Skip to Content

Free TUAW iPhone app -- try it now!
AOL Tech

facebook-beacon posts

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.

Featured Time Waster

Graveyard Shift - zombie-busting Time Waster

With Halloween fast approaching, it's a great time to get in some practice defending your territory against zombies. In Graveyard Shift, you take aim at zombies and other creepy-crawlies, blasting them into splatters of cartoony green guts. It's a casual first-person shooter, and it's very easy to get the hang of - use the mouse to aim, click to fire. Graveyard Shift has at least 15 levels, and it might even have some secret stages I haven't unlocked yet. They key to getting good at Graveyard Shift is learning to use ...

View more Time Wasters

Featured Galleries

Defective by Design, London: Protest Pictures
Microsoft Security Essentials
Chromium Pre-Alpha on CrunchBang Linux
Safari 4 Beta
10 Firefox themes that don't suck
IE8 RC1
Download Squad at the Crunchies After-Party
Download Squad at the Crunchies
WordPress 2.7
Cooking Mama: Mama Kills Animals
Windows 7 Hands On
Comodo Internet Security
Android First-look: Amazon.com MP3 Store
Android First-look: Twitroid
Google Reader Android
Android Hands-On
Twine 1.0
Photoshop Express Beta
Mozilla Birthday Cake
Palm stuff
Adobe Lightroom 1.1

 


Follow us on Twitter!

Flickr Pool

www.flickr.com

More Tech Coverage

AOL Radio