Tech | February 16, 2013 | 37 comments

Facebook Sees Everything You Do

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FreeSpiritMuse
Remember that Coke “security camera” Super Bowl commercial this year, whose premise was “Your every move is being watched, but look! Hugging!” ? That, coupled with the latest news that Facebook tracks where users go on the internet even after they’ve logged off the site, for “security reasons,” is enough to make us develop more than a few fantasies about being stranded on a wireless signal and WiFi-less island, Robinson Crusoe style.

From The Wall Street Journal:

Facebook on Monday defended its practice of gathering data from “Like” buttons even after users have logged out, saying that the collection is part of a system to prevent improper logins and that the information is quickly deleted not all of the data is logged….

Here’s how the Facebook data collection works: When you log in to Facebook or visit Facebook.com without logging in, the site places small files called “cookies” on your computer. Some of these cookies remain on your computer even after you log out, and then whenever you visit a site that connects to Facebook – such as those with a “Like” button – information from those cookies is sent back to Facebook, providing a record of where you’ve been on the Web.
Um, that is terrifying. And this comes after Facebook, facing another wave of criticism, stopped gathering on users who have never visited Facebook.com at all.
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37 comments // Facebook Sees Everything You Do

  • bailey78
  • FreeSpiritMuse
  • bailey78
  • Des_Akkari
    • +3
      Des_Akkari  
    • If this is news to you....its already too late. Definitely don't install the app on your phone and FreeSpiritMuse has some GREAT suggestions below. Outside of that....they watch and listen to everything...so just know that someone is always looking at everything you do and they DON''T need FB to do it. I am a Comp Sci grad and trust me FB is the tip of the iceberg.

      After reading the below comments, please listen....I care about all of you (except a few)....I am a computer programmer for 15 years. Take it from me and pass it along. THERE IS NO PRIVACY ONLINE!!! Unless you buy a computer in cash and under a fake name, with no paid internet connection that you paid for EVER....they know who you are and what your doing ALWAYS. Imagine they are looking over you shoulder all the time. So when you comment, just know that they can read it and will use it if they choose to take you down. Once they know your computer they track packets not FB. Rest assured if you were threatening to their establishment, they will come for you regardless.

    • 3 months ago
  • FreeSpiritMuse
    • 0
      FreeSpiritMuse  
    • Des_Akkari:

      Actually I'm surprised how some people here openly express in writing on the internet, what kind of guns they have, how many they have and how prepared they are too get into it with the Govt. Seems to me like their making Big Brothers job easy.

    • 3 months ago
  • Des_Akkari
    • 0
      Des_Akkari  
    • FreeSpiritMuse:

      Very true, and I do say a little too much myself at times....but never anything direct or actionable, per se. But if the prison industrial complex is allowed to get any bigger, I am sure I will be rounded up....which probably why I am only on this site, with my angry opinions, at times, because I live in NZ. I say just enough from here to stay off their radar....but who knows I haven't been back in 5 years, who knows what I will go thru at customs.

    • 3 months ago
  • FreeSpiritMuse
    • +2
      FreeSpiritMuse  
    • Recommendations

      There are a few options one use to continue to use Facebook but maintain certain degrees of privacy:

      HackerNews reports using Adblock Plus with Facebook rules added will do the trick:
      ||facebook.com^$domain=~facebook.com|~facebook.net|~fbcdn.com|~fbcdn.net
      ||facebook.net^$domain=~facebook.com|~facebook.net|~fbcdn.com|~fbcdn.net
      ||fbcdn.com^$domain=~facebook.com|~facebook.net|~fbcdn.com|~fbcdn.net
      ||fbcdn.net^$domain=~facebook.com|~facebook.net|~fbcdn.com|~fbcdn.net

      You could have a “Facebook-Only” browser. In other words, use Firefox, Chrome, Safari, or whatever as your default browser. When you want to interact with Facebook, simply open up Opera or another browser for your social networking. Don’t surf the web on it, just use it for Facebook browsing. If you want to “Like” a web page, open it in your Facebook browser.

      Clear/block cookies. It’s a simple fix, but for many it’s inconvenient to constantly clear cookies. Still, it works (for now).

      Use private browsing options on your browser (as mentioned by Dave Hanron below). It’s my least favorite method as it disables some things that many people like such as history, but it’s definitely the most private way to surf.

      Is Facebook evil? Greed over money and power are not necessarily evil, but they can drive people and companies to do evil things. This is one of them. There is nothing that they can say to convince us that this was anything other than a move to accumulate as much data as possible about us.

      http://soshable.com/facebook-tracking/

    • 3 months ago
  • Tayllerand
  • ThirdSection
  • cw9000
  • Leen61
  • Des_Akkari
  • Des_Akkari
  • letsliveinpeace
  • matka
  • ThirdSection
  • jimstoner
    • +5
      jimstoner  
    • I have never used Facebook. Can they see me too? Did they trespass on my property and leave a surveillance device behind? Yes they did according to ThirdSection. How can that possibly be a moral thing to do let alone a legal one.

    • 3 months ago
  • ThirdSection
    • +2
      ThirdSection  
    • If you're using Firefox, and you want to block Facebook cookies specifically without blocking all of them, here's what you do:

      1. Open up the preferences

      2. Click on the Privacy tab

      3. Under History, select "Use custom settings for history" from the dropdown menu.

      4. Next to "Accept cookies from sites," click "Exceptions..."

      5. In "Address of website:" type "facebook.com" (without the quotes).

      6. Click "Block" and you're done!

      I suggest doing this even if, like me, you're not on Facebook, because before I did this, I found cookies from Facebook on MY system.

    • 3 months ago
  • FreeSpiritMuse
  • ThirdSection
  • FreeSpiritMuse
  • Des_Akkari
  • Mark701
    • +7
      Mark701  
    • Image
    • If you use FireFox as a browser go to this website and download "Do Not Track Me". It's a free download. What it does is monitor and block ALL sites that attempt to track you, lists who trying to track you, and keeps a running count of the number of times it's blocked companies from tracking you.

      http://abine.com/products.php

      I had it on my browser for about at year and have stopped approximately 60,000 (seriously) attempts to track me. When I opened the Current web just now it blocked 6 attempts to track me. Not too bad actually. If you go to a MSM website you'll have 12-15 companies attempting to track you.

    • 3 months ago
  • ThirdSection
  • FreeSpiritMuse
  • TanzaniteDiamonds
  • pjacobs51
  • YourTaxes_MyPaycheck
    • -1
      YourTaxes_MyPaycheck  
    • pjacobs51:

      And you believe doing that turns things OFF eh? I suppose you think turning off the microphone and camera also works. I used to think that too.

      What if the Operating System is in cahoots with them and has a little command tucked inside to shield them from those cancellation commands?

      What if Bill Gates sold you out so they would allow him to Succeed in his endeavors and be rich so many years ago?

      What if the motherboard manufacturers have added a chip that gives certain people the right to do all that stuff, or to shut down your computer any time they choose?

      What if they don't like you and send a signal through that hits your brain and makes you go suddenly unconscious and drops your ass like a sack of potatoes across some metal on the floor, like a computer case with the side off and turned upward like a guillotine?

      Ever been guillotined across a computer case on the floor?

      Your phone is also always listening, even when turned Off. When you're walking around with your phone, or driving with your GPS car, the cellphone towers have to ping your devices every few seconds to know where you are at all times, so the GPS remains accurate, at all times.

      While they're turned off you're being subjected to radiation, they pick up your every move in the room, know where you are in your room, and can drop ya across anything anywhere or wreck your car while driving down the highway.

      If they don't like you.

    • 3 months ago
  • Vortices
  • SamuraiDave
    • +7
      SamuraiDave  
    • People worried about a government sponsored "Big Brother" need to realize the government almost any government is irrelevant now. We are living in the age of Big Brother, Inc.

    • 3 months ago
  • MSII
  • FreeSpiritMuse
    • +4
      FreeSpiritMuse  
    • SamuraiDave:

      Big Brother, Facebook, they're all the same. The lines between personal information and social networking are so blurred, people don't seem to care anymore that most of our activities are being monitored 24/7.

    • 3 months ago
  • Leen61
  • FreeSpiritMuse
    • 0
      FreeSpiritMuse  
    • Leen61:

      Every day I see toddlers in carriages, holding Mom or Dad's i(know every move you make) phone. There playing, giggling, be entertained. They learn early on. In the elevator at a clinic recently a woman had no problem talking about her upcoming surgery. Oh, she was having her tubes tied.............yes, we were all held captive to the details.

      Even worse, are the people you can overhear giving out their telephone number, address and I've even clearly heard social securities numbers. On public transportation? It's just part of a bigger and ever growing issue of how much we open our lives up to the world (including the government).

      Identity theft is no joke. We're becoming to relaxed about some things that are slowly, carefully being put in place. 1984 is real.

    • 3 months ago
  • Leen61
    • +2
      Leen61  
    • FreeSpiritMuse:

      FSM,
      It's this exhibitionist society we live in and the flip side being people's voyeuristic tendencies. They want to know about everybody's most intimate details and in turn broadcast their own to the world. Today's youth already grow up programmed to have no real privacy while being entertained with electronic gadgets.

    • 3 months ago
  • matka
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