Facebook Brazenly Asks Banks for Customer Bank Balances, Credit Card Numbers

Facebook has requested customer financial information from a number of U.S. banks without obtaining permission from users, according to a recent report. Included in the requests are credit card transactions and checking account balances for the customers.

Facebook has spoken with JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup Inc. and U.S. Bancorp. Their requests are ostensibly to “help” their users by showing their checking account balances on their Facebook feed, making it easier to sell products and services.

I had a Facebook account for all of twelve minutes.  An old friend was dying and I was trying to get in contact with him.  He responded to my friend request, I got his number and we talked, one last time.  His girlfriend called me a month later to let me know he had passed.   I suspended the Facebook account at that time (which was all I could figure out how to do at the time).   Last month I re-entered the Facebook universe only to completely delete my presence there.

So I don’t know if I have a dog in this fight or just a wager on the outcome.  But my bet is that in the end Facebook is going the way of Compuserve or AOL.

And in my opinion, they richly deserve their ignominious end.