What does Facebook know about you?

[Guest12120]

Have you ever wondered what type of information Facebook collects about you?

I actually downloaded my Facebook Information file. You can get yours here

It was a 1.8 GB zip file and it contained:

• my address book (including people from my phone address book)​
• friend peer group (in my case: Established Adult Life)​
• all the ads and advertisers with which I've ever interacted​
• all the apps I used with Facebook Login​
• all my profile info, updated, messages, pictures, videos, posts, etc.​
• all the FB events I've ever created or attended​
• all the profiles I follow or follow me​
• all my friends and friend requests (including received, rejected, removed)​
• all my FB group activity​
• all the likes and reactions (including on the external sites)​
• location coordinates (i.e. (26.708312988281, -80.058403015137 Jul 10, 2019, 2:32 PM)​
• all items I've ever sold on FB Marketplace​
• all messages I have ever sent or received​
• all polls I've ever voted on​
• all the pages I've ever created​
• all my search history​
• all the security info including account activity, cookie info, logins/logouts, used IP addresses, login locations, etc.​
• my FB stories​
• FB places I've ever created​
• and more...​

and this is only information from my profile.

Facebook's AI also tags all the images automatically so they know what's in each image. They don't share this information with users More information here

And there is the famous Facebook Pixel that tracks your activity on non-Facebook properties like e-commerce stores, blogs, landing pages, etc. FB knows (as long as you were logged in to your FB account on your computer or phone) what pages you visited, how long to stayed on page, what items you added to cart and purchased, what forms you filled out, etc.

All this data combined (and probably even more) and analyzed by AI, helps advertisers reach their ideal customers. That makes Facebook the most powerful advertising platform ever.

 

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[Nick M.]

My personal opinion is that anything posted on Facebook or a Facebook property is considered completely public now and forever, regardless of your privacy settings.

Not only does Facebook know practically everything about most people, they have been apart of several privacy scandals. You know it's common enough when a news article starts, "Another day, another Facebook privacy scandal" (source)

 

[Entre Eyes]

Facebook and Google are very similar to a Black Hat Forum.

What they do on so many levels is questionable but have very strict rules for everyone on their platforms.

 

[minivanman]

Everything I'd expect. They have never held a gun to anyone's head and made them make a Facebook account and then use Facebook. If I owned FB, I'd do the same and if you didn't, you would own something like MySpace.

 

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[Nick M.]

In my opinion, the main large issue with Facebook is that it knows a lot about people who don't even have a Facebook account. It isn't just collecting data for those who've opted in, it's collecting data on everyone.

This is how Facebook collects data on you even if you don’t have an account

There’s little you can do about it.

www.vox.com

Personally, I like Steve Job's view of privacy. If I know how Facebook uses data, and I accept that, it's totally fine. So yeah, if I were running Facebook, I'd collect pretty much the same enormous amounts of large data and do what I want. So long as each user opted in and knows what's going on. That cannot be said of Facebook as it is.

View: https://youtu.be/39iKLwlUqBo

 

[daniel_m]

Data is the new oil. I don't think it's right (I use DuckDuckGo, Telegram, etc to avoid anything that tracks me), but they'd be dumb not to do it. Data is what probably makes them one of the most powerful and dangerous companies in the world, same with Google.

Another thing people don't think about: when we're filling in those re-captcha things (select all the squares with _____) we're training Google's AI to become smarter and smarter every day. Again, to us it only takes a couple of seconds but our collective data is being used to train something we can't even comprehend. I hate it, but there's nothing we can really do about it.

 

[ChewingCandy]

I hate it, but there's nothing we can really do about it.

Very true, we need Mr Robot

 

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[Kid]

View: https://youtu.be/39iKLwlUqBo

It's seems that at least Steve tried.

For me, when google says "We value your privacy?" I'd answer:
"Like this ?"

 

[ChrisV]

Another thing people don't think about: when we're filling in those re-captcha things (select all the squares with _____) we're training Google's AI to become smarter and smarter every day. Again, to us it only takes a couple of seconds but our collective data is being used to train something we can't even comprehend. I hate it, but there's nothing we can really do about it.

Yea, they're usually teaching self-driving cars how to drive.. that's why you get so many pictures of busses and stop signs. I really don't see the harm in it.

 

[Tourmaline]

Everything I'd expect. They have never held a gun to anyone's head and made them make a Facebook account and then use Facebook. If I owned FB, I'd do the same and if you didn't, you would own something like MySpace.

Well you'd expect this, but that is not how Facebook works. Because you're connected to other people, you will have a profile with info about you gathered by proxy of the people that you're connected to. Even if you've never directly made a Facebook account.

'Shadow Profiles' if you will.

 

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[Nick M.]

Apple: We care about your privacy (goes to great efforts to protect privacy)
Google: We don't care about your privacy (here's how we're going to overuse your information)
Facebook: We care about your privacy (collects everything about you and your friends, and uses it without informed consent)

There are exceptions to each of these statements for the three companies, but that seems to be the general way things have worked.

 

[Tourmaline]

From PRISM (surveillance program) - Wikipedia

The documents identified several technology companies as participants in the PRISM program, including Microsoft in 2007, Yahoo! in 2008, Google in 2009, Facebook in 2009, Paltalk in 2009, YouTube in 2010, AOL in 2011, Skype in 2011 and Apple in 2012.

Every major tech company is a part of PRISM. Of course Apple tells their followers they care about their security, it's noise.

 

[Primeperiwinkle]

I can literally track my subconscious via fb ads.

It’s bizarre.

Had a bad night and JUST THOUGHT about calling an ex?? Fb ads send me “Avenues for Finding the Perfect Man” “Why Your Heart Needs Pani mo po the Hawaiian healing treatment of awesomeness” and “Meditation Apps for Calm”

Had a good night and talked on a completely different platform unconnected to Facebook? Fb ads send me “10 Ways to Increase Your Burgeoning Business!” “Funnel Marketing and How To Use It” “Funny Comedian Videos About Being Broke”

Had a girls night out without using my phone at all?? Fb ads send me “New bestselling author writes about vampire seductress Lena who gets captured and put to the test!” “Wine bottle collecting crafts DIY” “Hair Designs for Partying”

Talked to minivanman? Fb ads send me “What flipping can do for you!!”

And on and on and on..

They’re in my brain. I’ve given up.

 

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[Matt Sun]

I think it's called the Lifelog project. It will probably vanish once we get free.

 

[minivanman]

I can literally track my subconscious via fb ads.

It’s bizarre.

Had a bad night and JUST THOUGHT about calling an ex?? Fb ads send me “Avenues for Finding the Perfect Man” “Why Your Heart Needs Pani mo po the Hawaiian healing treatment of awesomeness” and “Meditation Apps for Calm”

Had a good night and talked on a completely different platform unconnected to Facebook? Fb ads send me “10 Ways to Increase Your Burgeoning Business!” “Funnel Marketing and How To Use It” “Funny Comedian Videos About Being Broke”

Had a girls night out without using my phone at all?? Fb ads send me “New bestselling author writes about vampire seductress Lena who gets captured and put to the test!” “Wine bottle collecting crafts DIY” “Hair Designs for Partying”

Talked to minivanman? Fb ads send me “What flipping can do for you!!”

And on and on and on..

They’re in my brain. I’ve given up.

Wow! So that's why I keep getting all that porn stuff. I'll be dang... and then I thought it was really odd that 2 minutes later I'd get something like A Honey Bun And Coffee or The Road To Dr. Pepper Texas.

I do expect it though.... it's the world we live in.

 

[Guest12120]

Apple: We care about your privacy (goes to great efforts to protect privacy)

Apple don't need to sell your data to make money. They sell you their products. They still track what you do with your Apple ID.

Appl still uses Google's data to advertise their products on Google search and YouTube.

They still let Facebook and thousands of other apps collect a ton of info about iPhone users.

Big corporations protect your privacy only if it's in their best interest. Not from the goodness of their hearts.

 

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[Jon L]

Facebook knows pretty much everything about you, and its not just what you overtly do during interactions with their systems. They take that data and correlate it with everything else that's in existence. They can't know these things with 100% certainty, but its pretty close. So: they know your sexual fetishes, your deepest secrets, how connected you are with people, what you fear most, what drives you and why, why you like Android over iPhone, etc etc etc.

Here's my favorite example of this kind of thing in action. Target sent a girl advertisements for baby items: pre-natal vitamins, newborn diapers, etc. The girl's dad got mad and complained to them about sending his daughter ads he deemed were inappropriate. Come to find out, his daughter was pregnant. Target had pieced this together because of certain other items she'd searched for on their site. These items were not at all related to pregnancy, just correlated with it. It would be along the lines of this: You used to search only for the cheapest brands of food items. Now, you're looking at all organic stuff. And, you're looking a certain non-pregnancy related supplements. And you're looking at pink teddy bears. (or something like that.) Target knows that people who exhibit those behaviors in the past, then started, several months later, to search for actual baby items.

People that are interested in certain things that aren't considered 'appropriate' by the general public will use certain language, interact more with certain people, etc etc etc. Now, they very likely won't directly use that information, but they will use it to figure out other things about you, like: people that are interested in certain sexual fetishes are more likely to buy a certain brand of toothpaste.

The specifics of what I wrote are completely made up, but those kinds of correlations exist all over the place and they are 100% used to sell you more stuff.

 

[Nick M.]

From PRISM (surveillance program) - Wikipedia

The documents identified several technology companies as participants in the PRISM program, including Microsoft in 2007, Yahoo! in 2008, Google in 2009, Facebook in 2009, Paltalk in 2009, YouTube in 2010, AOL in 2011, Skype in 2011 and Apple in 2012.

Every major tech company is a part of PRISM. Of course Apple tells their followers they care about their security, it's noise.

Learn something new every day.

Apple don't need to sell your data to make money. They sell you their products. They still track what you do with your Apple ID.

Appl still uses Google's data to advertise their products on Google search and YouTube.

They still let Facebook and thousands of other apps collect a ton of info about iPhone users.

Big corporations protect your privacy only if it's in their best interest. Not from the goodness of their hearts.

I completely agree. Large corporations will do what's in their best interest, even if that means using your data to increase their business.

I brought up Apple not to revere them for caring about privacy, but rather to act as a foil to how Facebook operates. Apple uses privacy as part of their USP, allowing them to sell more products. And yes, even they have had many instances in the past where they didn't follow their own ideals of privacy (e.g., sending Siri recordings to a third party). And probably made the changes only because it became public and wanted to protect their brand.

However, a lot of the time consumers have a better idea on privacy for Apple than Facebook. The purpose was to show that regardless of what Facebook says, it collects everything it possible can about you.

Now the topic of the conversation is Facebook. So here's a story about how much Facebook knows about you:

I never had a Facebook account until 3 weeks ago. Which means I never signed up and clicked specifically that I agree to their terms and privacy policy. Admittedly, I've probably agreed to them thousands of times through other sites (I know because I will often actually read the terms), and yet without explicitly telling Facebook anything, here's what it knew:

• Friends
• Where I lived
• What I liked to do
• Where I went to school

All I explicitly told Facebook was my:

• Name
• Birthday
• Email

Now I am perfectly aware how Facebook knew so much about me (with methods like location tracking/IP addresses), but not everyone knows all of that. And I have quite a small internet presence compared to most people I know. Many of the items Facebook knew about me were things I never posted on the internet.

So image how much it knows about you even if it's not on the internet?

Here's my favorite example of this kind of thing in action. Target sent a girl advertisements for baby items: pre-natal vitamins, newborn diapers, etc. The girl's dad got mad and complained to them about sending his daughter ads he deemed were inappropriate. Come to find out, his daughter was pregnant. Target had pieced this together because of certain other items she'd searched for on their site. These items were not at all related to pregnancy, just correlated with it. It would be along the lines of this: You used to search only for the cheapest brands of food items. Now, you're looking at all organic stuff. And, you're looking a certain non-pregnancy related supplements. And you're looking at pink teddy bears. (or something like that.) Target knows that people who exhibit those behaviors in the past, then started, several months later, to search for actual baby items.

Exactly.

 

[whiterabbit]

Symbols added remove these for clearer reading.

This is nothing. I spend a lot of time in C$h+inah. Here the main social network is called re&nr$en.

This is basically facebook but controlled by the goverment.

In C'h$i%na everyone has a state credit file. And this credit file is not jusy related to finance and debts etc. It comprises of everything. Point based system.

So for example, if you buy nappies online you get points for this as this suggests you are a responsible parent. Any of your friends on renren have had previous trouble with the law? You get points removed. Phone location coordinates match that you have been in the same location as one of these friends multiple times and it figures out your close friends with this person (even more points removed).

Use your phone to pay for street food? (Points removed, this suggests your lazy and dont cook).

Post a positive comment about the
C€/€C/€€P (points go up).

Post a negative comment about them (points go down, plus you might go missing like those boo/kshop owners in ho_)-ngk/ong lol)

This isnt hidden or anything. Even on the trains etc they announce (if you are caught smoking on board your credit file will have 500 points removed).

Millions of people here are on blocked lists as punishment for low scores meaning train travel etc is not permitted.

 

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[Xeon]

 

[Kid]

to pay for street food? (Points removed, this suggests your lazy and dont cook).

Post a positive comment about the
C€/€C/€€P (points go up).

Post a negative comment about them (points go down, plus you might go missing like those boo/kshop owners in ho_)-ngk/ong lol)

This isnt hidden or anything. Even on the trains etc they announce (if you are caught smoking on board your credit file will have 500 points removed).

Millions of people here are on blocked lists as punishment for low scores meaning train travel etc is not permitted.

This is scary. I've read about it but didn't know how it works in RL.
Thanks for post.