Facebook Users Finally Allowed to Avoid Beacon

Recently, Facebook has created a tool called the Beacon, which picked up data on users' activity and send alerts to their Facebook friends' "news feeds." Their friends were suddenly allowed to see what movies their friends were going to watch as well as Christmas presents they had purchased. Facebook had given users two alerts to decline the feature; however, they were easily missed. Many users were obviously outraged by this tool, especially since most users were unaware of the feature.

The makers of Facebook clearly invaded the users' personal privacy. They should have clearly advertised the new tool and made sure all their users were aware of the new device. They had access to the users email and other personal information, and had the ability to make sure everyone had a chance to decline the new tool, but did not. They should have been more careful handling users personal information.

Though many of the users do give up some privacy by joining the site, it is still their responsibility to keep the rest private. Facebook has many options for who can view the users' profile, including specific parts of the profile. So how could they allow friends to see the users’ online activities? They had to know the tool encroached on the users' privacy, and must have chosen to poorly advertise the new tool because they wanted many to use it.

The makers need to think about their new tools before releasing them into the site. They should never have made this tool an opt-out instead of an opt- in feature, especially knowing the level of privacy it invaded. A website holding such personal information needs to be more careful about the tools they create, and needs to make sure the users are fully aware of them before releasing them.

Furthermore, once they learned users were outraged by the tool they should have immediately turned it off. They should not have been deliberating about what to do or how to shut it off. The makers new it was a huge invasion of privacy and should have taken the appropriate steps to end it. The makers need to really think about their tools and options before they are available not after. They should think about the ethics and possible problems prior to release, and not fix or make changes after.