Court Gives Early OK to Facebook's Beacon Settlement

A class action suit over Facebook's controversial Beacon program received preliminary approval in U.S. District Court, allowing the company to clear the matter without long -- and expensive -- court proceedings. The proposal (PDF), which was made public last month, calls for Facebook to discontinue Beacon and cough up $9.5 million to set up a nonprofit foundation to "fund projects and initiatives that promote the cause of online privacy, safety and security."