Facebook tracks you all the time

turtlesrock · September 30, 2011, 08:31:30 PM

yeesh. i had a facebook account months back but then deleted it after hearing stories on how it does bad things.
this just seems creepy. knowing where people are all the time. could be useful for police though....

ElfManDan · October 01, 2011, 12:02:17 AM

Well alright, I got nothing to hide. I don't do anything online that I would regret anyone knowing about. I mean I see why people wouldn't like this, and maybe they shouldn't do it. Though I've suspected it might be the case since I got the thing with the common ads I get related to pages I visit.

ori-STUDFARM · October 01, 2011, 04:41:20 AM

Provided these cookies don't slow my computer down, I'm fine too. I use it as an way to communicate in public with family and friends....and I always keep in mind that it is open for all to see.....and besides, my fetish sites aren't showing on my Facebook page. (Did I say that out loud!! lol)

The only thing that bothers me is Facebooks insistance that I shouldn't be able to see ALL friends postings in CHRONOLGICAL order. It keeps telling me that my cousins choice of sandwich for the day is an important story and forgets to tell me about friends graduation pictures being available to see.

The only way I've found of doing this is by making a new list called EVERYONE with all friends manually selected to be included on it. But then it doesn't show posting from groups I am in.

Rico · October 01, 2011, 05:18:41 AM

I guess two things bug me the most about all this. First, they don't make it obvious they are doing this and many won't even know it. The other thing is, I don't want to start getting a lot of junk email, maybe even junk mail related to my searches on the latest topic I'm looking up, etc. I wish everything was private by default and you actually had to turn features like this on. Kind of like Google + is doing. I know that's true with certain things about Facebook, but not everything. The whole thing just has too much of a "crazy stalker" feel to it for me.

ElfManDan · October 01, 2011, 08:51:02 PM

Quote from: ori-STUDFARM on October 01, 2011, 04:41:20 AM
Provided these cookies don't slow my computer down, I'm fine too. I use it as an way to communicate in public with family and friends....and I always keep in mind that it is open for all to see.....and besides, my fetish sites aren't showing on my Facebook page. (Did I say that out loud!! lol)

The only thing that bothers me is Facebooks insistance that I shouldn't be able to see ALL friends postings in CHRONOLGICAL order. It keeps telling me that my cousins choice of sandwich for the day is an important story and forgets to tell me about friends graduation pictures being available to see.

The only way I've found of doing this is by making a new list called EVERYONE with all friends manually selected to be included on it. But then it doesn't show posting from groups I am in.

Yeah I spent like an hour trying to find a way to shut that new feature off. With no luck. I shrunk that box down as small as I could get it. And frankly I want my old chat box back with lists. I had a good system and now it's all screwed up.

Rico · October 03, 2011, 08:41:02 AM

Here's an easy solution for this. Delete all your cookies in the standard browser you normally use for Facebook. You can try and pick and choose the Facebook ones, but you may miss something. Then load up another browser you never use (maybe IE, maybe Opera, etc...). Then only log into Facebook in this "alternative browser." Use that browser for Facebook only - basically. Boom - problem solved! :)

billybob476 · October 03, 2011, 09:31:07 AM

You can actually set your browser to clear cookies every time you close it.

Rico · October 03, 2011, 12:25:38 PM

Quote from: billybob476 on October 03, 2011, 09:31:07 AM
You can actually set your browser to clear cookies every time you close it.

Yes, of course. But I don't want to remove all my cookies. Just the bad, nasty ones like Facebook! :)

turtlesrock · October 03, 2011, 06:55:36 PM

Quote from: Rico on October 03, 2011, 12:25:38 PM
Quote from: billybob476 on October 03, 2011, 09:31:07 AM
You can actually set your browser to clear cookies every time you close it.

Yes, of course. But I don't want to remove all my cookies. Just the bad, nasty ones like Facebook! :)

...because chocolate chip is too good to filter ;)

Rico · November 16, 2011, 08:32:54 AM

More info on Facebook tracking your web activity...

The social networking site, whose profits come primarily from advertising, had been vague about its collection of tracking data. But it now acknowledges it can use cookies to create a 90-day log of where each of its members have gone on the Web after visiting a Facebook page, USA Today reports.....

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2011/11/16/Facebook-tracking-raises-privacy-concerns/UPI-25921321458389/#ixzz1dt2c0OUq

spaltor · November 16, 2011, 09:19:08 AM

Lots of websites do this, they just don't get as much press as Facebook. Google actually pushes it on advertisers. You can drop cookies on someone's browser just for visiting a site - not even logging in - and have a record of where they go, what they search for, etc. Then serve them ads on related searches up to 6 months later. If you enter your name and address on one site that drops a cookie, and then continue to browse, these companies now have your information and a list of supposed interests that they can sell to telemarketing firms and direct mail lists.

I do a lot of paid search marketing and my Google reps have been pushing this on me for months, but I keep resisting setting up those content ads. They went so far as to create a campaign for me and try to talk me into enabling it. And I'm sure there are a lot of companies out there who are not resisting this type of "marketing." And, if Facebook is to be believed, their use of this information is a lot less creepy than these marketers. So, I would be much more concerned with regular advertisers having a log of your online activity than Facebook.

Rico · November 30, 2011, 08:34:47 AM

I agree, a lot of websites do this. But, that doesn't make it right. This is going to become even more of an issue as time goes on and more people learn just how unsecure and open things are when they go online unless you take precautions.

Looks like Facebook is in the news again about this subject:

http://news.businessweek.com/article.asp?documentKey=1376-LVG0I60YHQ0Y01-1GK6NCN9BEJPQPA4R5GP7JVGNN

KingIsaacLinksr · November 30, 2011, 09:22:08 AM

Yeah, read about this. Kinda same-old, same-old all over again as far as Facebook is concerned. =\

King