I’d call this “stealthy postponement“:

While it falls short of the global opt-out feature that our readers seemed to think Facebook would announce in today’s poll, this seems like a reasonable change that will make Beacon much more transparent. On the other hand, as Beacon adds more partners, being notified of all of these actions each time you login to Facebook could be a huge nuisance.

Beyond the obvious aggravation already pointed out, does anyone really think that the data isn’t going to continue to be actively collected for some future re-release? Or simply for sale to the highest bidder?

Alley Insider translated the Facebook PR (it’s rated-F, as in not for the Facebook Fanboy). Peter Kafka added this:

But! Facebook continues to apply a creepy double-standard about information. It’s more than happy to share your personal data with friends and/or advertisers, but it remains fetishistic about its own privacy: The WSJ reports that Facebook is trying to force Harvard alumni magazine 02138 to take down court documents it published alongside a story about the legal battle over Facebook’s origins.

The docs, which have been republished by Valleywag and others, make Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg come off like a nasty, scheming jackass.

Like I said…stealthy postponement.

UPDATE: Computer Associate’s security team confirms what instincts could have told you.

UPDATE 2: Jay Goldman deconstructs the offending code (and provides resources for blocking it).

UPDATE 3: Of course they do.

An ISP has sued Kraft International for violating CAN-SPAM and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.

Hypertouch, of Foster City, California, claims that Kraft’s Gevalia Coffee division violated the act through the use of falsified headers with fake IP addresses, and lack of sender identification which included misleading sender names, no physical addresses, and non-working reply addresses.

As proof of their point, a test was performed whereby a brand new email address was entered specifically into an opt-out section of Gevalia’s company website. Within weeks, the address was receiving spam, in some cases with unrelated product offers.

Just goes to show you that if you enter your email address for a newsletter, product offer, to join an affinity club,
or even to opt-out of future mailings, there is no telling where it will wind up, or how it will be used.