Facebook admits Beacon tracks logged-off users - Network World

Skip Links

DNSstuff.com
Get information about your IP
IP Information
50+ On-demand DNS and network tools

Security

Videos

rssRss Feed
Get instant email notification when white papers, webcasts, executive guides are added to our library.  Stay informed and up-to-date with the latest on IT Technologies with Network World's Resource Alerts.
Audio

Hacker writes Cisco rootkit; Microsoft launches online telescope. Listen now!

Network World 360

Wireless dangers at airports. Listen now!

Network World Panorama

Additional Resources

RSS

FEATURED WHITEPAPERS

Edison Group TCO White Paper HP

Edison analysts put the management software of an HP EVA system through a series of typical day-to-day storage management tasks. The same tasks were also evaluated on similar systems from NetApp and EMC. This study demonstrates how the superior user interface and virtualization offered by the HP EVA storage system can provide organizations with the benefits of higher administrative efficiency combined with the potential ability to utilize less expensive human resources.

RSS

FEATURED REPORTS

Executive Guide: Storage Heats Up HP

Get the latest on storage technologies that allow IT professionals to better cope with new IT demands. Learn how storage technologies can help you successfully tackle e-Discover, regulatory compliance, green data center initiatives and the data explosion. Get all the details now.

IT Buyer's Guides

View All Buyer's Guides

Free Newsletters

Sign up and receive the latest news, reviews and trends on your favorite technology topics

Save The Date!
What They Are Saying

The 3G Punch? There have been good 3G phones out for months and months and years.- Anonymous

Join the Discussion

Facebook admits Beacon tracks logged-off users

By Juan Carlos Perez , IDG News Service , 12/03/2007
  • Social Web 
  • Email 
  • Feedback 
  • Close

Facebook has confirmed findings of a CA security researcher that the social-networking site's Beacon ad service is more intrusive and stealthy than previously acknowledged, an admission that contradicts statements made previously by Facebook executives and representatives.

Facebook's controversial Beacon ad system tracks users' off-Facebook activities even if those users are logged off from the social-networking site and have previously declined having their activities on specific external sites broadcast to their Facebook friends, a company spokesman said via e-mail over the weekend.

Although according to the spokesman Facebook does nothing with the data transmitted back to its servers in these cases and deletes it, the admission will probably fan the flames of the controversy engulfing Beacon, which has been criticized by privacy advocates.

The Facebook spokesman did not initially reply to a request for further explanation on how the Beacon action gets triggered if a user is logged off from Facebook, when the social-networking site's ability to track its users' activities should be inactive.

It's also unclear whether Facebook plans to modify Beacon so it doesn't track and report on the off-Facebook activities of logged-off users.

Beacon is a major part of the Facebook Ads platform that Facebook introduced with much fanfare several weeks ago. Beacon tracks certain activities of Facebook users on more than 40 participating Web sites, including those of Blockbuster and Fandango, and reports those activities to the users' set of Facebook friends, unless told not to do so.

Off-Facebook activities that can be broadcast to one's Facebook friends include purchasing a product, signing up for a service and including an item on a wish list.

The program has been blasted by groups such as MoveOn.org and by individual users who have unwittingly broadcast information about recent purchases and other Web activities to their Facebook friends. This has led to some embarrassing situations, such as blowing the surprise of holiday presents.

1 | 2 |  Next >
Comment
Login
Forgot your account info?
Add comment
Anonymous comments subject to moderator approval. Register here for member benefits.
Have a NetworkWorld account? Log in here. Register now for a free account.
First Name
Last Name
E-mail
Zip Code