.

http://gizmodo.com/5922836/is-the-f..._source=gizmodo_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow

 

[thirty-two]

I don't have timeline yet, and they haven't changed mine. I'm not moving to timeline until they make me.

So jealous. They tricked me when I signed up for Pinterest, the jackholes.

 

[Jersey Girl]

I've gotten used to timeline. I actually recently switched over voluntarily because the other layout/feature just looked, well, old.

 

[HeavyB3]

No one has ever emailed me from FB and I don't care what my FB email is. I'm not sure why this was such a big deal on the internet.

 

[Mathew81]

No one has ever emailed me from FB and I don't care what my FB email is. I'm not sure why this was such a big deal on the internet.

I don't think the issue is about email specifically. I think the uproar was about what it symbolized. It was Facebook changing your information without asking your permission or even notifying you they were going to do it.

 

[Linderbee]

No one has ever emailed me from FB and I don't care what my FB email is. I'm not sure why this was such a big deal on the internet.

It's kind of a big deal to me, because my daughter's fb account's email goes to me. Now, with the change, the email would go to her fb account, so I can't monitor anymore. Other than that, not a big deal, I agree.

 

[Angel]

I don't think the issue is about email specifically. I think the uproar was about what it symbolized. It was Facebook changing your information without asking your permission or even notifying you they were going to do it.

Technically it was FB's information. Signing up, gave it to them to do with what they please, it may even be in the small print, but it is definitely implied.

Not saying it is right, fair, or even that I agree with it, but it is.

People need give protecting what little personal privacy we have left some serious thought before jumping on every cool new train.

 

[Linderbee]

It's kind of a big deal to me, because my daughter's fb account's email goes to me. Now, with the change, the email would go to her fb account, so I can't monitor anymore. Other than that, not a big deal, I agree.

So, I checked; she has timeline & her email addy wasn't changed, either. Maybe they just don't care about us, lol.

 

[Russ Smith]

I don't think the issue is about email specifically. I think the uproar was about what it symbolized. It was Facebook changing your information without asking your permission or even notifying you they were going to do it.

They actually did notify people but not in a way most would actually notice.

Linderbee's situation is the one I've heard a few times now, people who were monitoring their kids online. I think the main thing is as you said they have this bad habit of the default being just do it.

As a recent article said FB's credo seems to be it's easier to say sorry than to just ask people up front if they're ok with some change. They just do it and if people complain, they're sorry.