HERE WE GO AGAIN
The privacy concerns and controversy over Facebook's Beacon program, continue to dominate Techmeme this Thanksgiving day. The issue is whether Facebook should provide a blanket opt-out option to it's 45 million plus users. Beacon as a reminder, is a feature tracks a user's activity outside of Facebook on third-party sites, and shares it with the user's universe of friends and family.
As Read/Write web clearly shows us, Facebook did have a blanket opt-out capability in the early version of Beacon, but apparently took it out at launch.
While the majority of Facebook's users don't seem to be concerned by this privacy issue, Facebook should take a cue from it's other brush over privacy concerns last year (over the original mini-feed feature), and pro-actively address this as soon as possible. Just as they did last year, led by Mark Zuckerberg.
Being of a later generation than a good number of Facebook users, I'm one who would very much appreciate a blanket opt-out feature. I'm already considering dramatically throttling down my Facebook usage as a result of Beacon and other "features" like it.
And while they're at it, I wish Facebook would also offer a blanket opt-out capability for EVERY application I install within Facebook, so that it doesn't report my usage of that application in my mini-feed.
As it stands now, I have to uncheck that box every time I install a new, third-party application.
Facebook is so very close to becoming a universal way for mainstream users to maintain their personal point of interaction with others on the web, via their Facebook page.
They should really provide full transparency and opt-out capabilities to every user, regardless of how concerned they may or may not be via a web petition like that championed by Moveon.org.
Facebook needs to decide once and for all whether users should have COMPLETE, 100% control of the privacy features of their Facebook presence.
Otherwise, they're just another commercial web-site, large or small, out to make a buck from the activity of it's users. Not that making a buck like that is a bad thing as long as most users aren't bothered about it.
But it doesn't allow Facebook to uniquely be what it can be for mainstream users on the web. A safe, personal point on the web for their identity to interact with the world at large on their terms.
It's the right thing to do for the business long-term.
Let's not have a Facebook firestorm version 3.0 on another issue same time next year.
In the meantime, here are instructions on how to block Beacon on Firefox.
http://www.bspcn.com/2007/11/09/
block-facebook-beacon/
Posted by: Alex Tolley | Friday, November 23, 2007 at 10:30 AM