Facebook Answers Privacy Concerns, Barely

Facebook isn't just violating your privacy and selling it to the highest bidder -- it's also ruining Christmas!

From today's New York Times story about Beacon, the Facebook program at the heart of the privacy controversy:

Annie Kadala, a 23-year old student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill...found out about Beacon on Thanksgiving day when her News Feed told her that her sister had purchased the Harry Potter "Scene It?" game.

"I said, 'Susan, did you buy me this game for Christmas?'" Ms. Kadala recalled. "I don't want to know what people are getting me for Christmas."

Facebook's strategy to deal with the concerns raised by groups like MoveOn.org and the Center for Digital Democracy seems to be to pull back just enough to dampen the outcry, but without actually conceding anything.

Previously, Beacon required users to opt out every time they made a transaction they didn't want shared. Now, they'll be invited to opt in with every transaction, and the notification will be more visibly displayed. Facebook still refuses to provide the option to opt out of the program altogether with a single click, although "Always publish stories sent to my profile" is an option.

So, in essence, instead of stealing your data while you're not looking, now Facebook is going to pester you nonstop until you agree to give it up. How kind of them.