Facebook users have new privacy concerns
NEW YORK – Some users of the online hangout Facebook are complaining that its two-week-old marketing program is publicizing their purchases for friends to see.
Those users say they never noticed a small box that appears on a corner of their Web browsers following transactions at Fandango, Overstock and other online retailers. The box alerts users that information is about to be shared with Facebook unless they click on “No Thanks.” It disappears after about 20 seconds, after which consent is assumed.
Users are given a second notice the next time they log on to Facebook, but they can easily miss it if they quickly click away to visit a friend’s page or check e-mail.
“People should be given much more of a notice, much more of an alert,” said Matthew Helfgott, 20, a college student who discovered his girlfriend just bought him black leather gloves from Overstock for Hanukkah. “She said she had no idea (information would be shared). She said it invaded her privacy.”
The girlfriend was declining interviews, Helfgott said.
An Overstock.com Inc. spokesman said no one was immediately available for comment Wednesday.
Facebook has long prided itself on guarding its users’ privacy, but the walls have gradually lowered. In 2006, a “news feeds” feature allowing users to track changes friends make to profiles backfired when many users denounced it as stalking and threatened protests. Facebook quickly apologized and agreed to let users turn off the feature.
The new program lets companies tap ongoing conversations by alerting users about friends’ activities through the feeds. About 40 Web sites have decided to embed a free tool from Facebook, known as Beacon, to enable the marketing feeds.
The idea is that if users see a friend buy or do something, they’d take that action as an endorsement for a movie, a band or a soft drink.
But it also raises privacy concerns.
Mike Mayer, for instance, saw a feed item saying his boyfriend, Adam Sofen, just bought tickets to “No Country For Old Men” from movie-ticket vendor Fandango.
“What if I was seeing ‘Fred Claus’?” said Sofen, 28. “That would have been much more embarrassing. At least this was a prestigious movie.”
In some cases, companies can buy an ad next to the feed item with the friend’s photo. Although Fandango didn’t do that, Mayer, 28, still found Beacon unsettling.
“If my identity is going to be used to promote something for someone else, that seems problematic,” said Mayer, who was previously employed in online advertising. “It could be a misrepresentation of my purchases.”