US:Sean Lynch bought his wife a diamond ring online as a Christmas gift, but Facebook ruined the surprise, writes Ellen Nakashimain Washington
Sean Lane's purchase was supposed to be a surprise for his wife. Then it appeared as a news headline - "Sean Lane bought 14k White Gold 1/5ct Diamond Eternity Flower Ring from overstock. com" - last week on the social networking website, Facebook.
Without Lane's knowledge, the headline was visible to everyone in his online network, including 500 classmates from Columbia University and 220 other friends, co-workers and acquaintances.
And his wife.
The wraps came off his Christmas gift thanks to a new advertising feature called Beacon, which shares news of Facebook members' online purchases with their friends. The idea, according to the company, is to allow merchants to turn millions of Facebook users into a "word-of-mouth promotion" service.
Lane called it "Christmas ruined" and more than 50,000 other users signed a petition in recent days calling on Facebook to stop broadcasting people's transactions without their consent.
On Thursday night Facebook backed down and announced that the Beacon feature would no longer be active for any transaction unless users clicked "OK".
Beacon is a core element of Facebook's attempt to transform the personal and behavioural information it collects about its members into a more sophisticated advertising business, an effort to turn a user's preferences into an endorsement with commercial value.
The merging of social networking and online advertising combines two of the most powerful forces on the internet today.
Privacy advocates say it raises issues about the way personal data is disclosed for marketing purposes.
"Sites like Facebook are revolutionising how we communicate with each other and organise around issues together in a 21st- century democracy," says Adam Green, a spokesman for MoveOn. org, a liberal activist group.
This group has launched the petition drive to pressure Facebook to stop broadcasting members' purchases and using their names as endorsements without explicit permission.
"The question is: will corporate advertisers get to write the rules of the internet or will these new social networks protect our basic rights, like privacy?"
The website, which was started in a Harvard dorm room, has become a Silicon Valley powerhouse, recently valued at $15 billion (€10 billion). It allows its users to share messages, photos and updates on their lives.
Facebook launched Beacon as part of a wider social advertising campaign on November 6th, with 44 announced partners, including Overstock, Travelocity, auction website eBay, film ticket website Fandango, Blockbuster and shoe website Zappos.
Facebook puts a string of code called a cookie on a user's computer, which tracks the user on Beacon partner websites.
In the version that Facebook launched, a person logged into Facebook who bought, say, a film ticket, was alerted that the website was sending a "story" to his profile and had a chance to opt out - both at the merchant's website and on his own page, Facebook says.
Privacy advocates however criticised the opt-out feature - a pop-up box - because it disappeared after a few seconds, and said Facebook should allow users to turn off Beacon and include an "opt-in" feature for those who wish to receive the service.
On Thursday night, Facebook apparently added the "opt-in" feature, but still did not include a way to shut off the service permanently.
"What's unique about Facebook is it's really turning over personal profile data to advertisers," says Jeff Chester, executive director of the Centre for Digital Democracy, a privacy advocacy group.
"In essence, it's telling advertisers, we know exactly who your targets are, what their favourite entertainment is, the books they read, the kinds of social networks they have, what their political leanings are."
Chester's group, along with the US Public Interest Research Group, has asked the US Federal Trade Commission to investigate whether Facebook and MySpace, a rival social networking website that is also targeting members for advertisements, are using deceptive practices to violate people's privacy.
For Lane (28), spoiling his wife's surprise was bad enough. Within two hours of buying the ring on Overstock.com, he received an instant message from his wife, Shannon: "Who is this ring for?"
"What ring?" he messaged back.
Lane, a technical project manager at an online printing company, was crestfallen. He had gone to lengths to keep the ring a secret, even telling Shannon he was not going to give her jewellery this year.
His embarrassment was compounded by the reference to the fact he got a 51 per cent discount on the ring. -
John Collins writes: Ebay says Beacon will be introduced to ebay.com in 2008, but there are no plans to use it on ebay.ie or ebay.co.uk, which the majority of Irish shoppers would use.