Beacon is Dead. Long live Facebook Connect.

Remember Facebook Beacon? It’s gone now. I’m surprised, are you? Not only that, but Facebook funding a privacy group to the tune of $9.5 million as part of their settlement. The Register has the story on how Facebook Connect has eclipsed Beacon.

I expected that Facebook would keep Beacon around since they turned it opt-in. In hindsight, I can understand why they’d close it. The legal costs were ramping up, I’m guessing that the commissions they get weren’t very high, and it’s much harder to keep partnered with all of these companies than to let maintain a widget.

For a more detailed write-up of the settlemet, check out the article titled A Look at The Facebook Privacy Class Action Settlement from blawger Venkat Balasubramani.

I’d like more details about the privacy group the money will go towards, but it seems that’s not available yet.

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