MoveOn.org takes on Facebook's 'Beacon' ads
Online activist group MoveOn.org is poised to announce a campaign targeting Facebook's "Beacon" advertisements, which post information about users' activity on partner sites (movie rentals, purchases from online retailers) onto their friends' News Feeds. According to MoveOn representatives, the organization considers this to be a "glaring violation of (Facebook's) users' privacy," and has launched a paid ad campaign on Facebook, a "protest group" on the social-networking site, and an online petition to encourage the company to allow users to opt into the program at their own volition.
"The bottom line," MoveOn spokesman Adam Green said in an interview with CNET News.com, "is that no Facebook user should have their private purchases online posted for the entire world to see without their explicit opted-in permission."
It's true that Beacon advertisements are limited to the news feeds of the people on a user's friends list, but Green said that doesn't make a difference. He cited Facebook user testimonials that ranged from members who said their entire Christmas lists had been published on their News Feeds (spoiling many a surprise in the process) to student activists who were concerned that sensitive purchases might show up and result in serious consequences--"If a college kid rents Brokeback Mountain and some homophobic person on his campus sees that, that could be a real problem," he explained.
Beacon does allow members to opt out. But, Green said, that isn't enough for MoveOn, which got its start as a left-leaning grassroots organization. "The opt-out is very well hidden," he said. "It basically pops up for a second and then goes away, and it's on the bottom of your screen when you're purchasing on a totally unrelated Web site, so you aren't even looking for it." He added that there's not a universal opt-out, so members have to repeat the process on each partner site. "Even if you see the opt-out and jump through the hoops of opting out once, that doesn't solve the problem."
Some retailers participating in Beacon say they're familiar with its potential pratfalls, but insist that it will ultimately be a positive development. "I think it's a new technology, and until people get used to it, it might surprise some," said Josh Mohrer, director of retail for BustedTees.com. "We have had a few instances where people were surprised, not necessarily angry, but surprised that their purchase showed up on their Facebook feed...I think when it becomes ubiquitous, which it most certainly will as Facebook things tend to be, that people will get used to it and see it as a good thing."
Mohrer said that he saw where the complaints were coming from. "I think Facebook probably needs to do a better job of warning people about it," he said. "What's bad is that people are probably going to blame the merchant and not Facebook."
Additionally, Mohrer admitted that he doesn't entirely disagree with the concerns of activists who have pointed out potential privacy issues with Beacon. "You should have an option to turn it on," Mohrer added, "not the other way around, especially around this time of year."
Caroline McCarthy, a CNET News staff writer, is a downtown Manhattanite happily addicted to social-media tools and restaurant blogs. Her pre-CNET resume includes interning at an IT security firm and brewing cappuccinos. E-mail Caroline. 
made it creepy!
The other day I bought a movie ticket on fanango and somehow
my facebook profile now shows that I bought tickets to that
movie.
I didn't elect/opt-in to having my facebook profile tell other
users what movie's I have seen, even if it buried deep down in
the terms and conditions.
This moveon.org, democratic Clinton mouth piece is once again trying to circumvent the freedom of private businesses.
Don't want your stuff posted all over the net? Don't use public forums like facebook, myspace, or any other social communal websites. If you do... read the Terms of Service. I know... that would put the responsibility of your actions on you. Tisk, tisk. Too many Americans these days are nothing but whining socialist who are demanding that the government control every aspect of their lives.. and right along with it... everyone else's lives. Why? Because freedom costs. It costs the price of individual responsibility. A cost too many people simply are not willing to pay because... like the fast foot fat bottoms... it is always someone else's fault.
Keep in mind WHO moveon.org represents. It is NOT you the individual. It is NOT society as a whole. It is a political organization created by Clinton to try and run interference for all the illegal activities of the Clintons. Oh, you didn't know that? Try.... researching sometime. It is a wonder what one can find. Moveon.org is NOT the only political mouth piece out there. The republicans have theirs too.
Just keep in mind that for every right and freedom and responsibility the government is allowed to strip is one step closer to enslavement. We... are a republic. Start acting like one and tell moveon.org to shove their little agendas where the sun don't shine. Or.. are you the whiny, helpless, lazy, socialist that they have come to depend on being too stupid to think? Your choice.
Why don't you wake up and buy a clue, or have you already been so indoctrinated with corporate propaganda?
Maybe you didn't realize it, but George Orwell was actually a Socialist and was opposed to corporatism. Maybe you didn't realize it but Corporate America IS BIG BROTHER.
That you would be upset because an organization is trying to pressure Facebook to make it easier for people to opt out losing their on-line privacy is absurd. How exactly is making it easier for people to opt out of being spied on a bad thing?
The only motive for Facebook is profit motive to gain advertising dollars by using their user base with no compensation to the user base.
I agree that people should vote by simply leaving Facebook, but the way they have set it up some people may not even be aware of the issue or fully understand the issue. In addition, if these types fo practices become increasingly adopted, users will loose all ability to choose different services if others adopt these practices, so it is good to fight back now. What is to prevent collusion of social networking sites, so that all of them adopt these practices, just like has already happened in every major American industry, such as credit-card companies that resell user information to third parties? What about the phone and network companies that have colluded to cooperate with the government in sharing your information with the FBI, Home Land Security, etc.?
THAT IS YOUR BIG BROTHER.
This is a real issue. Data mining is expanding on an exponential pace and jeopardizes all of our privacy and the more it expands the more difficult it is to get away from it and the more to have to restrict your life to not get caught in the data mining net.
You are so delusional and stuffed with corporate propaganda that YOU are the one defending George Orwell's Big Brother, YOU are the one shouting "War is Peace; Freedom is Slavery; Ignorance is Strength."
So according to Josh, once we get used to seeing our personal information splattered all over the web, we'll learn to accept it. That's the way Big Brother works, isn't it?
- Facebook Beacons
- by srkview November 23, 2007 6:45 AM PST
- biggest threat Google Ad-Words faced till date -- perhaps M'Softfinally manage to name down google - 360view4u.co.uk
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