Facebook founder apology over ads

**MIG-31** · Dec 6, 2007, 11:48 AM

Source: BBC News
______________
The founder of social networking site Facebook Mark Zuckerberg has apologised to users for the way it launched a social advertising system. Called Beacon, the system tracks web shopping on partner sites outside Facebook and then sells adverts to the social network based on purchases. After complaints the site was invading privacy, Facebook changed Beacon from an opt-out system to opt in.

mkk · Dec 6, 2007, 12:54 PM

I'm not in the loop on the facebook community but shouldn't more people be running away from it than people joining by now?

YAYitsAndrew · Dec 6, 2007, 01:24 PM

This feature is really blown out of proportion. I went to the opt-out page yesterday to exclude myself, and it told me that Beacon's never collected any data on me. I go to facebook multiple times a day and I'm certainly on the internet all day due to the nature of my job.

It's just really easy to spin this feature as being really bad, so all the media sites are jumping on free pageviews by talking about it since facebook is so hot.

The site is still amazing and it isn't going anywhere or declining in popularity until a suitable replacement comes along.

Mark Zuckerberg is so arrogant, this must have been really hard for him to apologize when the accusations are from people who aren't seeing straight.

Zelig · Dec 6, 2007, 03:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by YAYitsAndrew

The site is still amazing and it isn't going anywhere or declining in popularity until a suitable replacement comes along.

Honestly, I feel almost every change they've done since opening up to non-university students has been for the worse.

I have mine setup to not display any applications on profiles, and to automatically block any application invites I get (which should both be features available through facebook), and it's still more annoying to browse than it was in the past.

YAYitsAndrew · Dec 6, 2007, 10:02 PM

I'll agree with you that we don't have enough control over applications (oh look, the feature that makes FB money is hard to disable) and that's my only criticism.

Oh, also since my name begins with A, I get invites from EVERYONE when they spam their friends over an app. I have close to 300 fb friends so I've learned to ignore them, but damn is my list of invitations long and in the way.

Zelig · Dec 6, 2007, 11:47 PM

Mind Mining Medium » Automatically Block Facebook Applications
Mind Mining Medium » Facebook Profile Cleaner

Check those out to control applications, if you're interested. They work in Firefox or Opera.

My blocked application list is well over 100 since I started using that.

YAYitsAndrew · Dec 7, 2007, 12:09 AM

Looks pretty cool. I haven't used or played around with greasemonkey though, gonna have to look into that first. I'm not too keen on browser plugins (which is one of the reasons I use opera in the first place).

I do have some inspiration though. Here's my list, last cleaned at the end of October...

Zelig · Dec 7, 2007, 12:18 AM

No need for plugins with Opera, like it explains here, you can just copy the Greasemonkey script into a folder, and set that folder as the Opera user javascript folder.

Autoblocked stuff for me:

Dec 6, 2007, 11:48 AM	#1
MIG-31 HardwareHeaven News Mod Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Nottingham,UK Posts: 56,854 Rep Power: 471 System Specs	Facebook founder apology over ads Source: BBC News ______________ The founder of social networking site Facebook Mark Zuckerberg has apologised to users for the way it launched a social advertising system. Called Beacon, the system tracks web shopping on partner sites outside Facebook and then sells adverts to the social network based on purchases. After complaints the site was invading privacy, Facebook changed Beacon from an opt-out system to opt in. __________________ Please Post Your News Submissions Here

Dec 6, 2007, 01:24 PM	#3
YAYitsAndrew Anti-Piracy Poster Boy Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: NJ Posts: 2,605 Rep Power: 79 System Specs	This feature is really blown out of proportion. I went to the opt-out page yesterday to exclude myself, and it told me that Beacon's never collected any data on me. I go to facebook multiple times a day and I'm certainly on the internet all day due to the nature of my job. It's just really easy to spin this feature as being really bad, so all the media sites are jumping on free pageviews by talking about it since facebook is so hot. The site is still amazing and it isn't going anywhere or declining in popularity until a suitable replacement comes along. Mark Zuckerberg is so arrogant, this must have been really hard for him to apologize when the accusations are from people who aren't seeing straight. __________________ "It is because the resistance to paying for copyrighted material, although often characterized as arising from a supposed technical burden or principled concern for the public interest, arises rather from exactly the same segment of the brain that is dominant in shoplifters." - Mark Helprin, Digital Barbarism In other words, it's never okay to steal even if you think you have a good reason! www.yayitsandrew.com

Dec 6, 2007, 10:02 PM	#5
YAYitsAndrew Anti-Piracy Poster Boy Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: NJ Posts: 2,605 Rep Power: 79 System Specs	I'll agree with you that we don't have enough control over applications (oh look, the feature that makes FB money is hard to disable) and that's my only criticism. Oh, also since my name begins with A, I get invites from EVERYONE when they spam their friends over an app. I have close to 300 fb friends so I've learned to ignore them, but damn is my list of invitations long and in the way. __________________ "It is because the resistance to paying for copyrighted material, although often characterized as arising from a supposed technical burden or principled concern for the public interest, arises rather from exactly the same segment of the brain that is dominant in shoplifters." - Mark Helprin, Digital Barbarism In other words, it's never okay to steal even if you think you have a good reason! www.yayitsandrew.com

Dec 6, 2007, 11:47 PM	#6
Zelig HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Canada Posts: 3,187 Rep Power: 71 System Specs	Mind Mining Medium » Automatically Block Facebook Applications Mind Mining Medium » Facebook Profile Cleaner Check those out to control applications, if you're interested. They work in Firefox or Opera. My blocked application list is well over 100 since I started using that. __________________ --

Dec 7, 2007, 12:09 AM	#7
YAYitsAndrew Anti-Piracy Poster Boy Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: NJ Posts: 2,605 Rep Power: 79 System Specs	Looks pretty cool. I haven't used or played around with greasemonkey though, gonna have to look into that first. I'm not too keen on browser plugins (which is one of the reasons I use opera in the first place). I do have some inspiration though. Here's my list, last cleaned at the end of October... __________________ "It is because the resistance to paying for copyrighted material, although often characterized as arising from a supposed technical burden or principled concern for the public interest, arises rather from exactly the same segment of the brain that is dominant in shoplifters." - Mark Helprin, Digital Barbarism In other words, it's never okay to steal even if you think you have a good reason! www.yayitsandrew.com

Dec 6, 2007, 12:54 PM	#2
mkk Cthulhu/Dagon 2012 Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Gefle, Sweden Posts: 4,495 Rep Power: 132 System Specs	I'm not in the loop on the facebook community but shouldn't more people be running away from it than people joining by now?

Dec 7, 2007, 12:18 AM	#8
Zelig HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Canada Posts: 3,187 Rep Power: 71 System Specs	No need for plugins with Opera, like it explains here, you can just copy the Greasemonkey script into a folder, and set that folder as the Opera user javascript folder. Autoblocked stuff for me: __________________ --