Is Facebook Outing Gay Users to Advertisers?

[Swede]

The more I read about the Facebook,the less I like it.

snip-
Facebook allows users to list which gender of partner they're "interested in." But do you want Facebook's advertisers to know if you're gay? A Microsoft researcher has found a loophole which could secretly reveal a gay user's sexuality to advertisers.

It's no secret that Facebook, like many other online services, targets ads to different groups of users based on demographic data. But using a sensitive category like sexuality to target advertising—which Facebook apparently does—can lead to troubling privacy issues.

http://gawker.com/5669316/is-facebook-outing-gay-users-to-advertisers?skyline=true&s=i

[RKP5637]

1. Another reason I would never use Facebook. n/t

[cliffordu]

2. Another reason I'm a thirty year old woman named for a 1950's

male sitcom star....

[RKP5637]

9. Good idea!!! I also generally list my birthdate on sites as around 1900 if I

can go back that far or the furthest back.

[Drale]

3. The thing about facebook is

you can put as much or as little information about yourself out there as you want. I cringe when I see people with their full name, their birthday, their address, and so on and so on, right out there for everyone to see. And alot of people dont even change their security settings, its crazy.

[lynne]

4. If someone has already said what gender they're interested in, how is this being outed?

Facebook has tons of applications, groups, causes, etc. that people will click, "like", add, etc. It is probably participation in those things that generates a key word that is picked up by advertisers. Most every online site does the same thing.

Bottom line - if you don't want to be "outed", don't tell the world via Facebook what gender you're interested in and don't sign on to any of the groups that might reveal your sexual preference.

[lynne]

5. Dupe due to system hiccup!

[SocialistLez]

6. This doesn't surprise me

I see a lot of ads for lesbian dating sites and GLBT websites and I chalked it up to my checking off "Interested in Women."
Oh wellz.

[KharmaTrain]

7. And It Finds Out How???

I didn't see a setting for "gay"...nor a "lifestyle" option. As the other poster above says, you can control how much information you put out there. Also much of the identity theft there happens on third party applications...something I strong suggest not to use.

[msongs]

8. facebook will sell anybody or thing for profit so dont use personally identifying information nt