You know, I was thinking about joining Facebook

[mdlbear]

... but not after this privacy disaster. (via boing boing) There's an earlier article here.

For those who just want the high-order bits, the fuss is about "Facebook's 'Beacon' advertisements, which post information about users' activity on partner sites (movie rentals, purchases from online retailers) onto their friends' News Feed." There's an opt-out, but it's well hidden and you have to opt out separately for each merchant.

Note to vendors: if I buy something and don't mind letting the universe know I've bought it, I'll blog about it. Much of the time I mind a whole lot, so it's my damned choice, not yours. If Facebook ever gets its metaphorical face out of its metaphorical arse, I'll reconsider setting up an account.