Facebook Files For a Patent To Track Its Users On Other Sites

[wraggster]

suraj.sun sends word that a recent Facebook patent application details specific methods for tracking its users (http://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-adv.html&r=1&p=1&f=G&l=50&d=PG01&S1=20110231240.PGNR.&OS=dn/20110231240&RS=DN/20110231240) while they're using other websites. Michael Arrington pointed out over the weekend (http://uncrunched.com/2011/10/01/brutal-dishonesty/) that this follows explicit statements from Facebook employees that the social networking giant has "no interest in tracking people (http://nikcub.appspot.com/logging-out-of-facebook-is-not-enough#comment-319881438)." Quoting the Patent Application:"In one embodiment, a method is described for tracking information about the activities of users of a social networking system while on another domain. The method includes maintaining a profile for each of one or more users of the social networking system, each profile identifying a connection to one or more other users of the social networking system and including information about the user. The method additionally includes receiving one or more communications from a third-party website having a different domain than the social network system, each message communicating an action taken by a user of the social networking system on the third-party website. The method additionally includes logging the actions taken on the third-party website in the social networking system, each logged action including information about the action."

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/10/03/1825234/facebook-files-for-a-patent-to-track-its-users-on-other-sites