If they actually activate this, I'll cancel my Facebook account

[nancylebov]

##Massive Correction## It looks like there's nothing there at all. I should probably not be the first to sound the alarm on this sort of thing.

Correction:The current system is opt-in. However, I'm still concerned that Facebook will switch it to opt-out, but there's less current reason for concern than I was feeling.

Facebook is thinking about aps that will track and possibly post your browser activity.

I'm not the most private person on the web. I don't post about everything in my life, but I do post under my own name.

I've only made a little use of facebook, but there are people there that I know and comment to, or am glad to see how they're doing.

Posting what I'm doing on line without my explicit choice is too much.

Comments

[mneme]

Learn and Teach

Before you panic, the sky isn’t falling. The new Facebook isn’t monitoring and broadcasting your actions simply by logging in. People will not leave Facebook en masse. At the heart of the matter, we are talking about a new class of intelligent apps based on the revamped Open Graph platform where developers can integrate sharing into your interaction. As you install each app, you MUST explicitly give it permission to update your Timeline. No app can update your Timeline without your unequivocal consent. The better apps will of course offer transparency in how exactly your Timeline will be updated and why it is advantageous for you to do so.

They're not talking about having it follow your browser activity.

They're talking about being able to tell it "when I post a review on Goodreads, put a post on Facebook pointing back to it" or "when I listen to a song on Spotify, set my status to listening to it", or "when I play a game on Facebook, put it in my timeline". This functionally is available and active now; the sky isn't falling.

(basically, they're not talking about spybots; they're talking about more facile integration with apps where that's appropriate and where you give the app permission to do this).

(also, all my examples are things that are true now; this isn't something that's "going to be active"; it's something that's been available for quite some time).

[richardthinks.livejournal.com]

that's really disgusting and should be actionable. If they do go ahead with it, please tell us - I have a lot to deal with right now and can't be tracking this myself. I'm pretty tempted to just cancel fb right now, though.

Diaspora> looks considerably less creepy. I'm kinda liking LJ, though, even though it's shrinking visibly.

[chomiji]

Thanks for that link!

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

Time to think about a single-use browser that I only use for Facebook....

[whc.livejournal.com]

I find Diaspora to be very creepy. Their privacy statement boils down to "Trust us to keep things private"

[vvalkyri.livejournal.com]

http://lifehacker.com/5843969/facebook-is-tracking-your-every-move-on-the-web-heres-how-to-stop-it

[vvalkyri.livejournal.com]

"Before you panic, the sky isn’t falling. The new Facebook isn’t monitoring and broadcasting your actions simply by logging in. People will not leave Facebook en masse. At the heart of the matter, we are talking about a new class of intelligent apps based on the revamped Open Graph platform where developers can integrate sharing into your interaction. As you install each app, you MUST explicitly give it permission to update your Timeline. No app can update your Timeline without your unequivocal consent. The better apps will of course offer transparency in how exactly your Timeline will be updated and why it is advantageous for you to do so."

[avram]

I was wondering whether to trust any of this uproar. I've got a setting in my browser preferences for accepting cookies only from the actual site I'm currently visiting; I'd assumed that most modern browsers have a setting like this.

[richardthinks.livejournal.com]

Functionally, for me as a naive user, that's true of all software companies and online services I have dealings with.

...is that not what Google and Facebook say as well? How is their maintenance of privacy policed? Do they disclose what information they're gathering and using?

Sorry, I'm not necessarily looking for an interminable web forum or general link to the Concerned Netizens or whatever, here; I'm asking a naive question that I haven't taken the time to research myself.

[whc.livejournal.com]

I guess the difference for me is that facebook doesn't claim to be private, so I hold them to a lower standard. I haven't really looked at google's privacy aspects, since I don't use them for anything other than searches.