Oh, hells no!
Dec. 5th, 2007 01:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
yendiForget the adult content thing. Don't worry about the New Russian Overlords. LJ found a much better way to say "fuck you" to all of us.
See, Facebook released a spyware program called Beacon last week. You might have heard of it, as its initial release automatically opted Facebook users in, showing their movie ticket and travel purchases to other Facebook users.
They revamped this program to be opt-out, but the Beacon spyware program still, in conjunction with their partner sites, captures information about web activities and purchases. Even if you opt out. Even if you don't have (or cancel) your Facebook account (it's still tied to your IP address).
Here's the list of partner sites. Which includes Livejournal.
Fuck. No. LJ/Sixapart, you do NOT have the FUCKING RIGHT to do this with my information. Ditto the other companies on that list. But go read the fucking Privacy Policy.
Yes, I've sent a note (with fewer curses, because I wouldn't want a poor LJ employee to have to read adult content) to privacy@livejournal.com. I'm not counting on a response.
(And yes, I know that Facebook claims to delete all data that aren't from opt-in accounts. I'll believe that when, well, when I believe that the folks at Facebook are good, honest people with our best interests at heart).
See, Facebook released a spyware program called Beacon last week. You might have heard of it, as its initial release automatically opted Facebook users in, showing their movie ticket and travel purchases to other Facebook users.
They revamped this program to be opt-out, but the Beacon spyware program still, in conjunction with their partner sites, captures information about web activities and purchases. Even if you opt out. Even if you don't have (or cancel) your Facebook account (it's still tied to your IP address).
Here's the list of partner sites. Which includes Livejournal.
Fuck. No. LJ/Sixapart, you do NOT have the FUCKING RIGHT to do this with my information. Ditto the other companies on that list. But go read the fucking Privacy Policy.
Yes, I've sent a note (with fewer curses, because I wouldn't want a poor LJ employee to have to read adult content) to privacy@livejournal.com. I'm not counting on a response.
(And yes, I know that Facebook claims to delete all data that aren't from opt-in accounts. I'll believe that when, well, when I believe that the folks at Facebook are good, honest people with our best interests at heart).
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-05 06:57 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-05 06:59 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2007-12-05 07:03 pm (UTC)Wait, what?
Okay, so, wait, how do I make sure I'm opted out?
Or how do I scrape this off my computer?
(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-05 07:09 pm (UTC)Um. So I just shouldn't stay logged into it? I mean, it didn't install anything onto my PC, it seems.
Sigh.
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Date: 2007-12-05 07:08 pm (UTC)Am I correct in this interpretation? Too much of that Policy is written in the kind of legalese that makes my eyes glaze over.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-05 07:11 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2007-12-05 07:13 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-05 07:21 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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From:In soviet russia, LJ dramas YOU!
Date: 2007-12-05 07:48 pm (UTC)So what info is Facebook getting, exactly? I can tell it's tied to my IP address, sure, but I'm not sure what's being passed. Sites I'm visiting while logged into LJ?
Re: In soviet russia, LJ dramas YOU!
Date: 2007-12-05 07:51 pm (UTC)Re: In soviet russia, LJ dramas YOU!
From:Re: In soviet russia, LJ dramas YOU!
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Date: 2007-12-05 07:51 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-05 09:32 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2007-12-05 07:59 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2007-12-05 08:16 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-05 08:44 pm (UTC)However... Kiva? Zappos? The Knot? yeesh. And that damn thing better NOT be integrated into the actual Joost client, although I fear that it is.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-05 08:46 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-05 08:46 pm (UTC)http://www.wikihow.com/Block-Facebook-Beacon
And Ebay is one of the sites that is listed, not just LJ, the list of sites
shown in original article is outdated.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-05 09:29 pm (UTC)had to use an older version (V.03) since i'm still using firefox 1.5*
(FireFox 2.** still has memory leakage issues as far as i know)
I blocked http://*facebook.com/beacon/*
The asteriks in this url are wildcards that tell the extension to block different iterations of this site.
I've even never used FaceBook!
(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-05 09:43 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-05 10:00 pm (UTC)Sometimes things mean a little more than they say in words. :) New Era is right.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-05 10:18 pm (UTC)Dunno what that's worth.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-06 03:37 am (UTC)since it ties to your IP address, not your user ID
(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-05 10:20 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-06 12:15 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-06 03:36 am (UTC)Goddamn but I hate Facebook. LJ is a clusterfuck sometimes - but FB is the one that came up with this B.S.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-06 09:56 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-06 07:18 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-06 08:36 am (UTC)So, Livejournal (and presumably many other sites) don't consider IP addresses to be either personal information or personally identifiable information, despite evidence to the contrary.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-06 03:56 pm (UTC)Why is this so "OMG the world is going to end" terrible?
(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-06 04:45 pm (UTC)If you have a Facebook account, and if you deliberately go to your Livejournal settings and turn on Facebook notification, then Facebook will be notified when you make a new LJ post. I assume the notification includes your username and a link to the post or some such. The idea is that your Facebook page can include a list of recent LJ posts.
That's it, if you believe LiveJournal. If you think LiveJournal might be lying about what they're using Beacon for, then it's anyone's guess, but the above paragraph is a paraphrase of LJ's public statements on the topic.
This was announced in
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-06 10:09 pm (UTC)Six Apart made LJ and TypePad opt-in ONLY.
Only Facebook seems to have been Opt-out only.
"Facebook's been Friendstered. You won't have to worry about that company anymore."
Date: 2007-12-06 10:44 pm (UTC)Rick's producer Sarah actually went onto her Facebook account while news guy Tim was reading the piece, and saying "Oh my god! There are my shoes!" Yes, a purchase of hers was made public in a way she hadn't intended. She started deleting her Facebook account right then on the air. So more people are realizing how bad an idea this was.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-06 11:05 pm (UTC)Thanks!
Date: 2007-12-07 03:23 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-08 10:32 pm (UTC)thank you rowancat and yendi ! I blocked that stupid Beacon thing ^^
I hope it's enough, I often go on lj while I'm working....