A panicky rumor about Facebook and phone lists has been propagating through the social network and the media. The messages claim that your contact lists and phone numbers are being collated and made available to Facebook and the public. The truth lies elsewhere.
When you add a smart phone app for your social network, you are prompted whether or not to add your contact list to your social network. Since few people read their user agreements all the way through (or even at all), most people missed the explanation. And as a result a feature that’s actually very helpful (having all your contacts in one place with Facebook contact information added for you) looks like something that could be a privacy violation.
Fortunately there are simple ways to back out of this arrangement. And there are several helpful articles available to explain all the details of the situation and how to manage it in the way you prefer, according to your privacy preferences.
Techcrunch has the link to undo the imported contact phone numbers.
Dan Tynan at ITWorld has a strong opinion about sharing phone numbers in social networks.
The NYTimes’ Gadgetwise blog was one of the first to calm the internet rumor down with their entry.
Read the opinions, review your settings and decide for yourself if you want to share your phone number in Facebook, if you want your contacts synced from your smartphone into Facebook and make the necessary adjustments. Keep calm and carry on.