eric rochow

I had heard about Facebook’s Beacon project, but I did not realize it was an opt-out rather than opt-in program, and now people are discovering their web purchases outside of Facebook are being broadcast to their friends.

Sometimes I read about what a company is doing and I think: OK, what made you think people would blindly go along with this?

I’m going to keep my Facebook page, but opt-out of their program.

Business Week has a good article on it

“I feel duped,” says Frank Kruller, a Facebook member for seven months. “If I wanted to share something with my friends I’m pretty sure I could tell them myself

… many Facebook users insist that they, not marketers, should set the terms of how, and how much of, their information is shared for advertising purposes. Some threatened to move to other social networks or start their own blogs if Facebook takes that decision out of their hands. “I will set up my own blog,” says Flaschen. “It is a little less convenient, but if [Facebook] can’t understand the privacy implications of what they are doing then it’s not worth it.”