Facebook users complain of new tracking
By Anick Jesdanun and Rachel Metz
Red Orbit
November 21, 2007
NEW YORK - Some users of the online hangout Facebook are
complaining that its two-week-old marketing program is
publicizing their purchases for friends to see.
Those users say they never noticed a small box that
appears on a corner of their Web browsers following
transactions at Fandango, Overstock and other online
retailers. 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.
"People should be given much more of a notice, much more
of an alert," said Matthew Helfgott, 20, a college
student who discovered his girlfriend just bought him
black leather gloves from Overstock for Hanukkah. "She
said she had no idea (information would be shared). She
said it invaded her privacy."
The girlfriend was declining interviews, Helfgott said.
An Overstock.com Inc. spokesman said no one was
immediately available for comment Wednesday.
Facebook has long prided itself on guarding its users'
privacy, but the walls have gradually lowered. In 2006,
a "news feeds" feature allowing users to track changes
friends make to profiles backfired when many users
denounced it as stalking and threatened protests.
Facebook quickly apologized and agreed to let users turn
off the feature.
The new program lets companies tap ongoing conversations
by alerting users about friends' activities through the
feeds. About 40 Web sites have decided to embed a free
tool from Facebook, known as a Beacon, to enable the
marketing feeds.
The idea is that if users see a friend buy or do
something, they'd take that action as an endorsement for
a movie, a band or a soft drink.
But it also raises privacy concerns.
Mike Mayer, for instance, saw a feed item saying his
boyfriend, Adam Sofen, just bought tickets to "No
Country For Old Man" from movie-ticket vendor Fandango.
"What if I was seeing `Fred Claus'?" said Sofen, 28.
"That would have been much more embarrassing. At least
this was a prestigious movie."
In some cases, companies can buy an ad next to the feed
item with the friend's photo. Although Fandango didn't
do that, Mayer, 28, still found Beacon unsettling.
"If my identity is going to be used to promote something
for someone else, that seems problematic," said Mayer,
who was previously employed in online advertising. "It
could be a misrepresentation of my purchases."
Fandango officials referred inquiries to Facebook, which
issued a statement defending its practices. Facebook
officials have also said advertising supports the free
service.
"Beacon gives users an easy way to share relevant
information from other sites with their friends on
Facebook," the statement said. "Information is shared
with a small selection of a user's trusted network of
friends, not publicly on the Web or with all Facebook
users. Users also are given multiple ways to choose not
to share information from a participating site, both on
that site and on Facebook."
Users are able to decline sharing on a site-by-site
basis, but can't withdraw from the program entirely.
On Wednesday, Facebook launched a mechanism for users to
indicate what types of news feeds they like and dislike.
Individuals could possibly use that to lower the
frequency of marketing items, though the company has
said they won't be able to reject them completely.
Liberal advocacy group MoveOn.org formed a protest group
Tuesday and had more than 6,000 members by Wednesday.
The group is calling on Facebook to stop revealing
online purchases and letting companies use names for
endorsements without "explicit permission."
"We want Facebook to realize that their users are
rightly concerned that private information is being made
public," MoveOn spokesman Adam Green said, adding that
Facebook could quell concerns by seeking "opt in"
consent rather than leaving it to users to "opt out" by
taking steps to decline sharing.
Facebook user Nate Weiner, 23, said he uses a tool for
the Firefox Web browser called BlockSite, which he says
prevents sites from sending data to Facebook.
"What if you bought a book on Amazon called 'Coping with
AIDS' and that got published to every single one of your
friends?" he said.