FAILbook explains nature of Facebook ads

Indiana Public Interest Research Group, or INPIRG, has recently published FAILbook, a how-to guide for protecting your online information on Facebook, for the IU community.

Abbi Brown is a senior majoring in political science and is a co-coordinator for the Student Consumer Action Network, the division of INPRIG that is spearheading the FAILbook campaign.

“More than anything we want to educate students,” she said.

Kevin Morgan, a senior majoring in communication and culture, is also a co-coordinator for SCAN.

“So many people don’t realize what they’re sharing online,” he said. “Especially for people about to graduate, employers will be seeing your information.”

Work started mid-January as part of the national coalition for FAILbook.
“We have been able to educate 14,000 people,” Brown said.

Companies can buy Facebook consumer information to tailor advertisements to that particular person, Brown said, but the Federal Trade Commission wants to change that.

“The agency supports giving consumers a ‘Do Not Track’ option because the practice is largely invisible to consumers, and they should have a simple, easy way to control it. The FTC proposes that Do Not Track would be a persistent setting on consumers’ web browsers,” according to the FTC’s website.

Max Drizin, a freshman majoring in economics and public policy, has also been working with INPIRG and SCAN for FAILbook.

“We’re really just trying to educate people so they can make better decisions online,” he said. “We want people to understand how the information they’re putting online is being used.”

Currently SCAN is offering online, step-by-step, printable, PDF versions of the FAILbook Guide.

“This is so much bigger than just Facebook,” Brown said. “But this is our main audience. Everyone has a Facebook.”