On November 6, 2007 Facebook launched a new feature called Beacon which collects data on the behavior of Facebook users on several commercial websites such as eBay, Fandango, Zappos, and Overstock.com. When a Facebook user purchases an item at one of these websites, Facebook provides a way for the user to advertise their purchase on their Facebook News Feed. While users can decline sending out the advertising, Facebook does not allow users to opt out of the data collection and behavior monitoring. Even if you opt out, click “no thanks”, and log out of Facebook, Beacon will still be surreptitiously collecting your web browsing behavior data and sending it to Facebook.

For some users of Facebook, this sort of information sharing causes privacy concerns. Fortunately, an easy-to-install add-on for the Firefox browser can block Beacon from collecting any data about you. Follow these simple steps to ensure your private information remains private.