For Privacy Advocates, Facebook's 'Next Best Thing' Doesn't Cut It
Just over two years ago now, Facebook began deploying a behavioral tracking service it called "Beacon," which automatically enabled the tracking of Facebook users' behavior but shared that data with advertising partners. It wasn't an "opt-in" service by anyone's definition, and after Facebook took down most of the service, customers filed a class-action suit against the social network.
In a proposed settlement last September, Facebook is opting to use its own money -- some US$9.5 million -- to establish a fund for the creation of a foundation to help make Web users more aware of their privacy rights and how they can improve their online safety. It's what the law calls a "cy pres" settlement, named for an old French phrase that literally means, "the next best thing."