Angry Facebook users rebel at privacy invasion
p2pnet news | Freedom:- at the beginning of the month, ‘Facebook privacy invasion’ was the headlkine to a story on Facebook’s latest effort to milk its users dry.
Now, “Facebook, stop invading my privacy!” – says a new Facebook group that’s sprung up since founder Mark Zuckerberg and cronies decided constantly spying on users as they cruise the Net was a good idea, advertising-wise.
But the users – some of them, at least – don’t agree.
“Facebook plans to give advertisers carte blanche to specifically target users based on what they and their friends buy and do online, and where they go,” p2pnet posted, going on:
“That looks like a tall order, but if Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his friends have their way, it won’t be a problem because advertisers will be able to literally track Facebook denizens as they move around online, leaving a tasty, and highly exploitable, trail of personal data as they go.”
No worries, right? After all, ‘consumers’ are just mindless cash cows to be herded around in any way the money hungry corporations deem necessary to enhance their already swollen bottom lines.
But maybe not.
‘Huge invasion of privacy’
Says a post on the new Facebook group:
“Matt in New York already knows what his girlfriend got him for Christmas,” says a post on a new Facebook group, going on:
Why? Because a new Facebook feature automatically shares books, movies, or gifts you buy online with everyone you know on Facebook. Without your consent, it pops up in your News Feed–a huge invasion of privacy.
CAN YOU SIGN THE PETITION TO FACEBOOK TODAY? THEN INVITE FRIENDS TO THIS GROUP!
Petition: “Facebook must respect my privacy. They should not tell my friends what I buy on other sites – or let companies use my name to endorse their products – without my explicit permission.”
Sign here: http://civ.moveon.org/facebookprivacy/?rc=fb_privacy
Nor is Facebook alone.
MySpace is rabidly hyping a so-called “SelfServe” advertising platform under which advertisers help themselves to your personal and private information.
Its ‘HyperTargeting’ advertising platform provides ‘customized tools’ so advertisers can, ‘upload their own ads and select the types of users they want to see them based on geographic, demographic and user interest criteria’.”
Meanwhile, the mainstream media are being to wake up to the idea that users aren’t asleep.
“Facebook and MySpace are already drawing complaints from advocacy organizations Center for Digital Democracy and the U.S. Public Interest Research Groups, which today will protest the sites’ marketing plans to the FTC,” says MediaPost.
Both groups will complain to Federal Trade Commission Chair Deborah Platt Majoras, “about new offerings for marketers unveiled last week, including Facebook’s plan to allow marketers to use members as brand endorsers, and MySpace’s expanded behavioral targeting program, which lets marketers target members based on information in their profiles,” says the story.
And some Facebook users say they hadn’t noticed the small box which, “appears on a corner of their Web browsers following transactions at Fandango, Overstock and other online retailers,” says Associated Press.
“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.”
Back at the new Facebook group, “tell your friends,” says the post, adding:
Facebook encourages companies to get “word-of-mouth promotion for your business” to “millions” by using the new Beacon feature that makes this happen. But the rights of Facebook users get left behind.
Facebook says its users can “opt out” of having their private purchases reported to all their friends. But that option is easily missed. And even if you do “opt out” for purchases on one site, it doesn’t apply to purchases on another site—you have to keep opting out over and over again. The obvious solution is to switch to an “opt in” policy, like most other applications on Facebook.
In 2006, when Facebook users protested policies that violated privacy, Facebook’s founder admitted, “We really messed this one up…we didn’t build in the proper privacy controls right away.” The problem got fixed. (Link below.)
SEND A SIGNAL TO FACEBOOK TODAY BY SIGNING THE PETITION! Then tell your friends about this group. The petition is here:
Definitely stay tuned, especially if you’re a member of either or both venal social networking sites.
Also See:
milk its users dry – Facebook privacy invasion, November 7, 2007
“SelfServe” – MySpace: zeroing in on YOU, November 5, 2007
MediaPost – New Facebook, MySpace Ad Programs Prompt FTC Complaint, November 12, 2007
Associated Press – Facebook Users Complain of New Tracking, November 20, 2007
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November 22nd, 2007 at 8:02 pm
You won’t find me on Facebook nor on Myspace. I’ve never been to either and don’t plan on it. Between warnings of checking your activities online at both places by future potential and present employers as well as anyone seeking info on you or the seeking of pedophiles by legal stings and other means, I don’t want my nick or name to even show up there. Add to it that anytime you have a mass of people in anyone place, there are the hackers and malware purveyors seeking access to your computer and it isn’t long before site hosts start seeing dollar bills in their eyes from the advertisers.
I do so hate the intrustive ads. In fact, I hate most ads and take active steps to ensure my browsing is as ad free as I can manage to make it. While I understand the purpose of advertising, I’ll stick with word of mouth instead of what I might be exposed to. Anytime I see an ad, I sort of think there is something wrong with the product because they are having to toot their own horn instead of letting their product’s quality speak for itself.
I reward those that manage to break into my privacy when I go to the store. One of the things I consider before taking any product off the shelf, is what do I know of the maker of this product and have they been part of an intrusive ad? If the answer is yes, then I look for another product that probably works better and doesn’t have the advertising campaign added to the total price of the product. That advertising cost does nothing to add to the preformance of the item except raise the price. Why should I pay for their having to tell everyone because the product isn’t as good?
The other end of this advertising is that they want your data for free to target you. They don’t mind stealing your resources, stealing your time with bs, your privacy, and the majority of the time, they won’t even tell you up front without burying in legalese so that it is difficult to find even actually read it. As far as I am concerned advertising is just like spam, a pest industry.
November 23rd, 2007 at 10:14 am
I call shenanigans: there’s no way having an account on Facebook can somehow make public your purchases on Amazon. Give me a break.