Zuckerberg: We were excited about Beacon because we believe a lot of information people want to share isn't on Facebook

Now that's bullshit. You can already share anything you want on Facebook. For example, if you feel the need to share your recent purchase with the world, you could put in your status message: "Kelly is stoked about her new [whatever]." You can add books to the iRead application, most other products to the iLike application... or you can write about it in your profile... There are no limits on what you can choose to share, especially with applications.

Beacon was a scheme to make advertising money by forcing friends to effectively endorse products to their other friends. They wanted to turn users into word of mouth campaigns for companies that would give money to Facebook. But if I'm going to advertise for Overstock.com or whatever, I would like to be paid... otherwise leave me out of it.

I can't wait for the social network implosion as their sponsors pull the financial plug. In the end, everything will look like Yahoo.

You're disassociating your ID from the information Facebook receives, but they have what they need to re-associate it anyway. All they're doing it letting you turn off the announcements. All those partner sites are still sending Facebook information about every single computer that goes to their sites complete with IP addresses. Facebook is getting the information if you're a facebook member or not and if you are, they can easily associate back to you through your IP.

I guess the reason that I haven't been able to muster up much outrage about this is that it simply hasn't affected me one iota. I'm a college student; I use Facebook on a daily if not hourly basis. Not once have I seen anything that struck me as being part of Beacon. I've never been asked if I did/didn't want to share information with Facebook, whether on the third-party site or on Facebook. I've never seen a link in my NewsFeed saying that So-and-so bought something from a third party and would I like to go to their website.

So... now I can turn off this thing that hasn't affected me at all? Great.

I find it hard to believe that anyone would continue to use a so called "social" website that takes your personal information and activities and beams it to whomever they please. I guess the whole purpose of this website is to datamine and then sell that information to big corporations so they can market their crap, a la myspace (now owned by feudal warlord, Rupert Murdoch).

People, wake up! You're playing into this whole corporatocracy, which is ultimately a very dangerous game. Do you want to connect with friends? Well, friggin' send them emails! Why must you socialize on a website that's watching and recording everything you do, and then selling it? It's beyond me...obviously!

i might add this ... don't send them a g(oogle)-mail. i am much more concerned about google and their information screening (through searches), and data capturing mechanisms:

austrialian documentary Google: Behind the screen is very impressive about these issues.

(you can download here ... http://www.guba.com/watch/2000796349?fields=8&pp=5&query=-2087374508&o=0)

see also:

http://www.privacy.org/archives/002133.html#002133

http://www.privacy.org/archives/002025.html#002025

http://www.privacy.org/archives/002014.html#002014

and farhad, i only see only one post from you about this when i clicked on your "google" post category, here:

http://machinist.salon.com/blog/2007/06/12/google_search_logs/index.html

i wish you'd write more about it. this has more pervasive importance than this facebook issue ... which is also important.

Facebook can call itself bumbling, but that kind of toe-scuffing aw shucks excuse is inacceptable from a Harvard Grad and corporate CEO regardless of his age and inexperience.

Personally, I didn't need the conservative Christian branch of my family to know that I spiked my Thanksgiving cranberry sauce with vodka and Triple Sec (thanks Epicurious). They live 3000 miles away - it's not like they had to eat it - but Facebook totally blew my cover. There *are* details about my life that I keep private from specific people, for their sake and mine. Broadcasting a recipe choice, which isn't even a product, is less a "friendly personal endorsement" than a clumsy money grab, executed at my expense -- in more ways than one.

I guess the reason that I haven't been able to muster up much outrage about this is that it simply hasn't affected me one iota. I'm a college student; I use Facebook on a daily if not hourly basis.

You may change your tune when a prospective employer finds out you ordered The Communist Manifesto through Amazon or a job-rival lets it spill out that you ordered a great ski trip through Orbitz at the same time you had reported sick for work.

E.g.: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6462504