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Filed under: Internet, Security, Mozilla, Browsers

Firefox addon blocks Facebook Beacon requests


Facebook has received plenty of criticism for its Beacon service. If you aren't familiar with Beacon, it allows Facebook to receive information from partner sites that can be used a couple of ways. First, it lets you share your activities on other website with your Facebook friends. Second, it allows Facebook to keeps tabs on you and generate a robust targeted advertising profile.

Not too excited about that? If you're a Firefox user, you might want to install the Facebook Beacon Blocker addon. It does what it says, and it's probably the simplest option available. It's currently experimental, so you'll need to log in to the addons site to install it.

There are other ways to do this - like blacklisting with the Block Site addon or your own proxy server, or, as suggested by gHacks, blocking facebook.com with NoScript.

[ via gHacks ]

Filed under: Business, Internet, Web services, Social Software, web 2.0

Facebook shifts advertising privacy policy

Facebook BeaconEver since Facebook announced its advertising platform earlier this month, people have been wondering if the service isn't a bit of an invasion of privacy.

Now it looks like Facebook has backtracked a bit after hearing complaints from users. The response makes sense. It's hard to capitalize on your huge popularity as a social network to launch an advertising platform if the users are threatening to leave. And more than 50,000 Facebook members have signed a petition complaining about Facebook Beacon.

In a nutshell, Beacon lets Facebook send messages to users letting them know that their friends bought concert or movie tickets or other goods online. Current Facebook members are already probably sick of receiving messages letting them know when a friend signs up for any new Facebook application, whether it be Scrabulous or a Zombie tag game. But once you start reporting people's buying habits, well, that's kind of crossing a line, isn't it?

The petition asked for the right to opt-out of the program easily. Yesterday Facebook responded by saying Beacon would become an opt-in program. Each time Facebook wants to send out a Beacon message, the service will ask users for permission first.

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