Facebook Big Brother Is Watching You

[Vigilante]

So...

Today I was on a web site checking something out.

A few hours later, I logged into Facebook.

There, in the Facebook advertising on the right column of the page, was the company and item that I had visited earlier in the day, with a 10% discount coupon. Photo of the exact item I had been researching, from the web site I was researching it on.

So, Facebook has access to the cookies from web sites I visit off of Facebook?

Someone smarter than me please explain to me what the hell is going on, as this disturbed me greatly.

My terms of service with Facebook have given them access to non-facebook activities I am involved in?

?

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[InMotion]

Are you logged into your g**gle account while you surf? I dont log into g**le when I am not checking my email because that's one way they get you.

 

[Mike39]

"Things like cookies and pixels are used to understand and deliver ads and make them more relevant to you.

For example, we may read a cookie so we can show you ads that may be interesting to you on Facebook or other websites. We may also use a cookie to learn whether someone who saw an ad on Facebook later visited the advertiser’s site. Similarly, our partners may use a cookie or another similar technology to determine whether we’ve shown an ad and how it performed or provide us with information about how you interact with them. We also may work with a partner to show you an ad on or off Facebook, such as after you’ve visited the partner’s site or app and this may involve the use of cookies, local storage on your device or other similar technologies."

https://www.facebook.com/help/cookies

 

[Vigilante]

So google shares the web sites that I visit with Facebook? Assholes. All of them. I am NOT a fan of that.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[InMotion]

So google shares the web sites that I visit with Facebook? Assholes. All of them. I am NOT a fan of that.

I cant say for certain but maybe this will help. Maybe Facebook is doing something similar.
Google's New Privacy Policy: How to Stay Off the Grid | PCWorld

 

[MJ DeMarco]

please explain to me what the hell is going on

Yup, on both accounts -- Google and Facebook will probe your computer for cookies to see what to advertise.

The same thing happens with Google -- right now in my right side bar is an ad for insurance because I was recently searching for it -- and the exact company I visited.

The only defense is to make sure you are logged out on both networks while searching, and put cookie acceptance to a high level.

 

[FionaS]

Gotta love it, eh?

On my browser I use Do Not Track Me, which blocks a lot of tracking attempts... over 114k tracking attempts so far, many from Google/Facebook. I haven't even had it that long, either.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Mike39]

There is a clear need for internet privacy now and it will only grow exponentially into the future as technology engulfs more and more of our daily lives. (Hint hint to all you idea-less people out there)

Gotta love it, eh?

On my browser I use Do Not Track Me, which blocks a lot of tracking attempts... over 114k tracking attempts so far, many from Google/Facebook. I haven't even had it that long, either.

Downloaded it, thanks!

 

[BeingChewsie]

It is quite creepy. In fact last night I was watching an interview on mixergy with Devin Dickinson of Safety Services Company and about 10 minutes into the interview, my smartphone on my desk whistled a message at me....it was google telling how long it would take me to get to Safety Services Company's office in Tempe on the I-10...and offered up my little navi option. Great, except I NEVER asked google for that information. It kind of freaked me out. They know everything.

Sue

 

[InMotion]

It is quite creepy. In fact last night I was watching an interview on mixergy with Devin Dickinson of Safety Services Company and about 10 minutes into the interview, my smartphone on my desk whistled a message at me....it was google telling how long it would take me to get to Safety Services Company's office in Tempe on the I-10...and offered up my little navi option. Great, except I NEVER asked google for that information. It kind of freaked me out. They know everything.

wow they have really up'd their game. I should mention youtube also does what Vig was saying as you may have already noticed; everyone needs a cookie monster.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Vigilante]

Great. Now I am going to get spam advertised for bald midget porn on inflatable farm animals. Time to erase my cache.

 

[GuestUser8117]

Correction, *google is watching you.

 

[InMotion]

Is there an app where you can send them all back a middle finger? :fu:

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Vigilante]

I faxed this to some over aggressive collector from UPS's international division yesterday. It went over pretty well. She then called to tell me that my message was inappropriate (oh, and childish), so I had the privilege of sending her the same message over the phone.

 

[InMotion]

Nice one. Got any with bald midgets???

 

[yahdmon]

Private Tunnel

Yes... there is.

It is called Virtual Private Network (VPN) and it secures you with a shield that is more secure and feature packed than any Firewall that is available to the consumer right now.

Is there an app where you can send them all back a middle finger? :fu:

This (VPN) had been very expensive, still is to some extent, and as such was only affordable by entities larger than the single person. That is about to change, I believe, as persons like yourself become more conscious and demanding of security and privacy on the internet. If you are really serious about control of your privacy you will need something much stronger and more powerful than you have seen before.

For that, a close friend has identified Private Tunnel and has mentioned it to me. Check it out for yourself.

NOTE: I AM NOT ENDORSING IT OR IS AFFILIATED WITH THEM.

This is based on my friends', who is quite eccentric himself when it comes to seeking a thing out and so I trust his judgement, mentioned it to me.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[LightHouse]

What do you thing that enormous NSA datacenter is doing sitting out in the Utah(?) Desert? I can tell you it isn't advancing science or medicine.

Big data is the new thing, since few companies control most of what you do on the web and what you use, they have developed a profile of you and your habits already. You think you are passed just about the cookies.. imagine of you saw the rest of the data they have.

Sure you can use things like hiptocrippie(?) Which is a vpn service, log out of things. But things you do offline are also being tracked and sold, and stored in your file. Pretty soon, your phone well listen to you all the time to collect data about you. Google already has that patent.

EDIT hiptocrippie... remind me not to think too late at night... its cryptohippie... http://www.cryptohippie.com/

 

[CommonCents]

Can someone give an overview of various solutions to enhance internet privacy? How about IP cloaking or dynamic IP browsing sites? Would be much appreciated. I have the do not track setting enabled on firefox and unchecked 3rd party cookies.

 

[Ãœbertreffen]

For this exact reason I always close my browser before logging into a vast majority where cookies can be an issue.

My cookies, history, cache -- everything clears as soon as I close the browser.

Since I'm on my Linux machine right now I'm just using Firefox. You can use Private Browsing on the updated versions.

To clear on closing -- go to Edit > Preferences > Privacy (At the top). On History select Use custom settings for history. You can accept cookies from sites but leave third-party unchecked. You want to accept cookies as some websites require cookies for logging in and other related activity. Also, check clear history when Firefox closes. To the right click Settings... Then check everything you want to be be deleted when the browser closes.

Most probably know this but for those that don't, it's a great extra step. I guess for some it can be a PITA since websites don't remember who you are. For example, every time I visit this forum I get the pop-up for TMF book. Well, I've bought and read it. Just close the pop-up and good to go. Of course, I can block pop-ups with extra settings but it's not of an annoyance for me to care about.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[CommonCents]

FYI, I just noticed private browsing on firefox only deals w/ your local computer, as it still lets sites capture your information.

 

[DeletedUser2]

Vig.

works for and against you.

look at re-targeting, and how it works


we use it. it drops our acquisition costs for customers. because it does work.

Z

 

[sandeep]

Facebook is owned by CIA.. If you dont believe me watch this news video...

Link: > CIA - 'Facebook' Junkies Save CIA Plenty of Dollars on Spying As They Tell Them EVERYTHING ;o) - YouTube

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Ivan]

I noticed this a few months ago when ads from an obscure online store I visited started popping up everywhere (including on this forum). Welcome to 2013, ladies and gents.

 

[The-J]

I run Google on Firefox, Facebook on Chrome. Dunno if it helps, just something I've always done.

 

[haosmark]

It's called targeted remarketing and it's a highly suggested practice by marketers. Most of the time when you are using free services, you are trading your personal info to do so.
Emails, browsers and social networks collect and basically sell your data to advertisers.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[santa]

I'm not sure how it works with other things, but it's also been suggested that even when you are logged out, you are tracked by the likes of facebook and google via IP address and all that info is stored to create profiles of you etc.
Any site that has (for example) a facebook like button or some form of google help (e.g. analytics) also has access to the info that website has. Think how many sites have google analytics or facebook integration- most these days.

In one sense, from a business perspective it's quite interesting. However the underhand nature it seems to be carried out in is disconcerting.
It's why I use ad blocker to block ads (though I haven't thought about the cookies and the info they've collected etc), which now has an option to keep less invasive ads too.

 

[GPM]

Here is one for you. I was reading something on the internet completely unrelated to what I was about to get an advertisement for. I have NEVER searched for anything to do with skiing on the computer that I am using right now.

I am texting my friend at the moment and we are making plans to go skiing in a few weekends. What pops up as an ad shorty? Some ski hill somewhere that I just have to visit. Is that a coinsidence or something more? Freaked me out either way.

My mom was also texting her sister about issues they are having with their dads new wife who is developing some mental issues. Later one my mom received an ad text (is that even legal?) from some source asking something along the lines of "having issues with family members with mental health problems? We can help".

 

[FastNAwesome]

To everyone mentioning cookies and clearing the cache...That's SO not enough:

Supercookies - What they are?
- Persistent cookies that allow MUCH more storage than regular cookie.
- Can be shared among different sites, and among browsers (cookie stays even if you access the site with different browser)
- Used to regenerate regular cookies
- "Clear cookies" option is NOT affecting them, your computer is probably FULL of supercookies. To delete them you need to go through cumbersome and secretive process. Go here now and see how full of these cookies you are:

Adobe - Flash Player : Settings Manager - Website Storage Settings panel
(you can delete them of course)

Easier way for firefox users:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/betterprivacy/

And these are just supercookies based on Flash, which is a plugin. Now how many more plugins do you have?

And that's by far not all...

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Bruce]

I use Ghostery for firefox. Blocks all pixels, cookies from advertisers etc.

Seems to be working great in blocking every. Unfortunately it does stop things like facebook like buttons to be blocked. You can adjust what to block and what not to block though.

 

[AndrewNC]

Retargeting is a cookie-based technology that uses simple a Javascript code to anonymously ‘follow’ your audience all over the web.
Here’s how it works: you place a small, unobtrusive piece of code on your website (this code is sometimes referred to as a retargeting pixel). The code, or pixel, is unnoticeable to your site visitors and won’t affect your site’s performance. Every time a new visitor comes to your site, the code drops an anonymous browser cookie. Later, when your cookied visitors browse the web, the cookie will let your retargeting provider know when to serve ads, ensuring that your ads are served to only to people who have previously visited your site.

What Is Retargeting And How Does It Work?