House Lawmakers Seek Details On Facebook Data-Sharing Plan

Reps. Joe Barton (R-Texas) and Edward Markey (D-Mass.) Feb. 2 asked Facebook for details on the company’s effort to give third parties expanded access to users’ personal data.

Facebook announced in a Jan. 14 blog post that it was launching a new feature allowing a user’s address and mobile phone number to be shared with third-party websites and application developers.

Days later, the company said it had to temporarily suspend the feature because of privacy issues.

Barton and Markey, who sit on the House Energy and Commerce Committee and serve as co-chairmen of the House Privacy Caucus, sent a joint ...