MoveOn.org sets its sites on Facebook privacy violations
By Sean P. Aune
MoveOn.org, best known for its controversial political ads, has set its sights on a whole new type of target: Facebook’s perceived privacy violations.
Facebooks “social ads” are barely over two weeks old, and it has already had the legality questioned, and now it is being pondered if they violate a user’s right to privacy.
Most people are familiar with MoveOn.org due to its numerous political ads, but they do actually claim to be about civic action (as their logo says) in general, and not just politics. In an open letter to members, they talk about how Facebook’s new “Beacon” service, which shows your friends what you’ve bought at third party partner sites, is not only ruining surprises, but could be dangerous.
“It’s easy to picture serious consequences: A college student buying a ticket to Brokeback Mountain and his homophobic football teammates finding out on Facebook. Or a battered woman buying a ticket to see Violence Behind Closed Doors when she told her husband she’s working an extra shift. Or a not-so-friendly employer learning a staffer has bought a ticket to a screening of Living With AIDS.” - Mike R.
While these examples may be a bit extreme, they do raise a valid point. MoveOn is also pointing out how some of their members are mentioning that people purchasing presents for their friends are having surprises ruined, a much more common, every day example. The new Facebook feature does have an “opt out” feature, but MoveOn would like to see it changed to an “opt in” setting.
In a statement to Cnet yesterday, a Facebook spokesperson said that “Information is shared with a small selection of a user’s trusted network of friends, not publicly on the Web or with all Facebook users,” seeming to believe that no one’s privacy is violated. MoveOn is not satisfied with this answer and says that it simply shows Facebook does not grasp what a violation of a user’s privacy this is.
I, for one, have to agree with MoveOn, but I feel all services should be Opt In, personally. It’s always better to say “Oh, I wish I had shared that,” as opposed to “I just shared what?”
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November 21st, 2007
Good post. Thanks for bringing attention to this important issue.
FYI, there are 2 legal entities…MoveOn.org Civic Action (which does indeed focus on issues important to civic participation like this, Net Neutrality, etc) and MoveOn.org Political Action (which is some of the more political stuff you are citing).