Wow. Something is seriously wrong at SpeedDate, the online dating site that throws strangers into whirlwind 3 minute dates. For at least 30 minutes this evening (and possibly more), passwords were totally optional. Type in a user name (no password needed), hit “Log In”, and you had access to every private message, ‘flirt’, and buddy list available on the user’s profile. You could modify profile photos, bios, or whatever else you could find.

We’ve verified that the issue worked with at least five different accounts. One account didn’t work, the others went though without a hitch. Fortunately there isn’t a whole lot of damage you can do on the site beyond read or send private messages, but as far as security breaches go it doesn’t get much worse than this.

We’ve confirmed the problem with SpeedDate, who say it is now fixed (we held the story until they could address the issue to avoid further exploitation). SpeedDate says that the issue only affected a subset of users, though the number of accounts affected seems to have been substantial.

This isn’t the first time SpeedDate has been in hot water with users. Last year the site acquired a number of Facebook applications unrelated to dating, only to convert them to SpeedDate apps without the consent of users. It was also temporarily banned from Facebook entirely.

Thanks to Reece Schofield for the tip.

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SpeedDate, the online dating site that throws singles in a series of rapid dating sessions, has hijacked over 500,000 users from at least three Facebook applications. Users are logging on to Facebook to find that the applications they’ve had installed for months have been replaced with SpeedDate without being asked to opt-in.

As far as we can tell, all three modified applications were developed by HappyAppy, so it’s likely that SpeedDate either acquired the company with the $6 million it raised last month or the two companies share the same development team. Users are being sent brief messages notifying them that their applications have been renamed and “improved”, but only after the switch has been made without their consent.

The three affected applications are:

• Have You Ever??? (353,217 monthly active users)
• Would You Rather (158,291)
• Romantic Gifts (28,164)

In effect each of these applications has acted as a Trojan Horse, getting install permissions under false pretenses only to pull the bait-and-switch later on. Dozens of users have exhibited outrage over the swap in the review section of each application. It’s likely that such dishonest tactics are against Facebook’s Terms of Service, but after at least ten days of complaints Facebook has yet to act.

There’s also the question of how this change could ever happen in the first place. Does Facebook have no safeguards against replacing an application’s entire codebase, effectively making user bases totally transferable? What good is issuing per-application install permission when developers can replace a “good” application with a spammy one at will? Developer acquisitions are only going to become more common – Facebook should have a system in place to ensure that user privacy is not compromised in the process.

This isn’t the first time SpeedDate has been at odds with Facebook’s Terms of Service. In July it was temporarily banned, and some comments suggest that it was for a similar violation.

Check out Andy Kruger’s blog for more.

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Online dating site SpeedDate has raised $6 million in a Series B funding round led by Menlo Ventures. SpeedDate offers users a series of 3 minute mini-dates, during which they can converse through video, audio, and a chat box. If both partners decide they were a good match when prompted at the end of the date, they can continue communicating through the site until they make the jump to real life.

When we first wrote about SpeedDate, the site had a small userbase, which made it difficult to conduct a series of dates (there simply weren’t enough potential matches). Since then the site has grown substantially (claiming 100,000 dates daily), so you can hop on and hope to find a reasonable match within a few minutes.

I decided to put the site to the test once again now that it can reliably serve up a stream of potential prospects. Unlike most dating sites, there was no lengthy signup process – the site leaves the real matchmaking to your video chats. And while SpeedDate seemed to totally ignore the interests and personality traits I entered anyway, the experience was still surprisingly fun. I typically only had to wait a few minutes between each session, and girls I spoke to during my “dates” told me that their general experience on the site had been quite positive.

SpeedDate is a direct competitor to Woome, a similar speed-dating site that offers quick video sessions.

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Yesterday Meebo and SpeedDate teamed up with a number of bloggers to have a public speed dating session. The results speak for themselves – solid gold content. Somebody give the marketing team a big year end bonus.

In my opinion, Wired’s Aaron Rowe stole the show.

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Speed introductions site WooMe, which we reviewed two weeks ago while in the site was still in private beta here, has officially opened its doors to the public.

WooMe puts users in quick, 1-on-1 video conferencing sessions during which they can determine whether to pursue a relationship (romantic or otherwise) with the stranger on the other end. While the site is not explicitly marketed as a dating site, it competes quite directly with SpeedDate, which we have also reviewed.

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You may not have come to TechCrunch looking for love, but we might be able to help you out anyway. SpeedDate, which launched as public beta in the last few days, brings the concept of speed dating to the web.

Rather than asking its users to fill out surveys describing their interests and personalities, SpeedDate gets right to it by throwing you into 3-minute long “dates” with potential matches. All you need to do ahead of time is enter the basics: your zip code, your gender, the gender of the person you are looking for, the age range of that person, and how far you are willing to travel for them.

The dates are conducted by webcam so you can hear and see your date. Curiously, you can also communicate through a chat box. When you’ve made a judgment about whether you like the person, just click “Yes” or “No” to indicate whether you want to follow up with the person after your first three minutes are up.

Since the service has yet to gain a substantial user base, SpeedDate has been organizing “events” in which users are encouraged to come online at the same time. The first one took place this past Thursday while the service was still in private beta. About 230 San Francisco Bay Area singles went on 1,100 dates. The next one is tonight at 8:00pm and doesn’t appear to be meant for a particular region. The company says it has received positive feedback about these events from both men and women.

SpeedDate demoed at the TechCrunch40 conference and will compete with soon-to-be-released WooMe, which presented on stage at TC40.

Last summer we wrote about thirteen Web 2.0 sites to find love.

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