Einstein's Facebook Offer -- In the End, Will They Shmear You?

Don't get us wrong, we're all about a free lunch. Or even just a free bagel. But yesterday, when we -- along with hundreds of thousands of others, according to Einstein's -- went to sign up for a a free bagel and shmear (that's cream cheese to you, if you...

By Amy Silverman

January 26, 2010

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Don't get us wrong, we're all about a free lunch. Or even just a free bagel.

But yesterday, when we -- along with hundreds of thousands of others, according to Einstein's -- went to sign up for a a free bagel and shmear (that's cream cheese to you, if you were raised in Phoenix by gentile parents) on Einstein's Facebook page, we landed on an unappetizing message:

Allowing Free Bagel access will let it pull your profile information, photos, your friends' info, and other content that it requires to work.

We know -- there are strings attached to all of these deals. But this time? Um, no thanks. Maybe for a dozen bagels -- but only if you fly them in from H&H in Manhattan.

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Amy Silverman is the former managing editor of Phoenix New Times. She is a two-time winner of the Arizona Press Club’s Journalist of the Year award. Her work has appeared on the radio show This American Life and in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Lenny Letter, and Brain, Child.