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by thehotdon 5594 days ago
I wouldn't be surprised if facebook just "borrows" the idea and implements it on their own. They would have a significant advantage due to the lack of API restrictions.
3 comments

I think FB would get some bad press if they offered a feature like this directly. Not for screwing over a developer (nobody but other developers care about that), but for the privacy violation/stalking feel the whole thing has.
You say that as if bad press or privacy concerns have had any impact on Facebook thus far.
Are you serious? Beacon is gone. When the privacy stuff was hitting the fan, they designed/engineered a totally new privacy console in a week.

They ignore bad press and privacy concerns in order to move the project forward in major ways. Like adding News Feeds, or allowing entirely classes of API interaction (Beacon). They don't do it for little features like breakup notifications.

Neither would I. And they'd be within their rights to do it: a good idea is a good idea, regardless of whence it came.
I wouldn't say that's why it was shut down but facebook data gurus must be intimately aware of stalking as a huge traffic driver and this app tapped directly into that vein. I think other people have already mentioned this application siphoning traffic from their main user landing pages and that's probably why it was shut down.