What Is The Price Of Freedom?
Facebook is finding out the cost of freedom — $9.5 million.
A couple years ago Facebook started a marketing division called Beacon. Beacon worked as a go-between for Facebook and third-party businesses, such as, Blockbuster, Fandango and Overstock.com. The idea was to show a Facebook member’s friends recent purchases in the belief that it would be a “trusted referral”. If I bought a movie ticket through Fandango, my friends on Facebook would be offered to buy tickets, too.
Sharing a consumer’s information is usually not a good thing to do… as Facebook found out. People became outraged at their opt-out program. Unless you were clever enough to catch their 4 second pop-up to opt-out, you were automatically opted-in. Then your friends were exposed to your purchasing patterns including the holiday gift you purchased for them.
A lawsuit was filed against Facebook which they have agreed to settle. The settlement calls for Facebook to fund a foundation to promote online privacy, safety and security with $9.5 million.
Really Good Work…. You are helping people a lot.