Pete Cashmore reports that part of Facebook’s source code was exposed to some users this weekend. He asserts that: “A code leak is a major, major problem for the site – the only thing that would generate more fear would be a hack that gained access to user data.”
Let’s be explicit: people having access to source code does not in itself make software less secure. Much has been written about open source and security; see, for example, David A. Wheeler.
The security concern here is that FB intended to keep something private, and, on this occasion, failed. This time the something was source code. The concern, I think, is that next time it might be user data.