Facebook adjusts ad platform after privacy protest
AFP
Saturday, December 01, 2007 2:53:00 PM Oman Time
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SAN FRANCISCO -- Facebook has changed its three-week-old
advertising platform to soothe members outraged by what they saw as an assault
on their privacy at the popular social networking website.
Facebook said Friday that members will only be fodder for the
ad platform, referred to as Beacon, if they "opt-in" as opposed to the original
format that automatically included them unless they took the effort to
"opt-out."
Beacon lets "partners" track Facebook members' visits to
their websites and relay messages letting users' friends in the social
networking community know what they bought in a tactic referred to as "trusted
referral" advertising.
"I saw my (girlfriend) bought an item I had been saying I
wanted ... so now part of my Christmas gift has been ruined," Matthew Helfgott
wrote in a posting in an online forum lambasting Facebook's advertising system.
"Facebook is ruining Christmas!"
Internet civic and political action group Moveon.org said
that 55,000 of Facebook's 50 million members have electronically signed a
petition titled "Facebook: Stop invading my privacy."
The petition calls for Facebook not to spread word of what
members buy to their friends without explicit permission. "We appreciate
feedback from all Facebook users and made some changes to Beacon," the Northern
California-based firm said in a written release.
Facebook members now get a notification asking them to click
on an "OK" icon if they want stories about their activities at advertisers'
websites to be sent to friends via automated news feeds.
If members do nothing with the notices, no stories are sent,
according to Facebook, which acts as intermediary between advertisers and
members. Facebook is adamant it does not share users' data with advertisers.
"Sites like Facebook are revolutionizing how we communicate
with each other and organize around issues together in a 21st century
democracy," said Moveon.org Civic Action spokesman Adam Green.
"Will corporate advertisers get to write the rules of the
Internet or will these new social networks protect our basic rights, like
privacy? We hope Facebook's decision sets an important precedent for Internet
user's rights."
Facebook launched Beacon in early November in a move awaited
by analysts wondering how Facebook will cash in on its booming popularity and
capitalize on its ad-delivery alliance with US technology giant Microsoft.
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