Chan's Personal Blog

Here's a demo of Facebook Beacon Ads.

If a Facebook user who is logged into their Facebook account purchases movie tickets on Fandango, for example, a small box will appear on the bottom of the purchase confirmation page that says "Fandango is sending this to your Facebook profile." Users can opt out by clicking a box that says "No Thanks," but if nothing is done, the box will eventually disappear, and the information is sent to Facebook. When that user clicks over to Facebook, they will receive another note that says "Fandango is sending a story to your profile." There is also the option to click a box below that note that says "Don't show me this again."

MoveOn claims that the notices on the purchase page and Facebook are placed in such a way that the average consumer will probably miss them. "If you don't see those two boxes, you 'agree' to have your private information made public for hundreds, or thousands of Facebook 'friends' to see." [...]

Facebook has not clearly communicated how Beacon works, and its opt-out functions are exhaustive and poorly labeled, MoveOn said. The group is encouraging users to sign a petition that says Facebook "should not tell my friends what I buy on other sites – or let companies use my name to endorse their products – without my explicit permission."

"A lot of us love Facebook—but they need to take privacy seriously," MoveOn said in a Facebook group it titled "Petition: Facebook, stop invading my privacy!"

"Facebook says its users can 'opt out' of having their private purchases reported to all their friends. But that option is easily missed," according to MoveOn. "And even if you do 'opt out' for purchases on one site, it doesn't apply to purchases on another site—you have to keep opting out over and over again."

MoveOn called for Facebook to institute an "opt in" policy for Beacon.