The comments that people leave on blogs and news sites scattered across the Web might soon (and presumably with their permission) be tied their Facebook profiles.  A rumor’s indicated that Facebook will unveil a third-party commenting system in the near future.

Caroline McCarthy wrote this afternoon, "Facebook is planning to launch a third-party commenting system in a matter of weeks, according to multiple sources familiar with the new product.  This new technology could see Facebook as the engine behind the comments system on many high-profile blogs and other digital publications very soon."

Then McCarthy continued, "[I]t’s conceivable that the whole thing could look quite a bit like TimesPeople, a commenting and social news system that The New York Times launched several years ago for its own publication."

That would represent a big step for the social network.  On the one hand, if it succeeded in finding a lot of partners, it would further integrate itself into people’s daily lives and increase its value as a company.  On the other, Facebook would almost surely see resistance from privacy advocates who don’t want it to have access to any more info.

Even ordinary people might not want to be connected to a lot of the random comments they make on different sites, for that matter.

We’ll see what happens and be sure to report any significant updates.