• PC World, Wednesday, December 12, 2007 10:45 AM

Facebook's Beacon advertising program has drawn the ire of analysts, columnists, bloggers, advertisers and its own users. Despite such widespread criticism, Beacon's ad partners have remained surprisingly mum on the issue. Which probably means they're betting the controversy will simply go away. Or maybe they feel the onus is on Facebook for giving them access to so much user data. After all, advertisers always take what they can get, right?

They may not be able to dodge the issue so easily. Their lack of comment is in striking contrast to Beacon's media news blast one month ago, when many came out in vocal support of the "revolutionary" peer recommendation program. More than 30 companies, including Blockbuster, Sony Overstock.com, STA Travel, eBay, The New York Times Co. and IAC, have implemented Beacon on their Web sites -- 44 in total.

When grilled by the press, companies were asked: If they implemented the program, what actions do they track; has the controversy changed things? If so, are they comfortable with the program's extensive tracking? and do they alert users that their actions are transmitted back to Facebook. Most did not respond, those that did expressed anything from "cautious optimism to open disappointment."

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