Commentary
Facebook Presses Problematic Plan To Share Data With Third Parties
- by Wendy Davis , Staff Writer @wendyndavis, April 6, 2010
"In sum, the core idea behind this test is to work with partners to enable them to present you with a better, more relevant, and tailored experience when you visit their sites," he gushes. "While we have not finalized these features or partnerships, we think this is an exciting opportunity to make surfing the web a smoother and more engaging experience for people who use Facebook."
Schnitt stresses that the third-party sites "will be pre-selected, reviewed, and bound by contracts with Facebook" and that they will allow users to opt out of the program.
But his post doesn't address a critical question: If this program is going to be so beneficial to users, why not launch it on an opt-in basis?
Currently, many publishers already allow users to sign in and personalize their experience. People who haven't done so don't want to. For Facebook to say that people can opt out ignores the reality that many people don't realize that they're sharing information until after the fact. After all, Beacon also was launched on an opt-out basis, but people still were stunned to see news of their e-commerce activity shared on Facebook because they didn't pay any attention to the opt-out boxes (some of which were only visible for a few seconds).
Facebook says that users will be able to delete any information collected by the third-party sites but, again, it's not clear that people will realize their data is being collected and used without their explicit permission until long after the fact.
This decision to automatically log people into third-party sites seems to violate every expectation people have about how the Web works. Oddly, Facebook is pressing the issue at a time when the Federal Trade Commission has made clear that it's concerned about whether the site violates users' privacy.
Whether the FTC plans to take action remains unknown. But Facebook's never-ending attempts to share information about users certainly doesn't help it demonstrate that it can protect people's privacy on its own.
Wendy Davis is a Senior Writer at MediaPost. You can reach Wendy at wdavis@mediapost.com
I don't like this AT ALL. I'm sure it's their way of bringing in revenue since they don't charge for most members; but that is way too invasive of my privacy.
This era in history is a transitional one. If there is a future years later, we will be blamed for the beginning of allowing others both business and government which will be integrated based on business wealthy patriots to control all we think and do for their security and power playing on our fears.
I was advised to sign on to Facebook by well-meaning individuals who were innocent of this tactic, and I have since closed my account for the site's idea and data-sharing efforts. I like my privacy, and I'll kick any site to the curb which violates it; I don't care how hyped it is for marketing purposes. I used to shred advertising mailers because I did not like getting spammed by mail. Facebook has turned itself into a giant advertising machine, which is NOT what it was designed for.
It seems very clear that Facebook will push the FTC to regulate and no one will likely be happy with the end results.