Overheard: Beacon alerts may be controversial, but they’re the future of advertising

Known as Beacon, the feature was one of several money-making ideas Facebook launched this month to try to turn its users’ actions – such as their online purchases and their stated preferences for certain brands – into recommendations that might influence the buying habits of their friends. Richard Waters Privacy fears over Facebook feature

Facebook rejected the claims [of violating privacy] and said that its users are given two chances to opt out of sending a Beacon alert to their friends. It claimed, “Information is shared with a small selection of a user’s trusted network of friends, not publicly on the Web or with all Facebook users They also are given multiple ways to choose not to share information from a participating site, both on that site and on Facebook.”