Guess Facebook knows what you fap to now

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2042573/Facebook-privacy-issues-Social-network-watching-youre-logged-out.html

Quote :

"'We didn't mean to track you' says Facebook as social network giant admits to 'bugs' in new privacy row Facebook has admitted that it has been watching the web pages its members visit – even when they have logged out. In its latest privacy blunder, the social networking site was forced to confirm that it has been constantly tracking its 750million users, even when they are using other sites. The social networking giant says the huge privacy breach was simply a mistake - that software automatically downloaded to users' computers when they logged in to Facebook 'inadvertently' sent information to the company, whether or not they were logged in at the time. Most would assume that Facebook stops monitoring them after they leave its site, but technology bloggers discovered this was not the case. In fact, data has been regularly sent back to the social network’s servers – data that could be worth billions when creating 'targeted' advertising based on the sites users visit. The website’s practices were exposed by Australian technology blogger Nik Cubrilovic and have provoked a furious response across the internet. Facebook claims to have 'fixed' the issue - and 'thanked' Mr Cubrilovic for pointing it out - while simultaneously claiming that it wasn't really an issue in the first place. Mr Cubrilovic found that when you sign up to Facebook it automatically puts files known as ‘cookies’ on your computer which monitor your browsing history. This is still the case. But Facebook claims the cookies no longer send information while you are logged out of its site. If you are logged in to Facebook, the cookies will still send the information, and they remain on your computer unless you manually delete them. They send Facebook your IP address - the 'unique identifier' address of your PC - and information on whether you have visited millions of websites: anything with a Facebook ‘like’ or ‘recommend’ button on it. 'We place cookies on the computer of the user,' said a Facebook spokesperson - and admitted that some Facebook cookies send back the address of users' PCs and sites they had visited, even while logged out. 'Three of these cookies inadvertently included unique identifiers when the user had logged out of Facebook. We did not store these for logged out users. We could not have used this information.' However, the site spokesperson said that the 'potential issue' had now been 'fixed' so that the cookies will no longer broadcast information: 'We fixed the cookies so they won't include unique information in the future when people log out.' 'It's just the latest privacy issue to affect a company that has a long history of blunders relating to user's private information. Mr Cubrilovic wrote: ‘Even if you are logged out, Facebook still knows and can track every page you visit. ‘The only solution is to delete every Facebook cookie in your browser, or to use a separate (web) browser for Facebook interactions. ‘This is not what "logout" is supposed to mean’. The admission is the latest in a series of privacy blunders from Facebook, which has a record of only correcting such matters when they are brought to light by other people. Earlier this year it stopped gathering browser data from users who had never even been to Facebook.com after it was exposed by a Dutch researcher. The site was forced into a partial climbdown over changes to privacy settings which many claimed made too much public. It also came under attack for launching a ‘stalker button’ which allowed users to track another person’s every move in a list which was constantly being updated. Arturo Bejar, one of Facebook’s directors of engineering, admitted that users continue to be tracked after they log out but said that the data was deleted right away. He said it was to do with the way the ‘like’ feature works, which is a button users can click on to show they like something. He said: ‘The onus is on us is to take all the data and scrub it. What really matters is what we say as a company and back it up.’ On technology blog CNET, however, users were outraged at what was going on. One wrote: ‘Who the hell do these people think they are? ‘Trust us?’ Why? Why should we trust a company that spies on us without our knowledge and consent?’ Another added: ‘Holy wow.... they've just lept way past Google on the creepy meter’. According to U.S. reports Facebook has recently set up its own Political Action Committee, an American term for a lobbying outfit to get its views heard on Capitol Hill. So far this year it has already spent £352,000 on lobbying, already ahead of last year’s total of £224,000. The website has also been forced to deny Internet rumours it will begin charging for its services and said it will ‘always be free’. A spokesman for Facebook said that the login and log out measures were designed for security and were there to prevent fraud. He added: ‘We to do not use this information to target adverts’."

9/28/2011 8:16:24 AM

I've got firefox set to clear all my cache, cookies, passwords, etc when I close out of it.

9/28/2011 8:20:48 AM

some of this seems "holy shit there's INTERNET?" from old people but still, the current big story about Facebook

9/28/2011 8:22:29 AM

yeah a lot of it is like "oh no! facebook knows i use the internet?? to do things???"

9/28/2011 8:25:00 AM

9/28/2011 8:34:42 AM

Good thing I clear my cache and cookies every time I close my browser. And good thing the only websites I visit regularly are work related and tdub

9/28/2011 8:36:17 AM

My respobse to this is: meh



However, I think in the very near future, someone is going to get fired from a job, or not get hired, or kicked out of school, or discharged from service, OR SOMETHING....based off of data that facebook collected and sold w/o user consent. Then all hell will break loose and old Zuck is going to get the shit sued out of him.

9/28/2011 8:42:18 AM

i, too, don't care...i would care if they had access to sensitive information (ie. my banking password), but they don't

if they want to know what kind of porn i watch, though, they could have just asked me

9/28/2011 8:46:03 AM

clear your history and passwords after every "online" session? What a pain in the ass that would be.

9/28/2011 8:48:25 AM

^ you can set firefox to do it automatically...no one should have to, though

9/28/2011 8:51:01 AM

I think he means that the saved history and passwords are convenient.

9/28/2011 8:53:16 AM

^ Yeah what are you people, 15 years old and in mortal fear of your mom discovering your porn watching?

9/28/2011 8:54:11 AM

Well, kinda.

9/28/2011 8:57:26 AM

pretty much, and i don't trust anyone

9/28/2011 9:00:41 AM

Class action lawsuit?

9/28/2011 9:45:06 AM

Quote :

"some of this seems "holy shit there's INTERNET?" from old people but still, the current big story about Facebook"

That's what I thought, the language of the article is a lot of HOW COULD THIS BE WHAT WIZARD MAGIC IS THIS?

9/28/2011 10:14:31 AM

9/28/2011 10:16:27 AM

how much are they charging to track your internet use?

9/28/2011 10:19:00 AM

PRIVATE INDUSTRY SPYIN' ON YOUR PRIVATES

9/28/2011 10:23:11 AM

Quote :

"They send Facebook your IP address - the 'unique identifier' address of your PC - and information on whether you have visited millions of websites: anything with a Facebook ‘like’ or ‘recommend’ button on it."

Why is anyone surprised by that aspect anyway? Maybe people will bitch about this in addition to instead of the new layout.

9/28/2011 10:23:20 AM

sure

humans are known for their deep interest in the non-superficial

btw



I SEE YOU nothing22

[Edited on September 28, 2011 at 10:25 AM. Reason : +]

9/28/2011 10:24:45 AM

Lol, i thought people were already aware of this. How did people think those nifty facebook integrations on cnn/fox/espn websites worked? Its maaaaagic.

9/28/2011 10:31:09 AM

isnt the dailymail nonexistent now?

9/28/2011 10:32:29 AM

YOU CAN'T SEE ME- I WEAR SPECIAL FIREWALL GLASSES



[Edited on September 28, 2011 at 10:37 AM. Reason : + Ø]

9/28/2011 10:36:40 AM

Quote :

"I think he means that the saved history and passwords are convenient."

exactly

9/28/2011 10:38:29 AM

I DON'T NEED NO INTERNET.

THE GOOD LORD SEES EVERYTHING YOU DO.

9/28/2011 10:47:43 AM

HEY SON I JUST WANT YOU TO THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU'RE DOING WITH YOUR LIFE- STOP ALL THE DOWNLOADIN'. I LOST TOUCH WITH REALITY AND THOUGHT THE INTERNET WAS REAL LIFE. SO ON A FACEBOOK DARE, I PUT ON MY FAVORITE UNICORN HOOD T-SHIRT AND PLAYED JAMES BOND. TEN MINUTES LATER, I WAS BUSTED FOR SECRET PEEPING.

9/28/2011 11:05:40 AM

I knew something was fishy, but I couldn't put my finger on it because I have 3 facebook accounts

[Edited on September 28, 2011 at 1:23 PM. Reason : .]

9/28/2011 1:23:24 PM

Oh noooo, facebook knows I like to look at boobs on the internet.

9/28/2011 1:34:44 PM

9/28/2011 1:35:07 PM

I've setup a few forums...for testing reasons...I wonder if the fb spiders followed me there...as they were the only visitors there to it.

9/28/2011 5:57:03 PM

i used to work for a place that would track people online with supercookies and it wasn't even a crime. i'm glad that place is the rearview mirror for me.

sadly this kind of tracking has been happening for a long time by a lot of places. not just facebook

9/28/2011 6:10:30 PM

SAD FOR WHO?

NOT US ADVERTISING FAT CATS.

BTW YOU'RE ALMOST OUT OF TOOTHPASTE.

NOT LIKE YOU USE IT THAT MUCH, ANYWAYS.

[Edited on September 28, 2011 at 6:21 PM. Reason : PEEPIN]

9/28/2011 6:19:14 PM

IT WAS EVEN ON THE NEWS!

9/28/2011 6:20:10 PM