I love the privacy "oh no they're selling our data!" paranoia that people still have without considering WHY and what legitimate reasons Facebook has for sending back data when a Like button is implemented.
First, they are a SOCIAL network, this data helps them figure out the engagement level with different brands that participate on the Facebook social platform. Second, in this case, the use of 2-click solution creates a disconnect with the expected behavior of the Facebook Like widget which means users going across different sites will not know whether they need to make one or two clicks to enable a "Like". Third, when you don't use the Facebook Like widget, you don't get any insight into your connections with your social graph unless you click on the Like button which defeats the purpose of being able to see that "4 of your friends like this".
There are real privacy concerns that we should consider but I'm tired of reading EU Privacy office statements that show a lack of understanding of how the web works and without regard to the impact to the monetization ecosystem which is the lifeblood of many web publishers. What bothers me more is that there's a lack of consideration that there are legitimate reasons a certain level of data is collected in order to make the web more social.
> What bothers me more is that there's a lack of consideration that there are legitimate reasons a certain level of data is collected in order to make the web more social.
It isn't for making the web more social. It's for making (e.g.) Facebook more all-knowing, which is a task on the way for more profit.
Just like the tobacco industry should be regulated against making cigarettes more addictive, privacy should be regulated -- either by attaching a mouse-over saying "warning: facebook tracks you on every page you visit that has a like button", or by limiting what and how they can collect.
The copyright issue is a red herring. Facebook could create an official "data:..." url like button that has the original image instead of linking to their server. It would be better for everyone involved, including facebook's bandwidth and the site's loading speed -- except that facebook would lose their tracking data.
First, they are a SOCIAL network, this data helps them figure out the engagement level with different brands that participate on the Facebook social platform.
Non-sequitur. What does their knowing the "engagement level" with a brand have to do with social networking? In what way would Facebook be less social if you eliminate the entire like-button feature (for the sake of argument)?
Comments
I love the privacy "oh no they're selling our data!" paranoia that people still have without considering WHY and what legitimate reasons Facebook has for sending back data when a Like button is implemented.
First, they are a SOCIAL network, this data helps them figure out the engagement level with different brands that participate on the Facebook social platform. Second, in this case, the use of 2-click solution creates a disconnect with the expected behavior of the Facebook Like widget which means users going across different sites will not know whether they need to make one or two clicks to enable a "Like". Third, when you don't use the Facebook Like widget, you don't get any insight into your connections with your social graph unless you click on the Like button which defeats the purpose of being able to see that "4 of your friends like this".
There are real privacy concerns that we should consider but I'm tired of reading EU Privacy office statements that show a lack of understanding of how the web works and without regard to the impact to the monetization ecosystem which is the lifeblood of many web publishers. What bothers me more is that there's a lack of consideration that there are legitimate reasons a certain level of data is collected in order to make the web more social.
> What bothers me more is that there's a lack of consideration that there are legitimate reasons a certain level of data is collected in order to make the web more social.
It isn't for making the web more social. It's for making (e.g.) Facebook more all-knowing, which is a task on the way for more profit.
Just like the tobacco industry should be regulated against making cigarettes more addictive, privacy should be regulated -- either by attaching a mouse-over saying "warning: facebook tracks you on every page you visit that has a like button", or by limiting what and how they can collect.
The copyright issue is a red herring. Facebook could create an official "data:..." url like button that has the original image instead of linking to their server. It would be better for everyone involved, including facebook's bandwidth and the site's loading speed -- except that facebook would lose their tracking data.
First, they are a SOCIAL network, this data helps them figure out the engagement level with different brands that participate on the Facebook social platform.
Non-sequitur. What does their knowing the "engagement level" with a brand have to do with social networking? In what way would Facebook be less social if you eliminate the entire like-button feature (for the sake of argument)?