Beacon, the most controversial of Facebook’s new advertising models, has been scaled back significantly after a massive user protest. With Beacon, users’ recent purchases on sites like Fandango and Overstock.com would be included in the online social network’s friend’s feeds.
This past Thursday, Facebook enacted a change that asks users to “opt in” before it publishes information to their friends, so your recent holiday-related purchase of the first season of Green Acres on DVD wouldn’t necessarily reflect badly on you.