Facebook to sell your information

Doesn’t it suck when you move into a house you think is perfect, only to find out that there’s this weird smell (that you discover is the sewer plant down the street), your water pipes are rusted and require replacement, your neighbors are the worst anyone can have, and…? (you get the idea) I’m starting to get that feeling with Facebook and some news today doesn’t help that feeling.

This article from Telegraph (UK) mentions that Facebook will be selling it’s user base information to advertising companies so that those companies can target select users with advertisements. Here’s part of the article:

"In an attempt to finally monetize the social networking site, once valued at $15bn (£10.4bn), it will soon allow multinational companies to selectively target its members in order to research the appeal of new products. Companies will be able to pose questions to specially selected members based on such intimate details as whether they are single or married and even whether they are gay or straight."

Personally I find this to suck balls big time. There is nothing that annoys me more than telemarketers, and this is shaping to be the new form of telemarketers, but online. (netmarketers?)

I understand the company needs a revenue stream, but selling my personal information should not be a way. It’s like if your aunt submitted an embarrassing story about you for a publication (like Reader’s Digest) to make $100. You’d feel betrayed by her and I feel betrayed by Facebook.

This is just another reason to switch to Firefox as your default internet browser. For this instance it’s not because Firefox is more secure (although that should be reason enough to switch if you haven’t), but because of these two extensions NoScript and Ad-Block Plus that’ll help thwart some of this targeted advertising.

Will it stop it all? Probably not as I’m guessing some of these ads will come as direct messages in your Facebook inbox, or maybe on your Wall? As it is Facebook already has ads in their homepage feed that you can’t block.

If it wasn’t for the updates I get from my friends on Facebook I’d cancel my account. We’ll see how bad this targeted adverts get, maybe I will be an ex-Facebook user?

Updated by Starbuck: In the interest of being fair-and-balanced it should be noted that TechCrunch is reporting that the Telegraph article is inaccurate.  Check them both out and judge for yourself.  Personally, I’d be shocked to find out Facebook has not pimped my data to marketers already.