Catpaw - diary of an angry cat

Facebook has a big plate of eggs on its face after it came to light about their Beacon information collection. It has highlighted the current information gathering frenzy going on in the Internet.

It seems to be the vogue to collect streams of data and then claim it is part of a “technical checking process” as Facebook spokesman Matt Hicks claimed or that the information was not stored, used or sold. If this is the case, then why go to the bother of collecting all the data in the first place. Isn’t there a more efficient way of providing a “technical check” - that phrase is nothing more than marketing blather.

In this case the info gathering went far beyond gathering benign data - it was used to track purchases online. The data was then shared with other users and advertisers without consent. This flies in the face of Facebook’s claim the data was not used in any way. Sounds to me like what we used to call a bold faced lie. How Facebook can stand up and make their claims of innocence is beyond me.

If, what Facebook was up to is not entirely clear to you, then let me quote from The Nation’s article on the subject:

Facebook had launched Beacon, which was using “social advertising” technology to broadcast information about online purchases without many users’ consent. The idea was to convert private commerce into public endorsements: “Ben Bloom ate at the restaurant Junnoon,” read one ad, with a prominent head shot of Ben displayed next to the company logo. But what if Ben didn’t want his lunch date to be an ad? Beacon enrolled people automatically, offering users a choice to “opt out” of each ad on an individual basis.

The sharing and using of information is implicit in this program. To claim the information collected was not used or shared is false. How can this program work without the use of the data. I don’t hear any explanation of this ethical two-step anywhere. Just a resounding silence.

Sit back for a minute and ponder the implications of such unauthorized intrusions into your social life. Lets say you scooted on over to your favourite bookstore’s website to purchase a Christmas certificate for a friend. Next thing you know, your face is all over the internet advertising the fact you love the place so much you’ve done your Christmas shopping there - and what do you get for the use of your face and lose of privacy? Not a damned thing, except perhaps your friend now knows what their present is. Merry Christmas!

This isn’t “social advertising”. Its just plain old advertising done in a dishonest manner. No matter how you dress it up, this was not ethical. Sounds a lot like the Emperor’s New Clothing - oh and yes the Emperor is indeed naked. I can just imagine the corporate folks who thought up this gem sitting around the big table justifying Beacon software - Oh what money we’ll make, and how little we’ll have to pay. We can do an end run around the advertising firms - no costs! We can get our customers to do all our work for us! Wheeee…. what a scam.

I tend to be very wary of signing my name to anything on the Internet. Everyone wants my address, name, phone number, hat size… some companies want this information before I use their self-serve support to figure out issues with THEIR equipment. I now have a stock set of answers for their questions. My name is Piss Off - and yup I actually get unsolicited email, from companies that swore they would not use the information, to Dear Piss Off. My email is noneoff_your@damnedbusiness.com. My phone number 555-555-5555. My address is whatever large company ticks me off at the moment. This works everytime. You are welcome to use my technique in avoiding the useless info grabbing, its fun and cathartic at the same time. You might have to vary the email a bit, many of my customers use it and you may find it’s already used. I get downright rude in some of my answers because this is a waste of my time and an unwarranted intrusion upon my privacy.

I’m waiting to see which corporation gets it in the neck next month for this type of egregious behaviour. I just know it will happen again.

Stumble it!