I’ve been increasingly irritated with the noise-to-signal ration Facebook creates in my life. I definitely had the “I just threw up in the back of my mouth a little” feeling during the Web 2.0 Summit Zuckerberg love-fest. And now there’s increasing evidence that Facebook Beacon, their ill-considered advertising engine (or is it their privacy invasion engine?) is potentially a new vector for so-called affiliate marketers, spammers, scammers, and other vermin to gain access to unsuspecting users. Worse, it turns out that protecting yourself from this new attack by trying to leave Facebook is no easy task.
Henry Blodgett reports that Facebook is in deep doo-doo with both the New York Times and Coca-Cola over their misrepresentations about the opt-in/opt-out nature of Beacon:
The “Beacon” fallout continues. The New York Times’ Louise Story essentially accuses Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg of lying to her about Beacon’s being “opt-in.” Coca-Cola got a similar impression from the company – and, having learned the truth, is holding off on using the program. Meanwhile, Facebook’s spokesman attempts to explain to the NYT’s Louise Story what Zuckerberg really meant – and makes matters worse.
And Dare Obasanjo blows the lid on why Beacon is totally broken and almost certainly unfixable:
Anyway, back to the title of this blog post (Facebook Beacon is Unfixable). The problem with Facebook Beacon is that it is designed in a way that makes it easy for Facebook Beacon affiliates to integrate into their sites at the cost of user’s privacy. From Jay Goldman’s excellent post where he Deconstructed the Facebook Beacon Javascript we learn
Beacon from 10,000 Feet
That basically wraps up our tour of how Beacon does what it does. It’s a fairly long explanation, so here’s a quick summary:
- The partner site page includes the beacon.js file, sets a <meta> tag with a name, and then calls Facebook.publish_action.
- Facebook.publish_action builds a query_params object and then passes it to Facebook._send_request.
- Facebook._send_request dynamically generates an <iframe>which loads the URL http://www.facebook.com/beacon/auth_iframe.php and passes the query_params. At this point, Facebook now knows about the news feed item whether you choose to publish it or not.
When you read this you realize just how insidious the problem actually is. Facebook isn’t simply learning about every action taken by Facebook users on affiliate sites, it is learning about every action taken by every user of these affiliate sites regardless of whether they are Facebook users or not.
At first I assumed that the affiliates sites would call some sort of IsFacebookUser() API and then decide whether to send the action or not. Of course, this is still broken since the affiliate site has told Facebook that you are a user of the site, and depending on the return value of the hypothetical function the affiliate in turn learns that you are a Facebook user.
But no, it is actually worse than that. The affiliate sites are pretty much dumping their entire customer database into Facebook’s lap, FOR FREE and without their customers permission. What. The. F*ck.
Game over. This is more than enough to convince me that Facebook has more downside than upside for me. Look, I freely admit I am not the core demographic for Facebook. I’m a 50-year-old guy who’s been happily married for 25 years (and so doesn’t want to find a date or a new “special friend”), doesn’t play games, could care less about drinking games, zombie bites, and other frippery, and initially believed in the potential this framework offered.
Chatting with Tris Hussey and Sam Sethi on Twitter just now, I learn that jumping ship might not be as easy as I thought.
On Twitter, Sam Sethi says: “… just try and leave. You need to unsubscribe from every group and jump through a few more hoops,” and points here.
Facebook does allow people to ‘deactivate’ their accounts. This means that most of their information becomes invisible to other viewers, but it remains on Facebook’s servers - indefinitely.
This is handy for anyone who changes their mind and wants to rejoin. They can just type their old user name and password in, and they’ll pop straight back up on the site - it will be like they never left.
But not everyone will want to grant Facebook the right to keep all their data indefinitely when they aren’t using it for any obvious purpose. If they do want to delete it permanently, they need to go round the site and delete everything they’ve ever done.
That includes every wall post, every picture, and every group membership. For a heavy Facebook user, that could take hours. Even days. And it could violate the UK’s Data Protection Act.
Summary - leaving Facebook has been made almost impossible and proportionately harder the more you’ve participated. Sorry. That sounds pretty much like my definition of EVIL. When will these people learn that this sh*t doesn’t fly? I agree with Open Garden who says:
and thats why opensocial is a step in the right direction ..
Here’s the final proof I’m right and it’s time to nuke any trace of my casual flirtation with Facebook. Fake Steve Jobs says so (and of course he’s always right… about everything:
See this story on CNET which refers to this story from some Harvard publication. Gist is that the Harvard publication dug up some documents involved in a lawsuit against Facebook. Facebook claims it’s an invasion of Zuckerberg’s privacy and went to court trying to have the documents yanked. As CNET points out this is a little bit odd considering that in recent weeks Facebook has been bagged for publishing info about its users’ online purchases and has defended itself, claiming it has every right to share private info about its users. Oh, the Harvard article also suggested Zuckerberg is kind of a sh*tbag. No idea where they got that idea.
December 1st, 2007 at 10:36 pm
[…] Post 1: I’m Ready to Bail on Facebook – the New Face of Evil […]
December 2nd, 2007 at 12:33 am
[…] I’m Ready to Bail on Facebook - the New Face of EvilBy marc orchantI’ve been increasingly irritated with the noise-to-signal ration Facebook creates in my life. I definitely had the “I just threw up in the back of my mouth a little” feeling during the Web 2.0 Summit Zuckerberg love-fest. …blognation USA - http://us.blognation.com […]
December 2nd, 2007 at 2:19 am
It is totally amazing that Facebook has fallen this deep (from grace). When I started using it in May 2007, I used it to link up with a lot of friends that kind of lost contact with me all these years. I still use it for a lot of school friends (and just a number of blognation people and other folks).
All I know is that I do not store my sensitive data there. If they wanted to get more “sensitive” — email or an offline chat is the way to go.
December 2nd, 2007 at 4:00 am
While alarm bells have been ringing about Fb for the past week over these ill-conceived campaigns, the perpetual “they are big, they have power therefore they are evil” is so old. Haven’t we heard the same thing about Yahoo, then Google and now Facebook? I am amazed at what people do share about their lives on Facebook and which I’m not comfortable with - but the same applies to blogs and other online carriers.
Smoke does not always means their’s an out of control fire and big and potential to do evil does not always mean inherently evil.
I hope readers will understand this is the opinion of some and not all the blognation editorial staff.
December 2nd, 2007 at 4:24 am
Robert: I appreciate the opinion you’re putting forward here. I do not equate big with “evil”. I’m actually a big fan of and user of Google’s technologies and believe they make a sincere effort to live up to their “Don’t be” mantra. Similarly, I don’t buy the “Apple is evil” meme that’s running around these days either. And, while Microsoft has certainly been “evil”, I have been involved with many organizations within that company and know from first-hand experience that they are committed to their customers and are trying to live up to the company’s original belief that they can change the world (for the better) with innovation.
However, Beacon represents a clear-cut case of trying to push the envelope as far as possible, then backing off to what at first glance seems to be a more reasonable posture. I think Facebook has made a big mistake, has acted in bad faith in how they’ve represented the program to advertisers, customers, and partners, and has some serious consequences to face.
And of course, this is my opinion and I do not believe that anything I wrote implied otherwise nor would I ever want there to be any suggestion that this is anything other than the author’s voice.
December 2nd, 2007 at 6:34 am
Considering Zuckerberg stole the “facebook concept,” this action is par for the course.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/12/business/yourmoney/12stream.html
December 2nd, 2007 at 6:54 am
In general, I think it’s time for an exodus, or at least for some push back. What I think is crazy about FaceBook is that they have managed to ‘trick’ their users into providing lots and lots of data to them (facebook) for free. In return facebook provides a “free” service and sells this data they got for free in the form of targeted marketing to companies.
The reason facebook has such a large valuation is because they have built a platform where the marginal cost per user is near 0, and their marginal profit per users is pretty high (I don’t know their latest values, but search around and I am sure you can do the VALUATION/USERS math). Admittedly there is some value added in the platform facebook has built, but compared to what they make advertising and pimping their user data it has been relatively free for them to develop it.
What I would like to see is a method for users to OWN their own data, so providing a method for me the USER to lease my information to facebook, and earn some rent on the revenue they make from my information. — An impossibility — most likely — but maybe some facebook competitor will come along with a better value equation for endusers.
December 2nd, 2007 at 7:13 am
Well, I cannot speak to the difficulties of leaving Facebook but I do know that for people using Firefox it is VERY EASY to deny Beacon any information (yes, I mean that info that FB gets just cause you visit the site even if you opt not to publish it in your newsfeed, or even if you’re not a member of FB). I did this as soon as I found out about it, took about 2 minutes:
1) Download the Firefox extension BlockSite
2) Go to the BlockSite options and select “Add”
3) Enter in (without the quotes) “http://*facebook.com/beacon/*”
4) Click Ok, then click OK again and you’re good to go
Now, should you have to do this in the first place? F*** NO! And what about IE users and such? Well, at least FF users can do something and I hope this helps all of you.
~tas08
December 2nd, 2007 at 7:27 am
I don’t think big equals evil, instead I would be more apt to say big equals incompetent and out of touch. After all, have you ever tried calling customer service for a company such as Sony, Dell, Yahoo, or Google? Good luck, and if you do get a live person you can bet they are not in the United States!
You might want to consider checking out OohYa Chat at http://www.oohya.net as it’s a still a small site and has a really simple layout. Seems to be popular with a more mature demographic than FaceBook.
December 2nd, 2007 at 7:45 am
You could also use the No Script extension for FF and deny the js.
December 2nd, 2007 at 8:22 am
[…] I’m Ready to Bail on Facebook Way to squander the lead, Facebook. (tags: Facebook privacy fuckers) […]
December 2nd, 2007 at 8:22 am
There is now a firefox addon specifically designed to block beacon tracking globally. http://www.debeacon.org/
December 2nd, 2007 at 9:16 am
[…] blognation USA » Blog Archive » I’m Ready to Bail on Facebook - the New Face of Evil […]
December 2nd, 2007 at 9:38 am
This is exactly what you get when software is a ’service’ and not something on YOUR computer that YOU control.
December 2nd, 2007 at 12:22 pm
No, this - i.e. this blog post and its ilk - are exactly what you get when you let common sense bugger off down the shops for a bit while you type.
This whole “Oh shit Facebook is invading our privacy! OH NOES!” thing is utter bullshit. You know how to not have it “invade” your privacy? Don’t tell it shit. The Internet is neither sentient nor psychic, you knee-jerking imbeciles. Nothing on the Internet can invade your privacy unless YOU LET IT.
December 2nd, 2007 at 1:28 pm
Tetsuo - we’re hoping for civil discussion here. Your comment is both foul-mouthed and simple-minded. Please try to do better.
The “Internet” and Facebook are not the same thing. What Facebook did was slip up - badly - by making what should have been an opt-in marketing data program opt-out. They compounded that first mistake by lying about - excuse me, misrepresenting - it to advertisers and their users and then by trying to pass it off as “no big deal”.
The whole value proposition implicit in these social networks is the ability to share information - either publicly or with a select froup of individuals. Facebook broke an implicit contract with Beacon by aggregating and selling data they were not given explicit permission to use.
December 2nd, 2007 at 3:04 pm
There is a way to wipe out your facebook profile irreversibly. I discovered it by accident:
1) Create a second (new, empty) account, with a different email address
2) Chage email address of second account to that of the first account.
Result: Second account overwrites the first.
December 2nd, 2007 at 4:26 pm
“There is a way to wipe out your facebook profile irreversibly. I discovered it by accident:
1) Create a second (new, empty) account, with a different email address
2) Chage email address of second account to that of the first account.
Result: Second account overwrites the firs”
Your email address might just be a key in the database to your actual profile data. When you change it, a new profile is most likely created and you get the impression that your old one has been replaced, but I bet it is still in the database.
December 2nd, 2007 at 4:30 pm
I have done research for employers looking to hire recent college grads and most of the time all I do is a facebook and myspace search or search for your name in double quotes. Its amazing the kind of info that people publish online
December 2nd, 2007 at 4:59 pm
[…] I’m Ready to Bail on Facebook: The New Face of Evil [from the digg frontpage] Filed under: Facebook, Boredom Killers | […]
December 2nd, 2007 at 5:00 pm
[…] I just read two articles: Speaking of Facebook as an underground intranet… and I’m Ready to Bail on Facebook - the New Face of Evil. […]
December 2nd, 2007 at 5:17 pm
i donn wanna go into FB any more. not that i hate it, but i now feel i wasted my precious time… It shortens my life; with stupid emotional games. ITs not a real world. We must be productive in our life. thts the aim.
December 3rd, 2007 at 1:32 am
Way to lump a legitimate business like affiliate marketing in with the spammers and scammers.
Jerk.
December 3rd, 2007 at 3:00 am
If you think you’re too mature for facebook, give multiply.com a try. Multiply is a place to share your stuff with your friends and family and not necessarily the rest of the world. You can actually specify real-world relationship, and not just making everyone friends.
December 3rd, 2007 at 4:08 am
Even if you do manage to totally wipe your FB account, you still leave a bit of a lingering trace. I wrote about this a few weeks ago, check it out here.
http://globalburger.net/?p=74
As a previous poster mentioned, employers and admissions officers are increasingly using sites like FB as a way to screen potential candidates. More power to them, people should take ownership of what they post online.
December 3rd, 2007 at 5:09 am
[…] Blognation - I’m Ready to Bail on Facebook - the New Face of Evil […]
December 3rd, 2007 at 8:38 am
Join Facebook group “Leave Facebook for ConnectU”
December 3rd, 2007 at 5:00 pm
[…] Just Say No to Beacon - Even with their retreat from the original design, Facebook still has plenty of people worried about the privacy implications of their Beacon advertising platform. If you’re one of them and you use Firefox, you can grab the BlockSite add-on and simply block all traffic to http://*facebook.com/beacon/*, or use the new De-beacon add-on that does it for you. You know your PR has hit the skids when people are writing blocking software targeting just your site. […]
December 3rd, 2007 at 5:38 pm
[…] I still wonder if I should keep considering FB as a legitimate place for conversations or quit (it is possible, although difficult). And when did we start using our real names online? I remember the old days […]
December 3rd, 2007 at 5:40 pm
It’s a trade off. Most people cannot program, develop, design, etc. and even for those who can, an instant and massive audience is not something that can be grown in a day–and it can on Facebook.
In return for the bells and whistles, you give access to your every move online. Facebook will tone it down and the planet will join.
Most people are not that concerned. Many subscribe to the “your privacy is a myth” idea and they may be right.
What do you think?
December 4th, 2007 at 8:16 am
[…] the aftermath of the revelation of Facebook’s extreme - and perhaps unprecedented - privacy violations in the proposed Beacon ads network that garners members’ unwitting participation in […]
December 4th, 2007 at 1:10 pm
[…] Following the recent Beacon snafu – I’m Ready to Bail on Facebook […]
December 4th, 2007 at 4:08 pm
I think the real issue here is the privacy issue. When Facebook changed on September 5 to make it easier for users to keep track of their online friends, the company received a wave of unanticipated protest. Many users called the new feature an invasion of privacy, saying it promoted stalking.
I think most of the popular social network sites are allowing their members to post too much personal information. Many of the members on these sites are unaware of the possible safety issues (spammers, online predators, identity fraud, etc.)in regards to publicly displaying their personal info. I recently discovered and joined a social network, that not only protects the members personal info but is also family-friendly. The name of this site is Our-Social.com So if you are looking for safe family friendly alternative to Facebook. Go check out http://www.our-social.com
December 6th, 2007 at 9:05 pm
[…] “The new face of Evil “ That is just silly! Facebook tracks your activities. So does Google, Yahoo, MySpace, Microsoft. Actually any company with an ad network. […]
December 7th, 2007 at 3:43 am
I agree that Facebook can be very annoying at times. Some of the applications are just ridiculous. I am sick of seeing messages in my email telling me that someone has just sent a vampire or thrown a snowball at me - What is the point of this garbage!!
December 17th, 2007 at 5:01 pm
[…] sadly agree that most Facebook users have no idea about the severity of this issue. It bothers me to no end that they would take advantage of their users like this. A conversation this morning reminded me […]
December 20th, 2007 at 8:30 am
[…] Facebook Falls from Grace: Being increasingly irritated every time I log on, I am seriously considering the advice of (the late) Marc Orchant to leave Facebook. This entry was written by Scott, posted on December 20th, 2007 at 2:30 am, filed under Link, Social, Technical and tagged Facebook, privacy, social-networking. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post. Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL. « Tapping Into the Ron Paul R-EVOL-ution […]
December 22nd, 2007 at 7:35 pm
[…] They could actually be getting data on everyone who visit member sites. That’s according to Mark Orchant of BlogNation. Facebook isn’t simply learning about every action taken by Facebook users on affiliate sites, it […]
January 1st, 2008 at 5:07 pm
evil city…
http://sergica.miniville.fr/
February 7th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
[…] true—I could opt out of Facebook entirely; I know of plenty of people who have, or are thinking about it. But I’m not quite ready to do that, because I’m not willing […]
March 14th, 2008 at 3:22 am
I still don’t get it myself - and I am so over the sheep. I guess I’m closer to your demographics - 45 years old and married 22 years - been over food fights for a while now.
May 5th, 2008 at 7:20 am
Used what nossi Kain said friend and got success not using the js