Refer YouTube video clip below explaining Google Friend Connect BETA ... Does anyone notice any permsissions associated with sharing and connecting 'friend' data to the third party web site? Seems like you need to opt-in to join the guacamole recipe website - and you can send invites to friends ... but the permissions on adding friends and sharing friend data?

A week after the “big” announcements about commitment to being open, seems like not everyone in the sand box wants to play nice. The issue? Facebook has taken their bucket and spade and decided to Opt-Out of Google’s Friend Connect.

TechCrunch’s Steve Gillmor has put together the must read article on the issue entitled “Facebook’s Glass Jaw”…

Facebook’s rationale is that Friend Connect “redistributes user information from Facebook to other developers without users’ knowledge, which doesn’t respect the privacy standards our users have come to expect and is a violation of our Terms of Service.” Give me a break. Can anyone say Beacon?

Err, let me understand this … It’s OK if Facebook does this with exactly the same API with Facebook applications to enable their users to share data with sites and applications they choose … however, as Gillmor states “…somehow Friend Connect does its dirty work without users’ knowledge”.