Facebook Agrees To Change Ad Service

In a report from PC World the ad service was called “more intrusive and stealthy than previously acknowledged,” citing an investigation by a Calif. security researcher who found Facebook was following user's activities even after they had left the site.

The Beacon ad service, which came with the new Facebook ad platform introduced a few weeks ago, also sent users web surfing patterns back to their online friends.

“We appreciate feedback from all Facebook users and made some changes to Beacon in the past day,” Facebook said in a statement. “Users now have more control over the stories that get published.”

Before information was sent even if the user declined to have their activities shared. Facebook says Beacon will no longer publish information without consent although blocking out Beacon completely doesn't appear to be an option.

Among other activity the Beacon service tracked users when they purchased products, signed up for a services, or added items to a with list, PC World says.

Facebook said it was not using the information sent back to the site, but privacy advocates like MoveOn.org and discontent users, fired with a swarm of criticism.

“As long as you are logged out of Facebook, no actions you have taken on other websites can be sent to Facebook," the company told PC World in a earlier email.

Previous statements by the social networking site show they initially failed to come clean about Beacon's invasive qualities.