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Facebook Can Track Your Browsing Even After You've Logged Out, Judge Says (theguardian.com)
A U.S. judge has dismissed nationwide litigation accusing Facebook of tracking users' internet activity even after they logged out of the social media website. From a report: The plaintiffs alleged that Facebook used the "like" buttons found on other websites to track which sites they visited, meaning that the Menlo Park, California-headquartered company could build up detailed records of their browsing history. The plaintiffs argued that this violated federal and state privacy and wiretapping laws. US district judge Edward Davila in San Jose, California, dismissed the case because he said that the plaintiffs failed to show that they had a reasonable expectation of privacy or suffered any realistic economic harm or loss. Davila said that plaintiffs could have taken steps to keep their browsing histories private, for example by using the Digital Advertising Alliance's opt-out tool or using "incognito mode", and failed to show that Facebook illegally "intercepted" or eavesdropped on their communications.
Block all ads, all 3rd party scripts. All the time, with no exceptions.
If the site won't load without ads and 3rd party scripts enabled, then you don't need to see that content.
I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
As a safeguard, you should just never login to Facebook.
once again lawyers file silly suits without knowing how technology works.
Ummm... I logged out of Facebook. How is that not an expectation of privacy?
Sit, Ubuntu, sit. Good dog.
Not that I disbelieve you, but could you furnish a couple of examples? I can't recall seeing a Web site that refused to work when accessed via Incognito mode.
Editor, A1-AAA AmeriCaptions
It shouldn't be unreasonable to expect that logging out of Facebook caused them to stop treating that browser window as being "you" for their purposes as well as yours.
You're special forces then? That's great! I just love your olympics!
You don't need to actually click on them to be counted, though if you do they can also update your psych profile based on what you are Like'n.
Its not the link, its the fact that sites embed Facebook scripts that your browser requests and Facebook uses to track people browsing the web. When the user isn't logged in they still track them and attempt to associate it with an account later. Its pretty sleazy and why you should have Adblock block Facebook (and Twitter, and Google) domains on third party sites.
The only winning move is not to play. Seriously, I've never had a Facebook account and I pity those millions who do.
If one insists on being a Facebook minion, just use a different browser and dedicate it only to Facebook. Call it a "throwaway" browser. Then never use it for anything else but Facebook.
...I can't recall seeing a Web site that refused to work when accessed via Incognito mode.
I can't either, and moreover, I don't understand why they wouldn't work; how could the website even know you're in incognito mode?
I was under the impression incognition* happens after the fact. I.e. the incognito window behaves as normal, but then once the window is closed / program exited, it then deletes a bunch of stuff (that it normally would not, and unbeknownst to all the websites you visited in that incog session). That's why you can even use, e.g., gmail, with all its myriad cookies flying all over the place, while incognito. I wouldn't know about fb (I don't even OWN a tv...)
And yeah, maybe browsers normally send some flags over as well, but would those be distinguishable from normal do-not-track flags (that are sent in non-incognito sessions)? Maybe some websites are set up to break when they receive a do-not-track request (in which case see comments around here to the effect of **kbai**), but if so, probably the browsers could be tweaked (w/ extensions or whatever) to send no flags while incognito?
*I demand this be a word
The only winning move is not to play. Seriously, I've never had a Facebook account and I pity those millions who do.
You're probably playing to some extent, whether you realize it or not. I run No Script and an ad blocker, and I also don't have a Facebook account, so I'm probably better off than Joe Average when it comes to being tracked. I also do my best to make sure that friends and acquaintances don't post my name or picture. Even at that, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that FB knows a lot about me. If you think your abstinence from social media means you're not being tracked and commoditized, you're being naive.
'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
It doesn't matter if you never, ever log in to facebook, they can still track you. Any time you visit any web site that has a "Like us on facebook" icon (or other completely hidden scripts), it sends information to facebook that you (some anonymous person with a unique identifier) visited their site. Now, you visit another such site, and that icon sends facebook your unique ID, along with information that you logged in to that site. Eventually, they can piece together enough information to connect your unique ID to your real identity.
The only way to stay private is to never connect to the Internet.
We do need lawsuits, because this is illegal. It is no doubt sensitive data, it is not just personalisable data, Facebook is actually working hard on making it personalised data. And there is no consent given. So Facebook does not have any right to do this.