Facebook tracks you even after logging out

[NC Susan]

AP




EVERY STEP OF THE WAY: Mark Zuckerberg expounds on the new Facebook features at last week's launch.




Facebook tracks you even after logging out



ASHER MOSES
26/09/11
http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/digital-living/5686468/Facebook-tracks-you-even-after-logging-out





Digital living



An Australian technologist has caused a global stir after discovering Facebook tracks the websites its users visit even when they are logged out of the social networking site.

Separately, Facebook's new Timeline feature, launched last week, has been inadvertently accessed by users early, revealing a feature that allows people to see who removed them from their friends lists.
Facebook's changes - which turn profiles into a chronological scrapbook of the user's life - are designed to let its 800 million members share what they are reading, listening to or watching in real-time. But they have been met with alarm by some who fear over-sharing.
Of course, Facebook's bottom line improves the more users decide to share. Reports suggest that Facebook staff refer internally to "Zuck's law", which describes Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's belief that every year people share twice as much online - a trend that has seen Facebook's valuation skyrocket towards $US100 billion.

In alarming new revelations, Wollongong-based Nik Cubrilovic conducted tests which revealed that when you log out of Facebook, rather than deleting its tracking cookies the site merely modifies them, maintaining account information and other unique tokens that can be used to identify you.
Whenever you visit a web page that contains a Facebook button or widget, Cubrilovic says, your browser is still sending details of your movements back to Facebook.

"Even if you are logged out, Facebook still knows and can track every page you visit," Cubrilovic wrote in a blog post.
"The only solution is to delete every Facebook cookie in your browser, or to use a separate browser for Facebook interactions."
Cubrilovic is working on a new unnamed startup but has previously been involved with large technology blog TechCrunch and online storage company Omnidrive.
He backed up his claims with detailed technical information. His post was picked up by technology news sites around the world but Facebook has yet to provide a response to Fairfax Media and others.

Indeed, Cubrilovic said he tried to contact Facebook to inform them but didn't get a reply. He said there were significant risks to the privacy of users particularly those using public terminals to access Facebook.
"Facebook are front-and-center in the new privacy debate just as Microsoft were with security issues a decade ago," Cubrilovic said.
"The question is what it will take for Facebook to address privacy issues and to give their users the tools required to manage their privacy and to implement clear policies - not pages and pages of confusing legal documentation, and 'logout' not really meaning 'logout'."
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The office of the Australian Privacy Commissioner has been approached for comment.
The findings come after technology industry observer Dave Winer declared Facebook was scaring him because the new interface for third-party developers allows them to post items to your Facebook timeline without your intervention. This has been dubbed "frictionless sharing".
Meanwhile, Facebook's Timeline feature, which shows users a timeline of their activity on the site throughout the years, has not officially been switched on but many are using it already. Instructions can be found here.

But inadvertently or by design, the Timeline feature also let people to see which users had unfriended them by following a few simple steps:
1. Enable the new Timeline feature
2. Pick a year in the timeline and locate the Friends box
3. Click on "Made X New Friends"
4. Scroll through the list and when you see an "Add Friend" box, those are the people either you have unfriended or vice-versa.
However, it appears Facebook has now disabled this function, describing it to gadget blog Gizmodo as a "bug".
Finally, security researchers were quick to hose down a hoax that spread through the social network claiming that Facebook was planning to start charging users for the new features.


- Sydney Morning Herald

 

[NC Susan]

facebook cyberstalking

http://scripting.com/stories/2011/09/24/facebookIsScaringMe.html

Facebook is scaring me

By Dave Winer on Saturday, September 24, 2011 at 10:52 AM.
Yesterday I wrote that Twitter should be scared of Facebook. Today it's worse. I, as a mere user of Facebook, am seriously scared of them.


Every time they make a change, people get angry. I've never myself been angry because I have always assumed everything I post to Facebook is public. That the act of putting something there, a link, picture, mini-essay, is itself a public act.
This time, however, they're doing something that I think is really scary, and virus-like. The kind of behavior deserves a bad name, like phishing, or spam, or cyber-stalking.
What clued me in was an article on ReadWriteWeb that says that just reading an article on their site may create an announcement on Facebook. Something like: "Bull Mancuso just read a tutorial explaining how to kill a member of another crime family." Bull didn't comment. He didn't press a Like button. He just visited a web page. And an announcement was made on his behalf to everyone who follows him on Facebook.

Not just his friends, because now they have subscribers, who can be total strangers.


Now, I'm not technically naive. I understood before that the Like buttons were extensions of Facebook. They were surely keeping track of all the places I went. And if I went to places that were illegal, they would be reported to government agencies. Bull Mancuso in the example above has more serious things to worry about than his mother finding out that he's a hitman for the mob. (Both are fictitious characters, and in my little story his mom already knows he's a hitman.)
There could easily be lawsuits, divorces, maybe even arrests based on what's made public by Facebook.




People joke that privacy is over, but I don't think they imagined that the disclosures would be so proactive. They are seeking out information to report about you. That's different from showing people a picture that you posted yourself. If this were the government we'd be talking about the Fourth Amendment.
Also, I noted that I had somehow given access to my Facebook account to ReadWriteWeb. That's puzzling because I have no memory of having done that. And when I went to see what other organizations I had given access to my graph, there were lots of surprises. I think there's a good chance that by visiting a site you are now giving them access to lots more info about you. I could be mistaken about this.


And, until Facebook owns the browser we use, there is a simple way to opt-out, and I've done it myself. Log out of Facebook. And if Facebook had a shred of honor they would make their cookie expire, right now, for everyone, and require a re-log-in, and a preference choice to stay permanently logged-in. With a warning about the new snooping they're doing. Probably a warning not written by them, but by Berkman, the EFF or the FTC. (Yes, dear Republicans, I trust a bureaucrat more than I trust a tech exec in Silicon Valley.)




One more thing. Facebook doesn't have a web browser, yet, but Google does. It may not be possible to opt-out of Google's identity system and all the information gathering it does, if you're a Chrome user.


PS: There's a Hacker News thread on this piece. It's safe to click on that link (as far as I know).


Update: Nik Cubrilovic says that logging out of Facebook is not enough.

 

[blueberry]

Not sure if this connects to the story or not, but here goes .... My mother (who does not have a computer) asked me to search for a certain pair of shoes for her. She wanted a certain style (very old lady style... laugh) in gray. I found them, and sent her the info.

Now every time I am on Facebook, I am bombarded with advertisements for "old lady" shoes. Several of the advertisements are for the same stores I searched. They must have cookies of steel.

 

[NC Susan]

someone here on tb2k last week mentioned the "Super-Cookies" and that there is a way to delete them each time you power off the program. No, these are not regular cookies that you can clear from the tools menue. I am wondering if this isnt some of the new stalking software mentioned in the original post.

I did change my facebook reception language to British English instead of US English and that restored my fb page to what we had last month (linked threads with comments posted by time) instead of the disassociated algorythem thingee that 86% of users are pissed off about.

 

[LeafyForest]

http://scripting.com/stories/2011/09/24/facebookIsScaringMe.html
Facebook is scaring me

Update: Nik Cubrilovic says that logging out of Facebook is not enough.

I would love to know how to get out of FB. I did log out a few weeks ago, asking to be removed, as I didn't want it anymore, and yesterday got an e-mail from FB that I hadn't been there for awhile and had friends waiting for me. Went to my name, was still there, and found lots of people writing on it, that I didn't even know, and I thought I was gone from it. I would love to know how to get totally away from it - anyone know?

 

[Hickory7]

I am doing this.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=16929680703

It says to follow the directions and then not log in for two weeks. IF you do, then it will re-open your acct.

 

[duchess47]

Sorry - couldn't resist - posted on Facebook

Tomorrow Facebook will change its privacy settings to allow Mark Zuckerberg to come into your house while you sleep, and eat your brains with a grapefruit spoon. To stop this from happening, go to "Account> Home Invasion Settings> Cannibalism> Brains" and uncheck the "Tasty" box...

 

[LeafyForest]

I am doing this.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=16929680703
It says to follow the directions and then not log in for two weeks. IF you do, then it will re-open your acct.

Hickory7 - Thanks so very much - am going to try it right away!

 

[NC Susan]

How did i ever miss that one ??

Sorry - couldn't resist - posted on Facebook

"Tomorrow Facebook will change its privacy settings to allow Mark Zuckerberg to come into your house while you sleep, and eat your brains with a grapefruit spoon. To stop this from happening, go to "Account> Home Invasion Settings> Cannibalism> Brains" and un-check the "Tasty" box..."

 

[blueberry]

Last weekend, I browsed through J.C. Penney’s website, so I was not surprised when Facebook had Penney’s banners at the bottom of each page.

Last night, for some unknown reason , I added my college to my Facebook profile, along with the year I graduated. Today, there is an advertisement from Professional Biographies (a career advancement site) on my page. At the top of the advertisement is a banner that says, *(my university) Grads Wanted*.

This means they are going into our personal profiles to gather information to advertising information.

 

[seeking one]

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011...-profiles-non-members-experts-allege/#content

I tried to copy the article, but cannot figure out how to do it without allowing popups and I NEVER allow popups since one gave me a virus a couple of years ago. Good article about the Irish clamping down on privacy violations by Facebook.

I don't and won't use it ever, but I am apparently on their list as I keep getting "invitations" which would only get to me if FB stole my meat world friends email address book(s). Scummy folks at Facebook for sure beginning with Zuckerberg the theif.

 

[raftermancolo]

Unless you delete all of your pictures/posts/friends and everything else in your profile and leave it as a blank shell, it will stay there.

I would love to know how to get out of FB. I did log out a few weeks ago, asking to be removed, as I didn't want it anymore, and yesterday got an e-mail from FB that I hadn't been there for awhile and had friends waiting for me. Went to my name, was still there, and found lots of people writing on it, that I didn't even know, and I thought I was gone from it. I would love to know how to get totally away from it - anyone know?

The reason is that Facebook gets its large subscriber base by not deleting old profiles. That way they can artificially inflate their user base. So instead of their published 800 million users, they may truly only have 700 million. And since they are now public, the larger the user base the better they look.

 

[tuppy11]

thanks for the info

 

[FarOut]

someone here on tb2k last week mentioned the "Super-Cookies" and that there is a way to delete them each time you power off the program. No, these are not regular cookies that you can clear from the tools menue. I am wondering if this isnt some of the new stalking software mentioned in the original post.

They are called "flash cookies" since the use the Flash player settings to infest your computer. You must remove both regular cookies and flash cookies or they can rewrite each other and flash cookies can also be used to track you at different websites (which is what Facebook does). Go to http://www.consumersoft.com/freeware.asp and get their Flash Cookie Cleaner (after install turn off the splash screen for no ads) to remove them.

 

[NC Susan]

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011...-profiles-non-members-experts-allege/#content... I tried to copy the article, but cannot figure out how to do it without allowing popups and I NEVER allow popups since one gave me a virus a couple of years ago.

Here ya go SeekingOne ->

Facebook Building 'Shadow Profiles' of Non-Members, Experts Allege

By Gene J. Koprowski
http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2011/10...-profiles-non-members-experts-allege/#content
Published October 21, 2011

FoxNews.com

Facebook Privacy

A Facebook user edits privacy settings. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Sean Kilpatrick)

Eight hundred million users are not enough. Facebook, the world's biggest social network, is now building profiles of non-users who haven't even signed up, an international privacy watchdog charges.

The sensational claim is made in a complaint filed in August by Ireland’s Data Protection Commissioner. It alleges that users are encouraged to hand over the personal data of other people -- including names, phone numbers, email addresses and more -- which Facebook is using to create "extensive profiles" of non-users.

Facebook categorically denies the allegation, but experts tell FoxNews.com that it could well be true.

“There can be little doubt that Facebook collects from its current users information about individuals who are not currently Facebook users, and collects from its current users information about other Facebook users,” said Kelly Kubasta, who heads the Dallas law firm Klemchuk Kubasta’s social media division.

Ciara O'Sullivan, a spokeswoman for Ireland's Office of the Data Protection Commissioner, told FoxNews.com that its audit of Facebook Ireland's privacy policies was part of a "statutory investigation" that the office anticipates will lead to immediate changes.

"The Office of the Data Protection Commissioner will be commencing a comprehensive audit of Facebook Ireland before the end of the month," O’Sullivan said.

But Facebook flat-out denies that it is creating "shadow profiles" and tracking users and non-users alike.

"The allegations are false," Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes told FoxNews.com. "We enable you to send emails to your friends, inviting them to join Facebook. We keep the invitee's email address and name to let you know when they join the service. This practice is common among almost all services that involve invitations -- from document sharing to event planning."

"The assertion that Facebook is doing some sort of nefarious profiling is simply wrong," Noyes added.

Furthermore, Facebook says that no information it receives from users is employed to target ads, and that it does not resell information from users to third parties. The company prominently posts its established privacy policy on its Web site.

But that isn’t what they’re thinking in Ireland. The complaint makes clear that it believes Facebook is doing just that -- and enumerates several scenarios that would give any social-networker shivers.

“Facebook Ireland is gathering excessive amounts of information about data subjects without notice or consent by the data subject," the complaint states, adding that in many cases the information "might be embarrassing or intimidating for the data subject. This information might also constitute sensitive data such as political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, sexual orientation and so forth."

European law carries heavy penalties for companies that violate "information privacy" laws -- in contrast to the relatively lax U.S. laws. But the U.S. has issues with Facebook as well: Privacy rights litigation is proceeding in Mississippi, Louisiana, Kansas and Kentucky. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is also probing complaints about Palo Alto-based Facebook, while Congress is calling for an inquiry.


Kubasta noted that -- for better or for worse -- Facebook's best defense may be a good offense. After all, it's not alone: Several other websites are undertaking this kind of tracking as well.

“Regardless of what Facebook is doing, many websites collect and propagate personally identifiable information about individuals who have not entered into any agreement with the website. Just a few examples include Spokeo, iSearch, WhitePages.com,” Kubasta told FoxNews.com.

"In other words, ‘the horse may be out of the barn,’” he said.

Noyes told FoxNews.com Facebook's features are "consistent with people's expectations. We look forward to making these and other clarifications to the Irish DPA."

Other experts say these lawsuits may be at the forefront of a new trend -- increased consumer demand for data privacy online, and improved corporate response to those demands.

Marilyn Prosch, co-founder of the Privacy by Design Research Lab at Arizona State University, has conducted extensive research on online privacy, electronic commerce and other IT subjects.

She is working with social media and other online industry leaders to create guidelines for businesses worldwide to effectively protect personal data.

“Privacy assurance must ideally become an organization’s default mode of operation,” Prosch told FoxNews.com.

 

[NC Susan]

Facebook loses users to other social networks

Published: 19 July, 2012, 00:14


If Facebook had a “dislike” button, the social media giant would have the most clicks. A new report shows that the company may be nearing the end of its timeline, setting a record low among social media sites.

After a year of radical changes to the world’s largest social media website, Facebook’s reputation is dwindling, with user satisfaction falling below Twitter, LinkedIN and Google Plus.

With users deactivating their accounts out of privacy concerns and frustration with interface changes and advertisements, Facebook’s endless transformations may do itself more harm than good.

Facebook scored 61 out of 100 in customer satisfaction among active users, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index. While Twitter and LinkedIN scored only slightly higher, Pinterest received a score of 69 and YouTube received 73.

The winners? Google+ and Wikipedia, tying at 78 points.

With the recent launch of Timeline and frequent privacy changes, the company is under heavy criticism.

“Why do people leave?”asked Bianca Bosker, an editor at The Huffington Post,“Lack of trust, mostly – a sense that Facebook can’t be depended on to protect our personal information and will sell us out to make a buck.”

Facebook attracts advertisers and app makers, using information that it gathers about its users’ friendships, interests and activities.

Some users are also heavily irritated by the advertisements that plague their newsfeeds and profiles.

"The advertising becomes more intrusive in the newsfeed,"said Debra Williamson, a social media advertising analyst."Facebook has just started to roll ads out in the newsfeed in the past few months, but the ads look just like any other post on Facebook, they're made not to be blaring or glaring in your face.”

Facebook’s disappointing public offering may also bring insight into its fading reputation. The company’s stock value plunged 26 percent since May, falling from its initial $38 per share to just over $28 per share – a risk that made Facebook appear too financially driven.

But even after a year of continuous transformations, Facebook is planning yet another dramatic change, thereby ruining part of the appeal of “Facebook stalking.” Starting July 11, posts made in Facebook groups are showing which users have viewed each post – making anonymous browsing virtually impossible.

Facebook also plans to feature engagement and wedding announcements in the same area that currently features birthdays – bringing ones relationship further into the cyber spotlight.

Although the company is desperately striving to rekindle user satisfaction through innovative changes, its attempts are simply making it “trendy” to (dis)Like Facebook. More than a third of Facebook users are spending less time on the site now than they were six months ago.

“These days, discontent with Facebook seems more the rule than the exception,”Bosker writes.

While many users rely on the network to stay in touch with their friends, it may not be long before the former king of social media passes on its crown to another platform.

“It’s worth asking how much customer satisfaction matters for Facebook, given its unrivaled 800 million user base,”Larry Freed, president and CEO of ForeSee told Fox News.“If Facebook doesn’t feel the pressure to improve customer satisfaction now, that may soon change.”

http://rt.com/usa/news/facebook-social-media-satisfaction-518/

 

[My Adonai]

I use FB as a Christian witnessing tool, as i have many unsaved relatives and some unsaved friends. However,it is getting more 'spooky' all the while. There must be a connection between my yahoo mail, and FB because 'potential' friend's names come up that FB would have NO WAY of knowing, but are connections from my email friends...and this might be a ONE TIME email to an acquaintance, whom I'll never email again. FB has this one time email 'friend' pop up. This seriously bothers me.

 

[Penguin Zen]

This is really scarey

 

[seeking one]

If you use Facebook, ALL of your personal information is in the public domain now including any pictures of you and/or your children. If you plan to go on a family vacation and post that info on your page, that information can be used to rob your house. Nothing you put on Facebook is safe, and Facebook adds their own information about you to any other information they collect about you from the internet and any public databases to complile a Complete Dossier.

I don't and won't help any company to violate my privacy which Facebook does to all its members on a regular basis. Mark Zuckerberg is a theif, liar and cheat, and has been sued by multiple former partners and has lost every case in court. What would you expect his company to be?

 

[SouthAl]

Use Firefox and the Ghostery add-on; stops most of this FB following.

 

[MidnightTide]

Ghostery is an awesome add on to firefox, you can find out what tracking cookies a site has.

I would also install a flash / javascript blocker.

Also an ad blocker (you can tell it to allow ads for sites you wish to support)

 

[kyrsyan]

Collusion is also an addon that will show you which site has tracking cookies on you and who they are connected to. After using it I realized that Facebook and Google are relatively harmless compared to the other companies that no one knows about. I found cookies from a ton of data mining companies. So I installed a cookie blocker that deals with regular cookies as well as flash cookies. And I frequently clear the cookies while I'm browsing.
As far as tracking me, well I must be doing something right because the only friends that Facebook or Google+ offer me are those who are friends of people I have already friended. (And isn't that sentence confusing.) I don't think I've completely avoided anything but I try to be cautious about what I do. And everything about my profile is set so that only friends can find me.

 

[Garryowen]

Collusion is also an addon that will show you which site has tracking cookies on you and who they are connected to. After using it I realized that Facebook and Google are relatively harmless compared to the other companies that no one knows about. I found cookies from a ton of data mining companies. So I installed a cookie blocker that deals with regular cookies as well as flash cookies. And I frequently clear the cookies while I'm browsing.
As far as tracking me, well I must be doing something right because the only friends that Facebook or Google+ offer me are those who are friends of people I have already friended. (And isn't that sentence confusing.) I don't think I've completely avoided anything but I try to be cautious about what I do. And everything about my profile is set so that only friends can find me.

firefox is showing that there are eight trackers on this page. I don't know if I brought them with me or if they are somehow here. This is very unusual.

 

[MidnightTide]

Those eight trackers aren't really dangerous (and site gotta pay the bills you know)

 

[NC Susan]