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[igotthisguitar]

Facebook Users Complain Of "New" Tracking
By ANICK JESDANUN and RACHEL METZ, Associated Press Writers
Wed Nov 21, 5:03 PM ET



Facebook CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg speaks to press and advertising partners in New York, in this November 6, 2007 photo.

NEW YORK - Some users of the online hangout Facebook are complaining that its two-week-old marketing program is publicizing their purchases for friends to see.

Those users say they never noticed a small box that appears on a corner of their Web browsers following transactions at Fandango, Overstock and other online retailers. The box alerts users that information is about to be shared with Facebook unless they click on "No Thanks."

It disappears after about 20 seconds ... after which consent ... is assumed.

Users are given a second notice the next time they log on to Facebook, but they can easily miss it if they quickly click away to visit a friend's page or check e-mail.

"People should be given much more of a notice, much more of an alert," said Matthew Helfgott, 20, a college student who discovered his girlfriend just bought him black leather gloves from Overstock for Hanukkah. "She said she had no idea (information would be shared). She said it invaded her privacy."

The girlfriend was declining interviews, Helfgott said.

An Overstock.com Inc. spokesman said no one was immediately available for comment Wednesday.

Facebook has long prided itself on guarding its users' privacy, but the "walls" have gradually lowered. In 2006, a "news feeds" feature allowing users to track changes friends make to profiles backfired when many users denounced it as stalking and threatened protests. Facebook quickly apologized and agreed to let users turn off the "feature".

The new program lets companies tap ongoing conversations by alerting users about friends' activities through the feeds. About 40 Web sites have decided to embed a free tool from Facebook, known as a Beacon, to enable the marketing feeds.

The idea is that if users see a friend buy or do something, they'd take that action as an endorsement for a movie, a band or a soft drink.

But it also raises privacy concerns.

Mike Mayer, for instance, saw a feed item saying his boyfriend, Adam Sofen, just bought tickets to "No Country For Old Men" from movie-ticket vendor Fandango.

"What if I was seeing 'Fred Claus'?" said Sofen, 28. "That would have been much more embarrassing. At least this was a prestigious movie."

In some cases, companies can buy an ad next to the feed item with the friend's photo. Although Fandango didn't do that, Mayer, 28, still found Beacon unsettling.

"If my identity is going to be used to promote something for someone else, that seems problematic," said Mayer, who was previously employed in online advertising. "It could be a misrepresentation of my purchases."

Fandango officials referred inquiries to Facebook, which issued a statement defending its practices. Facebook officials have also said advertising supports the free service.

"Beacon gives users an easy way to share relevant information from other sites with their friends on Facebook," the statement said. "Information is shared with a small selection of a user's trusted network of friends, not publicly on the Web or with all Facebook users. Users also are given multiple ways to choose not to share information from a participating site, both on that site and on Facebook."

Users are able to decline sharing on a site-by-site basis, but can't withdraw from the program entirely.

On Wednesday, Facebook launched a mechanism for users to indicate what types of news feeds they like and dislike. Individuals could possibly use that to lower the frequency of marketing items, though the company has said they won't be able to reject them completely.

Liberal advocacy group MoveOn.org formed a protest group Tuesday and had more than 6,000 members by Wednesday. The group is calling on Facebook to stop revealing online purchases and letting companies use names for endorsements without "explicit permission."

"We want Facebook to realize that their users are rightly concerned that private information is being made public," MoveOn spokesman Adam Green said, adding that Facebook could quell concerns by seeking "opt in" consent rather than leaving it to users to "opt out" by taking steps to decline sharing.

Facebook user Nate Weiner, 23, said he uses a tool for the Firefox Web browser called BlockSite, which he says prevents sites from sending data to Facebook.

"What if you bought a book on Amazon called 'Coping with AIDS' and that got published to every single one of your friends?" he said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/facebook_ads;_ylt=AoZwGVfiH5XR9o5Qb2mjHfkDW7oF

[superdave]

yeah, it's getting a little invasive.

but facebook aren't the only ones doing stuff like this ... they're just the site we notice the most. and i think that's because, to a large degree, facebook does warn you or tell you that it's happening.

google, msn, myspace, ebay, paypal and a multitude of other sites do similar things ... but there are zero notifications and no data relating to the information. so it's harder to see. they never tell you what data they're collecting.

the only reason google gives away all of its content for free is so that it can build up a database of users and information that it can sell to advertisers. knowing your habits is worth a lot of money.

none of this connectivity between web corporations has any benefit to us. it's all to improve their marketing and profit.

think about tv when it was at its peak. tv is not an interactive medium, which means advertisers and corporations are limited in how much they can learn about consumers. the web, however, is the opposite. the internet is very interactive and all age groups are covered. every click you make is able to be tracked. when google tracks trillions of page hits, clicks, purchases, etc every week, then they're building up an astoundingly comprehensive view of users.

which explains why these sites are worth billions of dollars.

[itaewonguy]

facebook is a monster!!
those boys are gonna make BILLIONS!!
not bad for a couple years work!

[igotthisguitar]

[bassexpander]

Yeah, guitar, they're all ganging up on you.

You getting any treatment for that paranoia complex?

[reactionary]

what's with the bold? is there a hidden message? unscramble the letters?

ok, ok, i get it - those are the significant ones. but you bolded "infomercial producer" and not "The Goonies." what's going on here? what's your agenda?

[boatofcar]

You can make a list like that with every major fraternity in America.

[igotthisguitar]