Facebook Beacon

FACEBOOK BEACON

Beacon is a part of Facebook's advertisement system that sends data from external websites to facebook. Beacon is a software that:

- notifies activities or purchases made on facebook's partner websites;

- notifies activities or purchases made in facebook to partener websites;

- shares your account information with targeted advertisers;

- allows targeted websites to publish advertisemets in your facebook page.

It is possible to prevent these third-party sites from using your personal information by clearing al Facebook cookies from the browser after having explicitly logged-off.

We found out in the Merriam-Webster online dictionary that 'beacon' means lighthouse or also a light in the dark so it is a kind of ironic use of the word.

Useful links:

http://www.wikihow.com/Block-Facebook-Beacon
How to block Facebook Beacon! unfortunately IT IS IMPOSSIBLE to do it from an Italian Facebook profile.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/30/technology/30face.html?_r=1&ref=technology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beacon_(Facebook)