techPresident - MoveOn Targets Facebook's Controversial Ad Programs - Comments

Ethics

Fred Stutzman — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 22:36:14 -0500

Freedomfighter, Again I disagree. MoveOn clearly has multiple agendas, but we deceive ourselves if we think that other NGO/Advocacy/Etc. groups are singular in purpose. Perhaps all organizations are non-ethical, but I see MoveOn as acting within norms.

That said, we must understand the role of privacy policies not as discourse between companies and users, but actually as devices that prevent discourse. What agency does a Facebook user have? We kid ourselves if we think these policies are meaningful for anything other than shutting down communication.

thanks for the respone

Freedomfighter — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 21:39:12 -0500

Fred,
What MoveOn is doing, is quite unethical although I understand why many may miss it. They are NOT pushing this issue to advance privacy rights.

Any good ecommerce site has a privacy policy AND a third party to dispute privacy issues. Facebook has Truste.org at the link below:

http://www.truste.org/ivalidate.php?url=www.facebook.com&sealid=101

Also note, other privacy organizations did NOT join in this protest. In fact, Scott Rafer quit MoveOn over this very campaign. See his site below:

http://rafer.wirelessink.com/

The whole use of the petition, through facebook, lacks integrity and is the very sort of thing which causes people to leave political organizations. I think many political activists miss this point because the political process is so corrupt in the first place.

I agree, to an extent

Fred Stutzman — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 14:25:55 -0500

Freedomfighter, while I wouldn't call this immoral or unethical, I do agree that this is a membership-driving tactic. I covered it because it is interesting to see the third-party advocacy groups taking Facebook on, but I do question the value or potential outcomes.

MoveOn is exploiting naive Facebook users

Freedomfighter — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 16:49:42 -0500

Fred,
I am concerned about privacy just as much as anyone else. I also think the Beacon program is annoying but to say it violates privacy is a bit off base considering the numerous options to stop it.

Facebook users do not need MoveOn's help in defending privacy. Facebook users already have Facebook working on protecting privacy and brought changes to how Facebook does news feeds.

What MoveOn is doing is immoral and unethical tactic. Instead of helping people learn to protect their privacy and to complain directly to facebook, they are given links to sign up for MoveOn.org. MoveOn is trying to recruit paranoid ignorant people.

This is not an issue of MoveOn politics but of their highly questionable tactics. People responding to MoveOn's campaign should be wary.

MoveOn Targets Facebook's Controversial Ad Programs

Fred Stutzman — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 10:49:02 -0500

MoveOn, the online advocacy group, has turned its sights on Facebook's new advertising program, Beacon. The group is asking Facebook users to sign the following: "Facebook must respect my privacy. They should not tell my friends what I buy on other sites--or let companies use my name to endorse their products--without my explicit permission."