Recently, I disabled about half the Facebook applications that have access to my data, because I just can’t trust what information Facebook will give out, and what information Facebook collects in return. They’ve shown time and again that they’re untrustworthy.

One of the applications I disabled was Aardvark, a cool service that routes your questions to subject matter experts to answer. It’s free and works in a good samaritan/community fashion, which is why I try to answer questions for folks whenever I can.

Anyway, I thought nothing of it, as I’ve recently disabled a lot of Facebook applications. 

But then I got this email from their support address:

Hi Greg,

It looks like Aardvark doesn’t have “offline access” to your Facebook profile…

To get the full benefit of connecting Aardvark and Facebook, click on this link and allow “offline access”: http://vark.com/ask#connect_with_offline_access

Then Aardvark will know who you’re friends with, and be able to send you their questions, based on the interests in your profile.

Aardvark will not post anything to your Facebook profile or send any Facebook messages without your explicit permission in the moment.

Helpful, and I do trust Aardvark, but I don’t trust Facebook. And I decided to share my thoughts with Aardvark. Not being snarky or anything, but saying there are serious concerns about Facebook, and business consequences. 

Thanks for the note. Due to Facebook’s privacy practices, I’ve become more restrictive in the applications I allow. I’m sure Aardvark is fine, but frankly I don’t know what Facebook will send you if I give “offline access.”
All the best and feel free to keep in touch about this issue.
—Greg

What do you think? A waste of time? Or should more people be doing that sort of thing?