A few days ago I requested that Facebook finally allow us to download email addresses for all of our friends. Facebook says this isn&'t allowed because you only own the data you add to Facebook, not data that your friends add.

Their statement was, in part (entire statement here):

The most important principle for Facebook is that every person owns and controls her information. Each person owns her friends list, but not her friends‚a4‚¬‚a4„ information. A person has no more right to mass export all of her friends‚a4‚¬‚a4„ private email addresses than she does to mass export all of her friends‚a4‚¬‚a4„ private photo albums.

We pointed out that Facebook already allows mass exporting of friends&' private email addresses via deals with Microsoft, Yahoo and possibly other partners. And we suggested Facebook amend their statement to add the following bolded language:

A person has no more right to mass export all of her friends‚a4‚¬‚a4„ private email addresses than she does to mass export all of her friends‚a4‚¬‚a4„ private photo albums, unless it‚a4‚¬‚a4„s with a partner that‚a4‚¬‚a4„s making it worth our while.

Anyway, for those of you who want to download all those email addresses, here&'s how.

1. Create a Yahoo email account. Even if you have an old one, create a new one so that the imported contacts are clean. It only takes a minute. You&'ll get a confirmation screen that looks like this, below. Click on import contacts &''Get Started&'' link and then choose Facebook. Note &8211' do not use Chrome for this, it doesn&'t appear to work in that browser.

2. Authorize Yahoo in the Facebook pop up and then wait a few seconds. You&'ll see a confirmation screen like this:

3. Ok, you&'ve now imported the names and email addresses of all your Facebook friends into Yahoo. Now just click &''tools&'' in Yahoo mail and export. CSV format is a good format for uploading to Gmail or your desktop contact book. Save the file to your desktop, and you&'re done.

4. Enjoy your new contacts. You&'ve just done something that Facebook says you have no right to do, using tools provided by Facebook.