【Drunken Woman Pickup Sex】

One of the most startling revelations of Facebook's ongoing Cambridge Analytica controversy is Drunken Woman Pickup Sexjust how easy it was for a third-party developer to access millions of people's personal data without their knowledge -- even if they hadn't downloaded the app themselves.

That's because Facebook's policies prior to 2014 were much more lax than they are today. At the time, apps could scrape data from both their users and the friends of those users, unless you had your privacy setting sufficiently locked down.

The company actually built an "Anonymous Login" tool that was specifically created so that Facebook users could log into third-party services without making all of their data available to developers.

But the once-hyped feature never launched. Facebook quietly killed the project, allegedly due to lack of interest.

SEE ALSO: Everything you need to know about the Cambridge Analytica controversy

That wasn't supposed to be the case, though. Anonymous Login was one of the first new features announced at Facebook's annual F8 developer conference in 2014, billed as part of a new effort to put "people first."

"We know that some people are scared of pressing this blue button," Zuckerberg said, referring to the now-ubiquitous "login in with Facebook" button. "We don't ever want anyone to be surprised about how they're sharing on Facebook, that's not good for anyone."

Mashable Light Speed Want more out-of-this world tech, space and science stories? Sign up for Mashable's weekly Light Speed newsletter. By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up!

The solution: an alternative Facebook login that would allow users to sign up to use an app without handing over personal data to the developer. Called Anonymous Login, the tool offered the same ease of use as the normal Facebook login, but Facebook would keep your identity anonymous to the developer.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

"The idea are is that even if you don't want an app to know who you are yet, you still want a streamlined experience of singing in," Zuckerberg said. "This is going to let you try apps without fear."

But even though the feature was showcased prominently during Zuckerberg's keynote, it never launched. Not only that, Facebook barely mentioned it ever again.

The company confirmed that it officially killed the feature in August 2015, 16 months after the initial announcement, due to lack of interest from developers. As Recode reported that year, there was little incentive for developers to adopt the login feature.

Developers, much like Facebook, love data. The more they know about their users, the more effectively they can target them with ads, or figure out how to get them to spend more time in their apps. This is impossible to do without knowing their actual identity.

But it also seems that Facebook did very little to encourage developers to adopt the feature, either. It never launched more widely beyond the initial group of developers, for one. And, despite touting it as part of a new "people first" approach, the company didn't seem to care much at the end of they day whether it was actually used.

To be clear, Anonymous Login couldn't have prevented the Cambridge Analytica fiasco. By all accounts, the data in question had already been obtained by the time Facebook introduced the feature.

But it's an idea that's worth revisiting knowing now what we should have known then about the consequences of handing over all our data to Facebook's developers so willingly. At a time when distrust of Facebook, and the services that plug into it, is at an all-time high, having a feature like Anonymous Login could help users feel like they have some semblance of control over their data.

---

Featured Video For You

---

Here's 5 tips for Spring cleaning your digital footprint

---

Topics Facebook Social Media

• Digital Culture
• Science
• Games
• Life
• Deals
• Social Good
• Entertainment
• Tech

• Best laptop deal: Get the 14
• Lyft's new TV ads take aim at Uber
• Men of the people Donald Trump and Nigel Farage pose in golden elevator
• Why did the penguin cross the road? 'Cos he had a brand new underpass.
• Best iPad deal: Save $70 on 10th Gen Apple iPad
• Pilot goes on epic rant after political fight breaks out on airplane
• Keep your legs warm with your quotes from your favorite books
• Joe Biden plotting against Trump is the meme America needs
• China just built the world's biggest floating solar project
• 'Game of Thrones' Weekly: The big conversations heading into Episode 2

• A Chocolate Confession
• Mandalorian fans: Baby Yoda underwear and loungewear just launched at MeUndies — take 15% off
• What is a ruined orgasm?
• How to share Kindle e
• How to preorder the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5
• Last Chance to Subscribe to the Dual Paris Review and McSweeney’s Subscription Deal
• Letters from Children, Sent to Harper's Young People in 1881
• I got hooked on lemon water. Here's why you should too.
• Capitol rioter arrested after his Bumble match turned him in
• Like the Cat That Got the Cream

• Trump's foreign aid freeze halts funding for digital diplomacy bureau
• HBO to Trump: Stop tweeting about 'Game of Thrones'
• Nintendo's 30 year old ads introducing the Game Boy are a real trip
• Genesis Mint is the cutest electric concept car for city living
• The Ideal Smartphone for 2017
• Bodybuilding bro who filmed himself eating placenta did it for the gains
• Viral UCLA gymnast Katelyn Ohashi performs in final NCAA competition
• The internet banded together to find a homeless man's lost pet rat. It worked.
• Trump who? Tech giants join massive effort to uphold Paris Agreement
• YouTube app will soon return to Amazon Fire TV devices

• Brest vs. PSG 2025 livestream: Watch Champions League for free
• 'Time' 100 list offensively honors both Christine Blasey Ford and Brett Kavanaugh
• The Carolina Panthers used video games to announce their 2019 schedule
• After an Easter terror attack, Sri Lanka cuts access to social media
• Best Amazon deal: Save 20% on floral and botanical Lego sets
• Verizon increases fees in stores, reduces them online
• Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie shuts down white man on racism
• Hulu's 'Ramy' is an excellent and poignant new age dramedy
• GPU Availability and Pricing Update: April 2022
• Muggles rejoice, the Quidditch Premier League is now a thing and it looks badass