I guess I’ve been in a wastey-my-own-timey mood this morning, because I have had time to find this recent reply by Facebook’s Chamath Palihapitiya to the guy who discovered that Facebook is spying on its loyal users, having its corporate partners send gobs of your personal information, whether you like it or not, with no clear way for you to stop it, in ways that it has pointedly avoided telling you about.

Palihapitiya says that Facebook only collects the information, but it doesn’t keep it (well, ah nevah!), and it would never use it (not even for making…. money?). Whatever. This is almost a mantra of corporate sellouts. We’ve all heard it so many times before that our lips almost automatically form the inevitable apology and admission that yes, they’ve sold all our information to people who do not uphold their lofty ideals. And all for a few billion measly dollars. Information is money, and information has legs.

(found via digg)

According to an independent test, the Facebook Beacon program is spying on you in more ways than previously imagined, and you may not be able to do anything about it. Even if you opt out, even if you log out, site affiliates (online retailers you visit) are reporting back to Facebook. In response to massive protests by facebook users, Facebook has backed down on displaying some of this information to your friends without asking you. However, it is still collecting the information, although so far Facebook refuses to admit this. And it is collecting more information than was previously thought. And it is collecting it even if you have opted out of the program. And it is collecting it even if you are not logged in to Facebook while browsing.

Conceivably, some people might have a hard time understanding why I’m so upset about this. Perhaps an analogy to organic dairy farms would help you get my point. Okay, what if Facebook were surreptitiously collecting the personal information of organic dairy farm cows? See!!!??? Wait… let’s try again. This program is exactly the same as if Facebook were one of those non-organic dairy farms, with the cruel, uncomfortable milking machines and the cows were locked in tiny pens, and pumped full of hormones, and also they chopped the cows into tiny bits with unsanitized chainsaws for no reason. And posted all the bloody, nasty bits to the cows’ friends’ Facebook news feeds without their permission.

It’s exactly like that.

Srsly. If Facebook doesn’t stop, I’m out. No more Facebook.