Facebook shuts down NewsFeed application.

ReadWriteWeb reported yesterday that the NewsFeed application, which allowed you to export your Facebook NewsFeed in RSS and publish it pubilcally, has been shut down down by Facebook.

A Facebook software engineer, Ari Steinberg commented that “We’re certainly not opposed to enabling you to export your own content (in fact, we’re always trying to work on ways to make that easier), but exporting all your friends’ content to a totally public place without their permission isn’t cool.”

This is an interesting development as it shows that Facebook clearly saw it as a serious breach of their privacy controls. How they didn’t see this happening when they opened up the feed in the first place is curious.

RWW comment that “The wall that keeps Facebook user data in and private by default feels too contrary to the fundamental nature of the internet for it to last”, but I believe this case was different. Most Facebook users would have no idea that their data was being exported and it could have caused a serious trust issue between Facebook and the user.

What do you think? Were Facebook right to shut down the NewsFeed application?