Facebook 'to track porn browsing'

Porn sites could show up in people's Facebook timelines. Photo / Thinkstock

Facebook has come under fire after revelations that adult sites could show up in people's Facebook account timelines.

Technology blog Techwag has warned Facebook users to prepare for embarrassing connections to porn sites to start appearing in their timelines once the "gestures" feature goes live in coming weeks.

The timeline feature means users will have an ongoing and persistent record of activities when on Facebook and so will others who can view their page.

What this means is that if a porn site uses passive sharing options on Facebook, has "like" buttons on its page or allows people to sign into their site with a user's Facebook details, then all of that will be recorded on the timeline.

However, this will happen only if people choose to interact with porn sites.

Techwag blogger Rmorrill says it is already happening: "Imagine my surprise to see a couple of porn sites this morning using Facebook Connect, and yes, they knew who I was. Embarrassed possibly, more humoured because this really is how the adult industry is going to get into social media and it will be done because users rarely log out of Facebook (even that might not help) and Facebook Connect is everywhere."

According to Mashable.com, letting apps place a huge amount of information into a timeline at the click of a button and granting that app access to internet activity is a "serious privacy concern".

It could be news articles, videos or any other actions within a site or app, wrote Pete Cashmore on Mashable.com.

- Staff reporter