Like Facebook, MSNBC is doing it for the money. If you click on the link it knows that you have read more than 50% of the article..so now it knows your reading habits (well, in aggregate anyway).

Yeah, they probably get a nickel every time you click it. ;-)

Takes longer to load pages with all the extra crap they try to throw in front of you.

Could not imagine using dial-up.

I'm sick of it, too. News sites (including MSNBC) have become all about ad revenue and not about news. The news is just a leader.

Really...I'm so sick and tired of having to click twice to read every single article. I used to like this site a lot more but now I'm spending less time reading here because of this stupid "click to read more" bug.

All media outlets are businesses and therefore the purpose is to make money. That's nothing new.

Ya, it's friggin annoying. These news sites are already slow as hell because of their ad loaders. I have no problem with the ads but get them loading quickly. My 20mbps is fast as hell. Yet my browser often takes 10-15 seconds to open one of these pages with a message in the bottom left corner saying something about waiting for ad server, doubleclick, etc.

My two cents worth... couldn't there be a feature to show entire article etc. that we the users could turn on or off? I usually stop at that click, but imagine I would have continued further if the entire article were shown. Somehow the break usually makes me feel like you have shown the important part and now I can move on. Might not be the reality but I doubt I am alone in this. Also I wish there were a way to filter comments with key words, just the mention of Obama etc. in a comment when it was/is not a political article, and I could filter out half the political, and religious rants that annoy me and take away from sensible discussions. Just saying...

I really don't care for their new layout. Go back to how it used to be.

Too true, big difference between seeding a file that you create versus uploading an entire file into a remote server.

What sucks is that misinformed indivudals also give the legitimate use of torrent files a bad name.

All these articles saying that "all the information was public anyway" overlook the little detail that EVEN IF you had set every one of your privacy settings to "Friends Only" access, Facebook allowed your information to be visible anyway if any ONE of your friends had set their privacy setting to "Everyone". You have no control over that, which is why Facebook sucks.

@Matthew Myhra ... "Misinformed indivudals also give the legitimate use of torrent files a bad name..."

I've heard torrentz called lots of things, but "legitimate" is not one of them. Can you please give me a few of those torrentz with good names... I'd like to check it out. "Misinformed indivudals also give the legitimate use of torrent files a bad name..." I like that one... can I use it?

Legitimate torrents: that would be Linux and FreeBSD distribution, BBC and CBC shows, independent film and music, with just Jamendo having over 85000 Creative Commons licensed tracks on torrents. Blizzard uses torrents for distribution of all of its games and patches. Yuplay.ru is a legitimate game store that uses torrents for distribution.

Haha, 82Americans got WTFPOWNED!

That's almost like saying "Well, she was dressed provocatively. She must of been asking for it" if a woman gets raped.

I think privacy matter a lot. So, if I just use a credit card on Amazon, they get hacked, and I lose $10k from identity theft I was asking for it? Give me a break!

No it's more like saying "Well, she was dress provocatively. She must have been asking for it" if a woman gets stared at walking down the street.

I think privacy matter a lot too. So if you join a social networking site and share tons of crap with all your friends, and those friends happen to tell all their friends, and somehow this info falls into "the wrong hands" whose fault is it?

For the record the stuff that is in the list is your public profile info; e.g. stuff that is already visible to other facebook users so they can find you; you know like your name. If you don't want to even share your name, why are you even on facebook?

Some of us are actually privacy conscious enough not to advertise that we're there. I pick who I friend, not a bunch of random people who may remember me from high school or college, or coworkers I endure but want NO contact with outside the job.

FB is a convenient way to stay in touch with distant real friends and relatives for me. Period. Who in their right mind would feel that sharing what they ate for breakfast is interesting, important or something that 500 people who know your name might care to read? Most of FB is silly. Then again, it's not FB's fault that people are insecure and measure their popularity/self worth by a number on a social networking site.

...so, have any of you checked to see if you're in that database?

Sad1… it’s not about being insecure, it’s about privacy and the more people like YOU who would gladly give theirs away makes it much harder on people who would like to keep some sort of privacy. Because now It may be your “option” to sign up and use these “services”, but what happens [if] when somebody comes along and gets some legislation passed that says you MUST have online profiles?

Now, answer this, do you really think this information contained in these online accessible database are private… or secure? It’s funny, but I’ve seen more uproar over the “thought” of someone taking their guns than their privacy. You may pick your friends… but, how are their FB pages configured… if their page is wide open then so is yours.

Sad1… if I were you, I’d go and check the list.

Some of us are actually privacy conscious enough not to advertise that we're there. I pick who I friend, not a bunch of random people who may remember me from high school or college, or coworkers I endure but want NO contact with outside the job.

ditto. Have more "NewsVine friends" than "FaceBook friends," and the information I put anywhere on the Internet is all but useless to anyone seeking profit, with the exception of online purchases through https.

I hope President Obama's wasn't one. He e-mailed the otherday!

A Popkin article? Lopsided? Sensationalist?

"Helen A.S. Popkin rants about online privacy, then begs you to friend her on Facebook or follow her on Twitter ... because that's how she rolls."

...so the footer reads. You've got the wrong slant on anything by Popkin if you're complaining about it using words like "lopsided" and "sensationalist". That's what she is all about!!!

Not if you have your settings on "Friends Only" or have it hidden entirely. Unless they are copying and posting your information on their wall, your info should be locked down. However, since the entire purpose of Facebook is to share info, this seems silly to me. I have my phone number and email hidden just to prevent some hassle, but pretty much everything else is out there. There is no such thing as privacy if someone really wants to know your information.

Wrong-o, ctina. Facebook publicized the data of every person who was friends with someone who had their privacy setting set to "Everyone". Regardless of how your own privacy settings were set up. They did that a few months ago, then reversed it. But the data went out on the web, and now people like this guy have figured out how to gather it up and sell it. Your data is public now even if you ALWAYS had every setting on "Friends Only" (unless every one of your friends did, too.)

ctina1973... you'd better listen, then go and READ the Facebook EULA and Privacy Policy.

then reversed it.

That's the point.. it they reversed it, it doesn't work like that.

^5, Cat, you speak the truth.

I know I'm old and not being marketed to anymore, but I'm staying off of all that crap forever.

People who spend their entire life staring at a screen and hanging on to their phones like pacifers are missing a lot.

"who cares if information about my favorite movies, my old school or my birthdate are available on the web?"

Info harvest galore.

Favorite movies - Extrapolate genre, favorite actors/actresses, extrapolate political standing. Disney? Must have kids. Cinderella? Must be a girl. What can we sell you? You'll like this then!

Your Old School. Extrapolate most likely where you grew up. Possible class identification. Possible job identification. How much you make. Political leanings? Spam with non-profit flyers. Be able to connect who you're classmates were.

Birthday. Oohhh. The real catch. You know that if it's possible that if someone knows your birthday and a couple of other data points they can extrapolate a whole TON of stuff if they wanted to...

Go on. Be more cavalier with your info. Have fun!

How dare they try to advertise things to me that I might actually like!!

Don - I get barraged with enough advertising every day, I resent anyone that finds an excuse to send me more of it.

I don't put anything on Facebook that would harm me if it were public.

@Don: So you really *want* to hear more about Viagra and devices to make your tool larger? That says a lot about you. :)

Me...if they send me an ad for it unsolicited in email, or as a pop-up ad to a Webpage (most of which I have blocked these days), I won't buy it. Period.

It makes a difference. What you think is innocuous info to one of your friends could get your house robbed while you are away. Not long ago, a family thought their mention of an upcoming vacation to a friend was no big deal. Unfortunately their friend was not very security conscious and the vacation info was leaked to someone who used it to rob the family's house. Even innocent info in passing can have a large impact.

People who aren't worried about what happens to their data don't understand what can be done with it. Other countries (like Canada and Europe) figured this out long ago and banned the sale of personal data. Americans just seem to be technologically slow and haven't yet figured out why this is so dangerous.

@Brokinarrow: targeting advertisement does not mean increase in volume, it means increase in quality.

@HolidayLoren: ad targetting means that I would be less likely to receive Viagra ads.

I agree with you Jay. Why walk on the street naked only to discover that people are staring at you ?

Well, there could be other things that people aren't wanting anyone in the world to know. Address and phone number for one.

I don't have anything to *hide*, but there are things I'd prefer to keep *private*. My credit card numbers, for example.

Unless they've sincerely changed, you can't really leave Facebook once you're on. They keep your data forever. And what's been released to the web (which is everything they had earlier this year) is out there eternally.

They are like GM, Google, Westlake Baptist Church, or Bank of America - they want to reach to many, many people with their marketing. This is the reason that Facebook remains porous. Facebook makes revenue by making all these members somewhat available in concentration to corporations or organizations that wish to target them with advertising.

...check your email and find out...

Fantastic... lucky you. I wish I know how to set it up... its not just the ads being there that is annoying, but sometimes i end up clicking on a particular link (maybe some game's gift accept link) as the page is loading and actually end up clicking on a totally random link which appears later instead of the accept gift link which was there earlier...

I don't mind some ads, I don't want a bunch of pop-ups like AOL used to do, but the ones on the sides of the pages are fine. They have to make their money somehow and they don't charge me a dime for the enjoyment I get out of their site. I haven't had any trouble with FB ads and I think there are settings in the control panel to reduce the amount.

Have you been to a site out on the web yet and had a sidebar pop up showing your Facebook friends who also like that site? Yes? That means that company has access to your friends list. It happens even if you have always had your privacy settings set to allow "Friends Only" to view your data. And it means that Facebook's stated privacy policies have been pure lies.

Having access to your friends list gives a huge amount of insight into your life. And anything you post on their pages (going on vacation, birth of a baby, illness, etc.) also becomes public knowledge. I don't think you realize how accurate a profile can be made of you even if you THINK you're not saying anything private.

"If someone wants my bank account number they certainly won't get it from Facebook.."...

Nope, I'll get that from your un-secure laptop wifi connection next time you go to Starbuck or just get if off your iPhone... remember not to hold it in your left hand by the metal ring...

Here's the latest list of those corporations downloading it... why don't you ask them yourself...

A.C. Nielsen
Agilent Technologies
Apple
AT&T - Possible Macrovision
Baker & McKenzie
BBC
Bertelsmann Media
Boeing
Church of Scientology
Cisco Systems
Cox Enterprises
Davis Polk & Wardwell
Deutsche Telekom
Disney
Duracell
Ernst & Young
Fujitsu
Goldman Sachs
Halliburton
HBO & Company
Hilton Hospitality
Hitachi
HP
IBM
Intel
Intuit
Levi Strauss & Co.
Lockheed-Martin Corp
Lucasfilm
Lucent
Lucent Technologies
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co
Mcafee
MetLife
Mitsubishi
Motorola
Northrop Grumman
Novell
Nvidia
O'Melveny & Myers
Oracle Corp
Pepsi Cola
Procter and Gamble
Random House
Raytheon
Road Runner RRWE
Seagate
Sega
Siemens AG
SONY CORPORATION
Sprint
Sun Microsystems
Symantec
The Hague
Time Warner Telecom
Turner Broadcasting system
Ubisoft Entertainment
Unisys
United Nations
Univision
USPS
Viacom
Vodafone
Wells Fargo
Xerox PARC

I'm boring. Nothing much to get by selling information about me.

akbari - I was thinking the same thing. I was like "wait for it. Wait for it." I still don't understand the point of this story. So someone hacked FB information that apparently anyone can hack. And let's not forget you can get the same information on the FRONT DOOR, so wahtever. Now he or she has the information that I had a great time at the pool last weekend. And then they share that information, which I already have shared because I posted it. Now what? My life is ruined because you can google my name and find out I had a great time at the poool?

What was the point of this article already????? What are they doing with the information that is so wrong, bad, illegal????? I am lost . . .

Facebook? I thought that was Twitter. :) (BTW, when it comes to securing personal information, Twitter makes Facebook look like Fort Knox.)