[yariv]

The theory is that by accepting someone's friend request you're not automatically granting them the ability to export your email address to any application that asks for it. If it were possible there's a good chance your inbox would quickly be filled with spam from apps your friends use. I know of no social network, including Google's own Orkut, Twitter, and Myspace, which allows this kind of mass exportation of friend emails via its API.

[nostromo]

> If it were possible there's a good chance your inbox would quickly be filled with spam from apps your friends use.

Apps like, um, FaceBook?

[gilted]

More like Zynga apps. Could you imagine if Farmville could easily get a hold of the emails of all of your friends? God help us.

[nostromo]

My only point is that the scenario yariv frets about is exactly what FaceBook did to grow.

Before I joined FaceBook I would get regular emails about all of my friends on FB that had uploaded my contact info via GMail.

[joe_the_user]

Like Nostromo said...

Plus it's pretty clear Facebook itself needs to make a distinction between something like a "export application" (that does generate nothing-like-spam) and something like Farmville (which is only generates something-like-spam).

While this lack of distinction is a serious problem for Facebook ... it hardly qualifies as a good argument for Facebook being able to export from everyone else but not allowing exports to anyone.

[joe_the_user]

So on the other hand, by emailing someone, you are granting them the right to download your contact information to a third party application who will then ... email you that you should join ... Facebook?