Facebook in public row with Google over Gmail
A Facebook engineer has publicly reprimanded Google for snipping Facebook's access to the Gmail users' contacts by accusing the search giant of data-hoarding hypocrisy.
The row started four days ago when Google, who had always let their users transfer data, including their contacts, to other websites. Until now, new Facebook users could find out whether their contacts on Gmail also had Facebook accounts, simply by typing in their Gmail user name and password as part of the Facebook signup process.
"Openness doesn't mean being open when its convenient for you," Mike Vernal, a member of the Facebook engineering team, wrote in response to a TechCrunch blog where the matter was being discussed.
"We strongly hope that Google turns back on their API and doesn't come up with yet another excuse to prevent their users from leaving Google products to use ones they like better instead," he said.
The old Google policy has helped Facebook grow because it helped new users instantly create a network of friends on the site. Unlike Google, Facebook doesn't allow its users to export their contacts data to other websites which makes the whole row seems rather steeped in hypocrisy.
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- groups:
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- Facebook, Google, Gmail, Techcrunch, 2 more
