Facebook plugs friends list mobile leak

Facebook fixes setting on Facebook's mobile site so strangers can't see other peoples' friends list.

Elinor Mills Former Staff Writer

Elinor Mills covers Internet security and privacy. She joined CNET News in 2005 after working as a foreign correspondent for Reuters in Portugal and writing for The Industry Standard, the IDG News Service and the Associated Press.

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Elinor Mills

Jan. 21, 2010 3:31 p.m. PT

Facebook has fixed a hole that allowed strangers to see your friends list by accessing the site using a mobile device, the company said on Thursday.

"There was an inconsistency between the Web and mobile versions of the site for the friend list visibility option," Facebook spokesman Simon Axten said in an e-mail.

"Remember that with the privacy changes we made back in December, your friend list is now publicly available information," he said. "You can't shut off access to it completely, but you can hide it from your profile for non-friends. This visibility setting is what wasn't working on the mobile site."

CNET notified Facebook about the issue on Tuesday.