Facebook introduced Beacon as a part of its Social Ads program to try and monetize from the surge in the site’s popularity. Beacon essentially tracks your purchases from participating sites such as Blockbuster, Overstock, and Fandango, and broadcasts that information to your Facebook friends. Oh and by the way, the program uses your data to make money for Facebook while you receive nothing in return. When introduced, Beacon was automatically turned on and supposedly gave users an on-screen message to opt-out of transmitting their purchases to friends, a message that many users say they never saw. Even before Beacon launched, there was some backlash and privacy concerns, and many rose up against the program after the launch. Just as I figured, Facebook did an about face and made Beacon opt-in to its users, hoping to quell another News Feeds-like backlash. From an outsider looking in, this debacle is another example of why you shouldn’t trust Facebook with your privacy.

Unlike News Feeds, Beacon didn’t use information that was already in a user’s Facebook profile. It collected and used data from other sites and transmitted that information to other Facebook users. One would think that Mark Zuckerberg and crew would have learned a lesson from privacy issues with the News Feeds debacle, but obviously, they didn’t. Instead, they took privacy violations to a whole new level with Beacon. The News Feeds and Beacon mishaps are shining examples of how Facebook no longer values privacy of its users and thus, can’t be trusted. That being said, if you still have a Facebook account, my question to you is, why? They’ve obviously shown that they value money over your privacy and don’t think out features as well as they should; News Feeds and Beacon shows that. It makes you wonder what’s next in Facebook’s Social Ads program and in what way will any future programs step all over your privacy; I have a feeling that they will. I understand that the company has to justify their 15 billion dollar valuation by ramping up revenues, but sacrificing user privacy and allegedly lie to advertisers to earn profits is not the way to do it.

Facebook might be the hot playground that all the cool kids want to play in, but I wonder how long that will last with these highly visible privacy breaches. My personal opinion is that people should be running away from Facebook in droves. Any company that claims to value your privacy yet consistently violates it is a company you should not support. Period. With Facebook being such a young, small company and pulling these kinds of things now, can you imagine what they might be capable of if they were Microsoft-sized? Think about it, and think about why you should stay away from Facebook.

I’ve been a member of Digg “community” for approximately a year. As I have mentioned before, I don’t interact with other Digg members and only used the site to digg stories rather than spend useless time submitting stories. There was a time when I used Digg every day, but those days have long passed. For one, I’m a much busier person than I was when I first joined Digg. The other reason I don’t use the site as much is because it is still heavily niche-based in tech that non geeks may not find as appealing. Yes, I know that the politics section has seen some growth, but 99% of the political stories are about Ron Paul. For me, Digg doesn’t give me a proper balance of news because there is more to life than tech and Ron Paul stories, you know. And balance is one of the reasons why I feel Digg is having an issue with their exit strategy: acquisition.

There have been rumors swirling that a sale of Digg is imminent. If true, I hope it’s to a buyer than can make some changes to Digg. While the site’s numbers in terms of page views and new sign ups continues to grow, the type of news that’s presented to the front page on Digg is pretty much the same every day – tech, Ron Paul stories, or “wacky and weird” stories. For Digg to be a mainstream player, a hierarchy of editors will need to be added to bring some balance to the site. In the past, CEO Jay Adelson has rejected the idea of adding an editorial process to the stories on Digg – although some think editors do exist. While I can understand his view of allowing the users to filter the content, the content isn’t varied enough to draw in and retain an audience who visit traditional news sites on a daily basis; I still have to visit mainstream news sites for “real” news instead of just relying on Digg for all of my news. This is where an editorial process would help. Editors could gather a batch of submitted/dugg stories from all genre types and promote those on the front page. Of course, doing this would anger (more like rage) the Digg community in large because they feel the site is theirs – an unfortunate side effect from allowing the community to be in charge of content. However, I think for Digg to really become a mainstream player in the news space, an overlaying editorial process is a necessary step to move beyond its current news base. I just don’t think it will happen as long as Digg is run by Adelson and Kevin Rose. (more…)

The recent investigations into six of the largest TV ministries has made me dig up some more information about past scandals. This video sums up a lot of what happened in the 80s with the PTL (Praise the Lord) Club, Oral Roberts, and Jimmy Swaggart. Even if you are familiar with those scandals, I think you should still watch this video. It gives you a good overview of those scandals.

YouTube Video Link: 

Oddly enough (or maybe not), pretty much all of the TV ministries currently being investigated also uses prosperity-based teachings. While there is nothing wrong with prosperity teaching, when that’s all you teach to the masses, that’s a problem. There is more in the Bible than showing you the way to fill up your bank account with money…or to be more accurate, fill up these televangelists bank accounts.

By the way…

The $23,000 toilet was purchased by Joyce Meyer and not Benny Hinn as I initially suspected. I know it’s marble and all, but it better flush by itself and clean itself for that kind of money!

Do you have a Facebook page? If so and you haven’t been hearing or reading about the privacy concerns, you need to check these links.

Facebook Ads

• New Facebook Ad System Raises Privacy Concerns
• Is Facebook Beacon a Privacy Nightmare?
• Facebook Ads Definitely Creepy, Possibly Illegal

There are dozens more links if you Google “Facebook Ads Privacy.” The number of stories about Facebook Ads shows two things: people are panicking like they did over the News Feed debacle and that this is a real privacy issue that could be illegal. If it’s the former and Facebook users feel that strongly, then they should respond the way they did when News Feeds came out. They organized into groups on Facebook and threatened a boycott to protest the service, which forced CEO Mark Zuckerberg to back down and add better privacy restrictions. If it’s a case of the latter, then I feel what I have always felt when it comes to issues of privacy: stop using the service or if the Terms of Service is questionable, don’t sign up for it in the first place. There’s been some concern about the data Facebook collects for some time now, yet some people have ignored the warning flags. If the recent rumors about Facebook employees meddling with user profiles and that they know what profiles you look at isn’t enough to worry Facebook users, then I don’t know what will. While some people may have deleted their profiles over privacy concerns, I don’t read or hear about a mass exodus of users leaving Facebook over privacy issues. Therefore, it makes me wonder if the only people who care about privacy concerns on Facebook are bloggers and some members of mainstream media.

As Valleywag likes to state, your privacy is merely an illusion when it comes to online services. When you sign up for an online service, all you can do is hope – because 99% of us don’t read the Terms of Service – that the company storing your data has policies on data retention, how that data is used, who can access the data, and just “trust” that employees won’t violate your privacy. The people controlling the online service, such as Facebook, could always see your data if they chose to do so. Employees snooping around in user information or profiles is also nothing new. We’re just hearing about it more and more. I suppose bloggers and other news sites are focusing so intensely on this issue because Facebook is arguably the most talked about Web 2.0 startup right now, and as sure as the blogosphere can build you up, they’d like to tear you down. However, I do think there are valid concerns when it comes to privacy, and data policies should definitely be addressed. I just think that people should be under the assumption that whenever you use an online service, your data is one step away from being accessed by a bored employee with nothing better to do than troll through your data and have fun with it. Or the other option lies with what Facebook appears to be doing with your data for Facebook Ads. You just have to be realistic that your data is not truly yours once you provide it to a second party. Having said that, be careful about the amount of information you provide on social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, LinkedIn, and others.

A story recently surfaced about a GOP senator opening an investigation into some of TV’s most famous televangelists. Senator Charles Grassley is on the Senate Finance Committee, and he finally decided to take a look into some of the lavish lifestyles of TV ministries such as Benny Hinn, Joyce Meyer, Kenneth and Gloria Copeland, Paula and Randy White, Eddie Long, and Creflo Dollar. I say, it’s about time!

First things first, let me give you some background about myself. I had a Christian upbringing, and I believe in God and Jesus. I use to attend church faithfully, but a former minister at my church changed that when he started dipping in the collection plate and chasing members away with his “unique” sermons. He used God’s word to chastise the people in the church, which turned many off and sent them out of the door, including me. After I left my church, I attended other churches off and on until I eventually stopped attending altogether a couple of years ago. My parents, on the other hand, found a new church home that is similar to the prosperity teachings that some of the televangelists I mentioned previously teach. I attended their church a few times and never felt comfortable or at home there. It was too big (huge congregation) and a far cry from the smaller churches (with great country singing) I was use to attending. Still, I would go from time time. However, it wasn’t until their minister started slamming gay people during one sermon that I stopped attending their church and refuse to go back. I have gay friends/associates and do not appreciate ministers using the Word to throw slams at people, whether they’re gay, straight, or whatever. Slam-throwing is the reason why I left my former church home in the first place. However, getting back on track, my parents gravitated towards that particular church because they were fans and givers of TV-based ministries. My parents both sent in “love offerings” (aka donations) to Benny Hinn, Robert Tilton, and Kenneth and Gloria Copeland. I use to have discussions with them back then over how if they truly know their money isn’t being used to buy fancy homes and cars for these TV ministers. I was a child of the 80s and remember the scandals that cropped up about some of TV’s most infamous televangelists, so I always looked at these TV ministers with suspicion. My parents and I get into arguments about the matter to such a degree that I stopped engaging in that discussion with them. However, my dad finally saw the light and realized that he was donating his hard earned money without really knowing what was being done with it. Yes, he received “love gifts” such as special prayer cloths, books, CDs, etc. but he eventually wised up and realized these ministries were prospering off of his money. My mom, on the other hand, still blindly believes in these ministries along with millions of other people. I think it’s time for the blind to have their sight restored, hence why I fully support an investigation. (more…)