And all of this angry [Google Buzz] storm reminds us of the hugely controversial Facebook Beacon ad system, launched back in November 2007. It was ostensibly designed to allow tight integration between external services that Facebook users also utilized, as a way of enabling extremely precise targeted ad placements.
But it was forced on Facebook users, and it was flawed—it enabled private user data to pop up in extremely public view. Its privacy-smashing behavior was so shocking and bold that it resulted in law suits, and so much media, advertiser and public outcry that Facebook had to issue a number of tweaks and fixes, before then making Beacon an opt-in system only just a few weeks later.
But Beacon was crippled, and limped on until September 2009 when it was finally axed.
Will Google Buzz Go the Way of Facebook Beacon? | Technomix | Fast Company
Well, we always knew that Facebook was evil…
But wait; isn’t this the mechanism whereby the Semantic Web (Web 3.0) operates? Stealing your data and violating your privacy so that you can be coerced into buying things you didn’t know you needed?
Free Market Forces vs Human Rights - bring it on!
