I know that being a parent has got to be the uncoolest perspective in Silicon Valley. After all, it's much more cutting edge to be libertarian, 23 years old, working 24/7 and sleeping on a futon in your cube.
But no one stays that way forever (thank goodness), and I'd like to think that those of us who have moved down the road a few years have a lot to add to technology design. With Facebook's Beacon plans blowing up this week, you can really see what happens when new "features" are added by twentysomethings who are coding and rolling out products as fast as they can.
I'm proposing a new job title to add to Facebook's Executive Team: VP of Adult Supervision.
My suggestion is only half-joking. Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg was called out for ageism earlier this year after he stressed the importance of "only [hiring] young people with technical expertise."
The problem is that Facebook's users aren't only people like their mind-blowingly young executives and programmers. A large proportion of their users are over 35. We don't appreciate having our privacy stomped on, and just because we want to participate in social networks, we don't necessarily want to live our lives in an exhibitionist fishbowl. Product design suffers when a grown-up perspective is not taken into account.
... Read moreToday on the Facebook Blog, Mark Zuckerberg apologizes for the mistakes Facebook made in rolling out Beacon, and announces that the company is "releasing a privacy control to turn off Beacon completely."
This is a clear victory for consumer backlash and protests. MoveOn.org spokesman Adam Green responds to today's development:
"Sites like Facebook are revolutionizing how we communicate with each other and organize around issues together in a 21st century democracy. The big question is: Will corporate advertisers get to write the rules of the Internet or will these new social networks protect our basic rights, like privacy? Facebook's policy change is a big step in the right direction, and we hope it begins an industry-wide trend that puts the basic rights of Internet users ahead of the wish lists of corporate advertisers."
The Center for Digital Democracy, which has filed an FTC complaint against Facebook, is still concerned that Facebook's reaction has not solved their potential privacy problem. Executive Director Jeff Chester reacts to Facebook's news:
"Today's announcement that Facebook users will be able to turn off Beacon, following last week's opt-in changes, is a step in the right direction. But Mr. Zuckerberg isn't truly candid with Facebook users. Beacon is just one aspect of a massive data collection and targeting system put in place by Facebook. It's not really about the company's desire 'to build a simple product?lightweight' that would, as he writes, 'let people share information across sites with their friends.' Mr. Zuckerberg's goal, as he explained on November 6, 2007, was to transform Facebook into 'a completely new way of advertising online.' Facebook has rewired its social network to better serve the data collection interests of marketers who, promised Mr. Zuckerberg, are now 'going to be a part of the conversation'.
"Mr. Zuckerberg can't simply now do a digital "mea culpa" and hope that Facebook's disapproving members, privacy advocates, and government regulators will disappear. Nor should Facebook's brand advertisers permit this statement to diminish the real privacy and security concerns embodied by Facebook's new targeted ad system. CDD will continue to press U.S. and EU regulators to address Facebook's significant privacy problem."
From my perspective, while I applaud this development, Facebook still has many more steps to take before they earn user trust. I for one am still not ready to sign up yet.
The bad news about Facebook's Beacon program, user tracking, and privacy concerns just keeps piling up. Now Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook are under fire from consumers, journalists, activist and advocacy groups, and even its own advertising partners.
Today's biggest revelation, reported by PC World, is that "Facebook has confirmed findings of a CA security researcher [Stefan Berteau] that the social-networking site's Beacon ad service is more intrusive and stealthy than previously acknowledged, an admission that contradicts statements made previously by Facebook executives and representatives," including email correspondence between Berteau and Facebook's privacy department, as well as statements made by Facebook vice president Chamath Palihapitiya to The New York Times.
Facebook confirmed Stefan Berteau's specific allegation that Beacon tracks the off-Facebook activties of members even when they are logged out of the social-networking site.
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