The Social Network is Stalking You
\nACLU – 16-November, 2011<\/p>\n
A new web feature by USA Today details the ways that Facebook stalks you around the Internet \u2013 even when you\u2019re not logged in. Facebook\u2019s tracking methods \u2013 in the guise of the innocent seeming \u201cLike\u201d button \u2013 record every web site its 800 million-plus members have visited during the previous 90 days, even if you never click on that button, or don\u2019t have a Facebook account.<\/p>\n
We shouldn\u2019t have to choose between browsing the Web and keeping Facebook from tracking everything we do online. That\u2019s why we\u2019ve asked the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to look into Facebook\u2019s practice of tracking your web activity even if you never click on a Like button or log into Facebook at all, and why we encourage you to tell Congress to take steps to protect our privacy by creating a \u201cDo Not Track\u201d mechanism with legal force. And, Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.V.), chairman of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, has pledged to hold a hearing to investigate these reports.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s what happens: when you visit any page on Facebook, it tacks \u201ccookies\u201d onto your browser, regardless of whether you have a Facebook account or are logged in. These cookies alert Facebook every time you visit a website that has a \u201cLike\u201d button or other Facebook social plug-ins. Given the number of sites that use \u201cLike\u201d buttons and other Facebook social plugins, Facebook has the ability to track a huge amount of your surfing habits. They know what you read, which videos you watch, what you buy, who your friends are and anything else you do online. Even if know this tracking is happening, you have no access to the information being compiled about you nor are you given the opportunity to correct any errors or clarify or delete anything misleading or just embarrassing. And while Facebook claims that it retains this information only to improve the effectiveness of its social plugins, profiles like these are a potential goldmine to online advertisers and can be irresistible to law enforcement, not to mention other third parties like insurance companies or divorce attorneys. …more<\/a><\/p>\n