[298] in Privacy_Forum
[ PRIVACY Forum ] Facebook to Users: "We Own You, Suckers!"
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (privacy@vortex.com)
Thu Nov 29 22:23:48 2007
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Date: Thu, 29 Nov 2007 18:38:38 -0800
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Facebook to Users: "We Own You, Suckers!"
http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000332.html
Greetings. The reaction of Facebook to growing protests by its
users over the privacy-invasive implementation of user purchase
tracking and promoting for its "Beacon" system, is rapidly becoming
a textbook example of how easily arrogance can consume the friendly
face of major online services
( http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/30/technology/30face.htm ).
When I was first asked for an opinion about Beacon when all details
were not yet known, I suggested that it was getting into a touchy
area, but that there were ways to handle the system details that
could help minimize and mitigate such concerns. Unfortunately,
Facebook has chosen a different path, and in the process is telling
us more about the mentality of its leadership than a thousand press
releases might have revealed.
We can leave aside all the cat-and-mouse details about how long an
opt-out box appears, how big it is, or where on a page the box is
located. It's obvious to anyone with half a brain and even a modicum
of concern about privacy that such a feature, while really needing
to be opt-in, should at an absolute bare minimum have a simple and
universal opt-out capability. The privacy risks in Beacon as
currently implemented are anything but trivial. It's easy to
visualize scenarios under which the accidental release of purchase
information could have serious repercussions indeed.
By greatly increasing the probability that users' purchases will be
revealed unintentionally to third parties, Facebook's Beacon system
dives deeply into the anti-privacy cesspool, in a manner that far
exceeds potential problems with conventional Web site transactional
tracking for internal use.
And by refusing to provide a simple "global" opt-out function, and
then taking such an arrogant stance toward its community by
belittling legitimate privacy concerns, Facebook and various
advertising execs have demonstrated their sense of ownership over
users, their belief that the old adage proclaiming "the customer is
always right" has been turned on its head -- into a warped nightmare
of consumers valued merely as fungible commodities to be fattened
and treated like lambs for slaughter.
Luckily for its users, Facebook has some effective competitors, who
we can hope will learn some important preemptive lessons from
Facebook's current fiasco.
Perhaps it's time for Facebook aficionados to start voting with
their feet -- or rather with their mice -- and show Facebook the
virtual door. Don't worry too much about hurting their feelings.
They'd likely give you the boot in short order if positions were
reversed.
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren@vortex.com or lauren@pfir.org
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
http://www.pfir.org/lauren
Co-Founder, PFIR
- People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, NNSquad
- Network Neutrality Squad - http://www.nnsquad.org
Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
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