Facebook reins in controversial tracking

NEW YORK, Nov. 30 (UPI) -- Facebook, the popular U.S. social networking Web site, said it was making a major change in its controversial new tracking program.

The move comes after the company was swamped by the second mass member protest in its short existence.

More than 50,000 Facebook members signed a petition in the past 10 days, objecting to a that which sends messages to users' friends about what they are buying on other Web sites. Introduced this month, it is viewed as an important test of online tracking, a popular advertising tactic.

The company responded to the petition by saying it would no longer send messages about users' Internet activities without getting explicit approval each time, The New York Times reported.

Facebook is run by Mark Zuckerberg, 23, who created it while an undergraduate at Harvard, and is free to its more than 50 million active members.