Google+ vs Facebook - the battle has commenced!

Further to the news that Google has begun a new social site (Google+) in an obvious attempt to rival Facebook; it would appear that, although Google+ is still in Beta stage, the battle lines have already been drawn:

A Google Chrome extension, which was specifically designed to allow Facebook members to extract details of their contacts and easily transfer them over to Google+, has been blocked by Facebook.

The author of the Chrome extension, Mohamed Mansour, has responded: "[i:136rthd4]I am scraping my own data that my Facebook friends allowed me to use and view. Facebook doesn't own my friends. I want my friends to be in a place that is easily accessible, extractable, and shareable. And if that results a ban/expulsion/termination, so be it."[/i:136rthd4]

Facebook are saying that the extraction of such information, even by the account holder, is contrary to their terms of service. Specifically section 3.2 which states: [i:136rthd4]"You will not collect users' content or information, or otherwise access Facebook, using automated means (such as harvesting bots, robots, spiders, or scrapers) without our permission."[/i:136rthd4]

Either way, it seems we are in for some interesting times ahead as the Google vs Facebook rivalry flares once again!