Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Time to un"like" Everything on Facebook: Advertisers is Using that Data without Your Consent

Well, it looks like one more thing about Facebook that invades your privacy.

Facebook users who check in to a store or "like" a brand may soon find those actions re-transmitted on their friends' pages as a "Sponsored Story" paid for by advertisers.

Currently there is no way for users to decline this feature.

I love how you cannot opt out of the resale of your "likes" without your consent. At least it is just to your friends pages and not to all of Facebook. That is small consolation to a person who gets to be an unpaid spokesman for a product simply by putting a "like" on it.

The funniest part is that Facebook makes money from the advertiser but the person clicking the "like" button doesn't get a cent. Of course they will hide an opt out button in a few weeks after sufficient ire builds but the money will already be in Facebook's bank account. Most people won't opt out and they put one over on their users yet again. Is it just me or does Facebook look more and more like Microsoft?

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