In my last post, I have talk about Google’s Friend Connect being the next biggest thing on the net in the near future. However, that was all being said with the assumption that every social network would embrace this idea with open arms. Of course, I was wrong and another giant in the industry has started to reject Google’s offer to connect up with them.

Facebook which has one of the biggest shares of the world’s social network apparently rejected Friend Connect on the issue on privacy. It has say that it would be a violation of the terms of service, as Friend Connect would be distributing its users to third parties without any prior knowledge of the users. This means that the privacy standards of the users are not respected.

Perhaps Facebook has learn it well when the last time, it launched “Beacon, an advertising program, that actually send users’ third-party activity on partnering retail and social-media sites to their Facebook profiles. Although the bulk of the users did not pretty much care about this, it only takes a few more vocal advocates of privacy to make Facebook change the application. After this incident, it seems Facebook would prefer not to risk another round of PR skirmishes.

Facebook has found out that Friend Connect actually does redistribute users’ information from Facebook without the users’ knowledge. They defended their decision saying that in the past, they were also forced to reject other applications that also redistribute data in unexpected ways. The bottom line was simple. Facebook claims that Google’s Friend Connect would not allow enough control over their data. Facebook engineer Charlie Cheever said, “We've had to suspend Friend Connect's access to Facebook user information until it comes into compliance.”

However, this might not be the full story just yet as Google challenged Facebook’s claims, saying that they are in fact in full compliance with their policies. The following is a quote from Google:

"We're disappointed that Facebook disabled their users' ability to use Friend Connect with their Facebook friends," said a Google spokesperson. "We looked at the Terms of Service, and we strongly believe that we're in complete compliance. We also feel that the real question is not about the details -- which we are in compliance with -- it's about intent. Facebook's stated intent is to allow users to be in control of their data, which we think is great. Friend Connect does exactly that -- it absolutely gives users control of their data."

When contacted, Facebook did not immediately respond to a request to explain what Facebook user information Google Friend Connect allegedly redistributes.

The irony is that Facebook has announced on May 9 that a service similar to Google’s Friend Connect, called Facebook Connect would be launched soon. It too offers control over ones data and to integrate and connect multiple into an account. This simply makes some people ponder if the issue is really about privacy or otherwise.

On the surface it might seem that Facebook is banning Friend Connect over privacy infringement, but this could be solved by just adding a few features. This ban would actually be letting Facebook have a competitive edge. Friend Connect does not have a domestic site which allows social networking as it aims to serve as a two-way agent, intervening on behalf f the other sites that might want access to the data contained in users’ profiles. Thus, without Facebook, they might be losing a huge chunk of the users. Imagine, Friend Connect aiming to integrate all the social networks, but in reality it unify the world outside Facebook.

It probably won’t be long before you see other little networks rising up and in arms against the big brother, Google. Till now, Facebook might still be the one with the edge.