'Facebook Home may hurt users' privacy'

LONDON: Facebook's newly released Home software for Android phones could 'destroy the privacy of users', industry watchers have warned. Unveiled on 4 April, Home is a new software that puts Facebook feeds on a phone's main screen. But industry watchers and analysts warned that the detailed data that could be mined from home users could intrude on private life, the BBC reports. Om Malik from tech news website GigaOm said that the 'always on' nature of home could be a route to gathering data about users that would otherwise be hard to find. He said that this application erodes any idea of privacy, adding that using this software Facebook is going to be able to track users' every move, and every little action, the report said. Harry McCracken at Time pointed out that many other apps can grab data like home, but said it would be "comforting" to get confirmation from Facebook that it had no plans to datamine the lives of its users. According to the report, Natasha Lomas at TechCrunch also warned that 'Facebookification' of the mobile web is a threat to openness, to choice, to privacy.