Michael Braun's Blog

Thank you, Tony, for clarifying Beacon. In the comments on the previous post, Tony writes “It operates via cookies. Sites in the Beacon program can read your facebook cookies and set values telling facebook to publish a story the next time you log in.”

This is obviously much more horrible than anything I had envisioned. Facebook partnering with websites to report on things you have done, just because you happen to have logged into Facebook. Furthermore, the program seems not only to violate your privacy, but also to pose a huge risk to Facebook’s popularity and to the other sites credibility with young people.

Let’s face it, Facebook: I don’t need you. Other than using you to keep up with other folks online (to see what they’ve been doing, without asking them), I don’t need you. I’m done with college and probably can drop you without missing a beat. That, too, would give me more free time. Anyway, you’re stupid and I hate you.

Thanks for the clarification, Tony!