CNIL warns users of Facebook Places location service

French data protection agency CNIL has asked Facebook to improve the confidentiality and personal data settings of its new 'Places' location service. The body also asks consumers on its website to be prudent about how they set up and use the service. Places requires users to install Facebook for smartphones or to go to touch.facebook.com on their handset and click on the Places icon. The company then collects location information from the handset and proposes a list of restaurants, cafes, monuments and other places in the vicinity. Users can then check-in to tell Facebook they are in a specific place. CNIL fears that users will reveal too much personal information. For example, if they say where they are during the day, potential burglars can raid their homes. Facebook friends can also signal someone's actual or supposed presence in a specific place by tagging a person, who is informed by e-mail. CNIL feels that this notification is insufficient and that people should by systematically asked whether they can be tagged before the fact. Although Facebook indicates that it does not use information on places visited to enhance its targeted advertising system, CNIL fears that in the future people would receive ads from a store where they have checked-in in the past. Under French law consumers must be informed of this and opt in to such a service.