Wednesday, December 05, 2007

Facebook Beacon Privacy Issues Worse Than Previously Thought?

According to an article in PC World, Facebook's online ad system, called "Beacon" is even more intrusive concerning privacy issues than was originally thought. A Senior Research Engineer at Computer Associates' Threat Research Group, Stefan Berteau, published findings that show that Beacon reports member activities on third-party partner sites even when Facebook users are not logged in or have declined to opt in to the Beacon program.

"It can happen completely without their knowledge," Berteau says in his report. "The bottom line is that Facebook is materially misrepresenting the privacy impact of their Beacon program, and presenting users with the appearance of control of their information when in fact they have almost none."

See full story at NEWSFACTOR NETWORK.