Ryan Block » Facebook http://ryanblock.com Editor and technology critic in the midst of founding a new web startup: gdgt. Mon, 24 Oct 2011 16:37:15 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Oh, so that’s why Facebook Beacon is so evil http://ryanblock.com/2007/12/oh-so-thats-why-facebook-beacon-is-so-evil/ http://ryanblock.com/2007/12/oh-so-thats-why-facebook-beacon-is-so-evil/#comments Tue, 25 Dec 2007 22:56:41 +0000 Ryan Block http://www.ryanblock.com/2007/12/oh-so-thats-why-facebook-beacon-is-so-evil/ Facebook Beacon shot
Logged into Facebook (yeah, I finally started an account a couple of months back to watch the Engadget stuff on there) and saw this. Kind of a duh moment because I followed the whole Beacon controversy and all, but I’ve never used Facebook enough to notice how much of a completely seamless, fantastically engineered, and revolting invasion of privacy Beacon is. I also didn’t realize they’re referring to these Beacon snippets as “stories,” which is a really finessed way of phrasing the reality of the “feature”: information about my personal life that I never explicitly gave you or your partners permission to share or syndicate.

Oh yeah, and Merry Christmas!

]]> http://ryanblock.com/2007/12/oh-so-thats-why-facebook-beacon-is-so-evil/feed/ 2 Hard times for internet biggies http://ryanblock.com/2007/12/hard-times-for-internet-biggies/ http://ryanblock.com/2007/12/hard-times-for-internet-biggies/#comments Wed, 05 Dec 2007 00:26:11 +0000 Ryan Block http://www.ryanblock.com/2007/12/hard-times-for-internet-biggies/ Man, it’s been a rough couple of weeks for Gawker, CNET, Facebook, etc. Editors disgruntled, editors leaving, editors being wrongfully and egregiously fired, readers / users up in arms at these and other offenses and disappointments (as they should be!).

Let me tell you, there’s an unbelievable amount of pressure in the internet big leagues. But let’s be fair — and I’ll try to spare the righteousness / comeuppance is a bitch — would any of these companies be in this spot if they didn’t all do something (or years of somethings) to deserve it?

Final, wandering thought on the Gerstmann scandal (which I’ve been paying very, very close attention to). Although it’s technically impossible to know what happened between he and GameSpot (until someone officially steps forward, which looks unlikely at this point), the lessons are still clear. There is no audience without trust, and there is no trust without credibility and fairness — both things you never, EVER tamper with. As a fellow editor, I’m extremely sorry to witness these events transpire, and my support for Jeff Gerstmann knows no bounds. Still, like McCrackengate before it, I’m somehow really glad this happened, as it reminds everyone — audience included — that standards and quality are still king.

P.S. -Yeah, I’m glossing over a couple of other bad-tech-press-moments here… Apple (duh), Apple, Verizon and Scoble, who else?

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