NEW YORK — Facebook is dumping its much-maligned Beacon marketing program, launched nearly two years ago amid fanfare only to generate a storm of privacy complaints over tracking of user activities at partner Web sites.
Facebook agreed to end Beacon and create a foundation to promote online privacy, safety and security as part of a $9.5 million settlement in a lawsuit over the program. A federal judge in San Jose, Calif., still must approve the terms.
Facebook thought the Beacon marketing program would help users keep their friends better informed about their interests while also serving as “trusted referrals” that would help drive more sales to the participating sites. Sprinkled in with status updates and photos were alerts on what items their friends had bought or reviewed.
But users complained that friends could learn of holiday gifts they had bought at the online retailer Overstock or learn of the mindless movies for which they had purchased tickets through Fandango.
Users were able to decline tracking on a site-by-site basis, but not systemwide — at least not initially. Many users simply didn’t notice a small warning that appeared on a corner of their Web browsers; the box disappeared after about 20 seconds, after which consent was assumed.
After an uproar, Palo Alto, Calif.-based Facebook ultimately let users turn Beacon off, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg publicly apologized for it.
The service never really caught on, though, and Facebook said late Friday it agreed to end it as part of the proposed settlement.
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