MySpace, Apps Leak User Data
MySpace and some popular applications on the social-networking site have been transmitting information to outside advertising companies that could be used to identify users, a Wall Street Journal investigation has found.
The data were primarily sent by MySpace when users clicked on ads on the website. MySpace had pledged to discontinue the practice of sending personal data when users click on ads after the Journal reported it in May.
A MySpace spokesman said the data identify the user profile being viewed but not necessarily the person who clicked on the ad. MySpace is owned by News Corp., which also owns The Wall Street Journal.
MySpace, which had 58 million visitors in the U.S. in September, has been struggling to turn its business around in the face of tough competition from Facebook Inc., which had 148 million U.S. visitors last month, according to comScore Inc.
