Posted on 09/30/2011 5:20:57 AM PDT by Do Not Make Fun Of His Ears
Facebook’s use of software that enables it to track users’ online activity after they log off of the social-networking site came under scrutiny in Washington this week, with lawmakers and consumer advocacy groups demanding a federal investigation.
In a letter to the Federal Trade Commission, Reps. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Joe Barton (R-Tex.) wrote that Facebook’s use of “cookie” software should be investigated under the “unfair and deceptive acts” clause of the agency’s mandate.
“When people log out of Facebook, they are under the expectation that Facebook is no longer monitoring their activities,” wrote the congressmen, who chair the bipartisan Congressional Privacy Caucus. “We believe this impression should be the reality.”
On Thursday, the Electronic Privacy Information Center and nine other consumer and privacy groups made a similar request, voicing concerns about whether the company’s privacy policies cover new Facebook features that highlight user information on profiles and put real-time activity in the spotlight.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
I don’t know. I think the nefarious stuff they do IS the golden egg. They make money off of the information they collect. If they didn’t collect it, they’d be no better at selling ads than any other website.
Any government ‘cure’ will be worse than the disease.
See also: Net Neutrality.
The end user is king. Facebook is breaking the cardinal sin of software. Not listening to your end users.
As far as EPIC goes? I’ve been getting their emails for years. Outfits like EPIC, nonprofits that employ lawyers to do nothing but litigate their own ideas of right and wrong, should not exist. Why we in America allow people to donate tax deductible dollars to a so-called non-profit that has as its goal the destruction of business is insanity. Why we don’t tax some of these groups, including those like Judicial Watch who has taken in over $100 million dollars is even more insane!
Yes, that IS the golden egg.
But by “killing the goose” I mean they are getting so greedy they are hacking people off, Facebook is getting a bad name, and people are ripe to close their accounts...thereby “killing the goose that laid the golden egg.”
If they were a little less greedy, they could potentially do better for themselves in the long run.
You make a good point.
You said it. Go to the Facebook Blog, read the complaints that are almost universal, and the silence from Facebook is deafening.
Unless they are manufacturing and selling a product or providing a service, most Internet entities rely solely on advertising for revenue. By having millions of users at their disposal, they can gather data, tailor advertisements based on preferences, et voila! Instant cash.
They don’t care about the user, they care about their shareholders. Welcome to capitalism.
>>They don’t care about the user, they care about their shareholders. Welcome to capitalism.<<
Is that a slam on capitalism?
Your model is WAYYYYY too simplistic.
The way a business takes care of its shareholders is to please (and not abuse) its users. Otherwise the users leave, the business fails, and the shareholders lose.
But it does seem that this is exactly what Facebook is doing, getting greedy to the point of abusing their users. I think it will cost them in the long run.
Not a dig on capitalism at all! As a matter of fact, the corollary to my example is this: I can choose with whom I do business. I choose not to do business with Facebook, and as such, I am not affected by their shady morality.
My model is simple, yes, but there are plenty of corporations out there who truly do take advantage of their customers.
Facebook is a gov’t acknowledged security risk.
Not just to ID theft, but to computer takeover.
Wanna think about others using your desktop as “their server”?
I think more and more Facebook users are beginning to realize that they are not the end user, they and information about them are the product that is for sale.
I guess. I haven’t seen their numbers lately. I’m guessing they are still pretty good.
>>I guess. I haven’t seen their numbers lately. I’m guessing they are still pretty good.<<
So were MySpace’s at one time.
My point is the article itself, not my comment. If I’d known THAT would be the focus, I would have left it off completely. :-/
FB is one giant marketing questionnaire on the guise of you being able to stay in touch with loved ones. It has all your personal information, your educational background,the places you go to shop, eat etc and it's all updated in real time. They then sell it to corporations so they can suck you into buying their products. Brilliant! That's why I don't add anything to it. I just lurk.
It looks like they weren’t satisfied with us voluntary giving up information about ourselves, looks like they wanted more and took it in a more sinister way.
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