That’s $%#@&% Up

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Okay, I apologize for this non-Shag Fund post. But this is pretty extraordinary. I’m on Facebook. And I haven’t noticed this. Maybe because I don’t buy enough stuff online. But according to this article in the Times, they’ve got it set up now where your “friends” are notified about what you buy online — presumably by some modern equivalent of cookies. So you get pinged “Josh bought ‘Jack’s Big Music Show DVD” from Blahblah.com!

And you can’t disable the function apparently. [ed.note: Usually I get tips and corrections from readers. In this case it came from my wife. Apparently you can opt out. But not in general. You have to opt out on every single purchase. A box comes up when you buy something and asks “Would you like to tell your friends on Facebook about your purchase of this Large Vibrating Egg (TM)?’ So I think my disgruntlement still applies.]

Doing what I do I live my life with a certain amount of transparency. But I think I might actually close my account just based on the intrusiveness of it. Am I just an old fuddy-duddy?

And as long as we’re on the topic, if you’re a parent of a young child like I am, what’s your favorite tv show for them. I was pretty partial to my childhood favorite Sesame Street. But I think I’ve now got to give the prize to Jack’s Big Music Show.

Any kindred spirits out there?

Late Update: Seems Facebook has now given in.

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