The Problem with Facebook's "Beacon"

It’s the holiday’s right? A time for merrily buying Christmas gifts, Hanukkah gifts, Kwanzaa gifts (and, if you’re wondering, time for buying MY birthday present–the 29th of December, write it down…).

Imagine this scenario. A Facebook member, you buy a nice pair of leather gloves from Overstock.com for your boyfriend for Hanukkah. A while later, poof, your choice is sent out in your news feed–a feed that broadcasts to all your friends, including er, um, that boyfriend. Dang!

That’s exactly what happened to Matthew Helfgott’s girlfriend, $' /></a> </div> <script> (function() { function initCopyableSections() { document.querySelectorAll('.article-content .copyable-section').forEach(function(section) { if (section.querySelector('.copyable-section__btn')) return; var btn = document.createElement('button'); btn.type = 'button'; btn.className = 'copyable-section__btn'; btn.setAttribute('aria-label', 'Copy to clipboard'); var label = section.getAttribute('data-copy-label'); btn.textContent = label ? 'Copy ' + label : 'Copy'; section.appendChild(btn); btn.addEventListener('click', function() { var contentEl = section.querySelector('.copyable-section__content'); var text; if (contentEl) { text = contentEl.textContent.trim(); } else { var clone = section.cloneNode(true); var btnClone = clone.querySelector('.copyable-section__btn'); if (btnClone) btnClone.parentNode.removeChild(btnClone); text = clone.textContent.trim(); } if (!text) return; navigator.clipboard.writeText(text).then(function() { var t = btn.textContent; btn.textContent = 'Copied!'; btn.classList.add('copied'); setTimeout(function() { btn.textContent = t; btn.classList.remove('copied'); }, 2000); }); }); }); } if (document.readyState === 'loading') { document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', initCopyableSections); } else { initCopyableSections(); } })(); </script>   <div class=$