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Facebook Rethinks Tracking
VAUHINI VARA
WSJ
Thursday December 6, 2007
After weeks of criticism over a new advertising program
that was perceived as a privacy threat, Facebook Inc. has tweaked
its privacy settings and offered a public apology from its chief
executive -- but advertisers remain wary.
The program, which Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled last
month, allows Facebook to track its users' activities, such as
purchases, on third-party Web sites that partner with the social-networking
site and broadcast them to the users' friends. For instance, Facebook
users could receive messages telling them that a friend had bought
a sweater on Overstock.com or a movie ticket on Fandango.com.
Called Beacon, the program was intended to give advertisers a
way "into the conversations between people," Mr. Zuckerberg
said.
But the program raised the ire of privacy advocates and users,
who said Facebook didn't clearly explain how users could prevent
information from being shared and didn't give them a way to opt
out entirely. The advocacy organization MoveOn.org Civic Action,
for one, formed a group complaining about the way Beacon had been
implemented. As of yesterday afternoon, the group had close to
70,000 members.
(Article continues below)
In a Facebook blog, Mr. Zuckerberg yesterday wrote, "We've
made a lot of mistakes building this feature, but we've made even
more with how we've handled them. We simply did a bad job with
this release, and I apologize for it." He added that Facebook
users can now adjust their privacy settings to opt out of the
Beacon program entirely.
Before the change announced yesterday, it would take as many
as four clicks on settings to stop Facebook from sharing information.
Beacon critics said it should be easier to opt out.
Beacon's success is crucial for Facebook, of Palo Alto, Calif.
Third-party sites, working in conjunction with Facebook, use Beacon
at no cost. Facebook benefits because, when a Facebook user shares
information with his friends, Facebook can use that information
to learn about the individual and send him targeted ads.
Full
article here.
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INFOWARS:
BECAUSE THERE'S A WAR ON FOR YOUR MIND
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