The online social networking site Facebook has finally gone too far. While many people enjoy the voyeuristic elements of facebook, where one is able to find information about what friends and acquaintances, a recent feature that uses technology akin to an RSS (really simple syndication)feed common with blogs is being used to transmit information to individuals friends and contacts home page upon login. Additionally, a minifeed feature tracks and highlights all changes made to the profile and appears on the wall of the profile page.
Several protest groups have popped up on facebook to protest the new feature. Many feel that it provides too much information and lays the ground work for cyber-stalking. One group entitled Students against Facebook News Feed (Official Petition to Facebook) has had an ever increasing membership. It's actually phenomenal to watch. I've honestly never witnessed anything like this . It's one o'clock in the eastern time zone and I hit the reload button every twenty seconds and watch the member count soar. 503,712 ... 503,774 .... 503,822.... 503,900... I didn't even know half a million people used facebook. They've created a petition.... at this time they have over 73,000 signatures.
Here are some articles covering the reaction to this feature:
Times
Washington Post
