Beacon Saga Comes to an End: Facebook Adds Global Opt-Out, Apologizes
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg posted on the company blog this morning apologizing for missteps with the roll-out of their much maligned Beacon advertising system. "We've made a lot of mistakes building this feature, but we've made even more with how we've handled them. We simply did a bad job with this release, and I apologize for it," he wrote.
Zuckerberg goes on to apologize specifically for "taking too long" to make the system opt-in rather than opt-out (where the site assumed no answer to the Beacon prompt was a 'yes' and went ahead and shared information). Last week Facebook made Beacon opt-in site-by-site, and today they added a privacy control that allows users to shut off the program completely (pictured after the bump).
As you can see, I haven't come across Beacon in the wild too often.
Some users on the MoveOn-sponsored Beacon protest group formed on Facebook have expressed continued wariness, though. Writes Andrew C, from Ithaca College, "The blog also did not address the fact that even if we turn beacon off they [Facebook] will still be receiving information about our activity on 3rd party sites. I want to know what Facebook is doing with information and how I can keep them from even having an inkling of what I am doing on other sites."
However, as we reported on Monday, Facebook promised that any data collected from people who opt not to have it shared to their friends' newsfeeds is deleted. "If a Facebook user clicks 'No, thanks' on the partner site notification, Facebook does not use the data and deletes it from its servers," they wrote in an email to Computer Associates security analyst Stefan Berteau.
Though some are still wary of Facebook in general, it would seem that the Beacon saga has at long last come to an end, and likely without much in the way of a detrimental effect on Facebook. MoveOn's group has just under 70,000 members this morning after a little over two weeks in existence, still a far cry from the hundreds of thousands of users who joined groups to protest the newsfeed's release last fall (which has since become a much loved feature of the site). And, a poll uncovered by Valleywag yesterday indicated that even in tech-centric cities like San Francisco, the vast majority of users still had not come across Beacon. Personally, I have only seen it in action once, and that was because I specifically visited a partner site to see how the system worked.
Further, a new report from Compete shows that Facebook's total unique traffic jumped 20% in November.
Conclusion
With Zuckerberg's mea culpa and Facebook's emailed promise that data is not collected from those who opt-out, hopefully this is the last post I'll make about the privacy issues surrounding Facebook's Beacon ad system. One thing that can be said for sure about Facebook: even though they don't always get it right the first time, they listen to their users and iterate continuously until they hit something people are happy with. When they first released the newsfeed and mini-feed last year, users were outraged that their information was being shared without their control to friends. Since then, Facebook has included increasingly more fine grained privacy controls that allow users to control what info gets published. The result? The newsfeed is often credited as one of the most appealing and important features of the network.
The launch of Beacon has followed a similar progression -- it wasn't quite right on the first go around, but after a few feature changes, it is likely now something that people can live with and perhaps learn to like. What do you think? Is the Beacon saga finally over for you or do you still have concerns? Voice your opinion in the comments below.
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So, Josh. What are you playing on Kongregate? ;)
Hi Josh:
Interesting post. I don't think that Facebook has really listened. For me, Opt-Out still makes members initiate the process. I would argue that most FB members are completely unaware of what's going on or how their data is being used. For Opt-Out to work, FB will need to inform the community of what that actually means and how member data is being used. Without educating, FB isn't listening, they are still duping the majority of the members, IMHO.
Chris - yeah, would be better if FB went in and opted everyone out.
I disagree, though, that most FB members are completely unaware of what's going on. That pop-up that Beacon shows is very hard to ignore. Whether people are aware of the data transfer, it would be hard not to notice the pop-up. If anything, I bet a lot of people simply want to turn off the popups.
@kayvaan: Desktop Tower Defense, what else? ;)
@Chris: Well, technically, because ignoring the popups asking for permission (i.e., not clicking "no thanks" and just letting the popup disappear) is now taken to mean the same as "no thanks," I would actually call the system opt-in... opting out means just not having to deal with the popups at all, as I understand it.
Thanks for a well balanced post. I was beginning to think the feeding frenzy was never gonna end. Many bloggers latch onto this to score hits with linkbait, while happily using all the benefits of a powerful networking tool on an ad-supported FREE service
i dont understand the herd mentality, but since Facebook actually has increased in popularity, the likes of Om Malik can now find carrion somewhere else
or just stop using Facebook and build their own
simple
No. Third party sites should not be transmitting the data if you opt out. Period.
How do you trust that Facebook isn't going to store it or for that matter decide what it means and store that?
Hi Josh:
Universal Opt-Out means that users would have to change their profile setting to allow the option of sending information or even requesting to send. Under the current system, users have to go into their settings and opt-out and, according to CA findings, Beacon partners transmit data to FB whether the user has "opted-in" or not. Zuckerberg doesn't address this. He says the data will not be stored...if not, why is it still being transmitted?
It shows us what Facebook intends to have in the future, which would make it a $15+ billion dollar company. They tried to put their intentions in place immediately, but found that to be the wrong approach. Now they'll just sneak it in.
Leave Facebook and get a life.
-Diana
Wow, I'm really glad I left facebook the second I became upset with their policies (the day after the release of the newsfeed). I remember I sent them an email to complain about my lack of opting-out of the service, and they replied within two hours with a form letter that basically said, "We're in charge, f%&# off"
Social networks are stupid. Like Diana says, leave facebook and get a life.
facebook may have misstepped originally, but they've done a good enough job responding to users' complaints (as they have in the past). what everyone should know, however, is that all kinds of sites are tracking your activities on the internet all the time and they're not telling you about it. how do you think targeted ads systems work? at least facebook was being more or less transparent.
How do you think I'll come to love Beacon? It's the core beast of what privacy do I have, what right do I have not to be analyzed and marketed too, and the answer is "well maybe an intsy bit, if you're going to bitch".
consumers don't know the value of their data, period.
Too late for me.
The principle behind the transfer of data from Beacon partners to Facebook - whether logged in or not, opting in or not etc - is a disturbing one for me. I'm no privacy zealot, but the fact that the company considered this acceptable in the first place, indicates their possible approach in the future.
So I've deleted all my data and deactivated my Facebook account. Not just based on Beacon itself, but what it demonstrates about the company and its policies towards user data.
Narendra's comment is right on - why are Beacon partners sending data to Facebook if someone has opted out? It's not like they couldn't add that to the cookie data used by the system.
This fight is probably over, but I don't feel like I won.
Funny thing though, I just recently joined Facebook from a friend sending me an invite.
I am looking at my settings now as I type and no where in my settings is there the same box to check or uncheck the
"Don't allow any websites to send stories to my profile"
Also I haven't seen anything on this about gathering data which includes your face to everything you've ever surfed for which Choice Point does. Remember there big fiasco about creating an account profile for every person who uses the internet?
Now not only are you being tracked and fed info to but you'll have a complete profile for someone to have when they hack in again. Would love to see a story about hackers hacking into Choice Point and deleting there data on everyone! Now that would be good!
:)
While others are praising you for you "balance" I'd like to point out that your seeming bias in favor of facebook undermines your credibility.
First, The company completely misrepresented (i.e. LIED) how beacon works. When asked if it tracks users whether they are logged-in or not, they said "no, absolutely not" Computer Associates uncovered that it was, to which they now say, "we don't do anything with that" Come on. This is the 2nd post that you've essentially said, "That settles it!" Why? If you're are tired of covering this story, I suggest you stop. If you are in favor of Facebook regardless of what they do or not, you should disclose that upfront too.
This thinly veiled apology or defense of the company is really disappointing. You realize that you're making light of serious privacy issues, right??
Oh, I know...I just need to get used to it. After all, even though facebook is still following me all over the web and their affiliates are violating privacy rights and likely some laws, We all have been blessed and "empowered" to not display any of said eavesdropping.
But alas, most users are not aware of the real issue here, probably don't care, and you've had the courtesy not really address it. I expected more from Read/Write Web.
Just so I'm clear:
* Facebook added a feature called Beacon that allowed their partners to send them data on every e-commerce transaction that every Facebook member engaged in. Facebook, in turn, would broadcast the details of that transaction to all your Facebook "friends". They initially designed it with a global opt-out feature, but did not launch with such a feature; in fact, not only did you have to opt-out site by site, but if you looked away from the screen too long, you were opted in.
* People complained about their privacy, and pundits everywhere declared that the only acceptable solution was to make Beacon fully opt-in.
* Facebook claimed that users had a choice about whether to use Beacon "at all", but, in fact, there was no such choice. They also changed the site-by-site opt-out so it wouldn't opt you in if you blinked. However, Beacon was still not fully opt-in.
* People complained about their privacy, and pundits everywhere declared that the only acceptable solution was to make Beacon fully opt-in.
* Facebook put back the global opt-out feature that they had originally designed; you can now opt to have Facebook not display any of the transaction data, all of which they still receive. They also promise they're not peeking. However, Beacon is still not fully opt-in.
* Therefore, you declare that the "Beacon saga comes to an end", and that it is "likely now something that people can live with and perhaps learn to like".
Did I miss anything?
THIS IS STILL NOT ACCEPTABLE, but where the problem is occurring has shifted. The problem now lies with partner companies that send information to Facebook without asking.
I wonder if the college kids who still form the core of Facebook users care about all this, or just wish those of us who are making such a big deal about it would just shut up and find another social network to inhabit. I'll ask my son, a college senior and veteran FB user, what he thinks about it. I suspect I know the answer before I ask.
We sell store online.
So after all this, I – an only partially tech savvy guy who wuld like to protect my privacy – still can't figure out how to opt out of this intrusive piece of Big Brother-hood.
I've spent more than ten minutes trying to figure out how to limit their use of my information; even tried to type "Beacon" and "Beacon optout" into the search window on Facebook.
Can someone PLEASE tell me, step-by-step, how to opt out?
Thanks
From the home page:
* Click "privacy" on the upper right
* Click "External Web Sites"
* Check "Don't allow any websites to send stories to my profile" and click "Save".