Damien Mulley posted an unimpeachably comprehensive look at the hyper-targeting ad programme that Facebook’s exponentially growing popularity - 167,000 Irish users and growing, according to my former colleague - is making possible. For advertisers it seems like a dream come true.

Maybe more of a nightmare for the advertisees, however.

Earlier this week privacy advocates started to get the heebie-jeebies about the formerly clean-cut Harvard-bred do-no-wrong social networking star when they realised that Facebook was tracking (and posting) users’ visits to non-Facebook websites, alongside ads for those websites or related services and *pictures of the Facebook user*.

As the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday (subs req - at least until Rupert gets full control next month, after which he’s said he’ll remove the subs wall):

Some users of the Facebook Inc. Web site have been startled by a new feature that tracks their activity outside of the site and shows it to their friends — renewing questions about the privacy implications of a growing practice of exploiting personal information in online advertising.

The social-networking service earlier this month began posting updates about users’ activities on Web sites outside of Facebook and on commercial pages within Facebook — in some cases, alongside ads from the companies behind those Web sites or pages. Facebook is posting users’ photos alongside certain advertisements, another feature that has alarmed some privacy advocates and users.

For instance, a user who logs on to Facebook might see an update in a section of the site called the “news feed” noting the movie a friend rented from an online site, along with a photo of that friend and a movie-rental ad.

Jeez, I don’t know about you, but I know a few people who wouldn’t like their video rental habits broadcast to anyone who might want to know. Even if it’s opt-in, it just seems like a train wreck.

Isn’t this exactly the sort of abuse of trust everyone has been afraid Google would commit all these years?

**UPDATE: Missed on the first read. *There is no opt-out for the service*. Again, the WSJ:

Users can’t opt out of the program, called “Facebook Beacon,” altogether. Instead, they have to opt out on a case-by-case basis when they use one of the outside sites.

Bad, bad, bad, bad move by Facebook? Your thoughts most welcome in email or in comments for use in future article - pls specify if you wouldn’t like to be quoted.