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Facebook Doesn’t Tell Users Everything It Really Knows About Them

propublica.org

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Re: Facebook Doesn’t Tell Users Everything It Really Knows About Them

#41

Post by ForrestN »

soared wrote: post #2

You can replace "Facebook" with thousands of other companies. Everyone is doing this because the cost is low, its easy, and the return is massive. The sole service my roommate's company does is match your customer with data about them from countless other sources. If you want a peek into a small section of this type of data, go build a facebook ad. You can see all the targeting options. You can upload a list of email…

Apple, for example, seems quite committed to competing on the fact that they do not do this...

Re: Facebook Doesn’t Tell Users Everything It Really Knows About Them

#42

Post by Fiahil »

user5994461 wrote: post #34
TallGuyShort wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect they do this if that client has your email address (even a previous one using the same first / last name) and gave Facebook access to their address book. LinkedIn did this. Registered, also after years of silence on any kind of social media website other than email: "Would you like to connect with your ex-girlfriend who only emailed you one time at a different address?"

I can confirm with 100% certainty that the Facebook android app will scan all your contacts. If you got a guy's number (and maybe that guy got yours), he'll be suggested.

Yup. Same if you visit someone's page, if you're not friends, both of you'll get suggestions. It's annoying when you repetitively missclicked on an homonym. Some people working there are too proud of these features to remove them.

Re: Facebook Doesn’t Tell Users Everything It Really Knows About Them

#43

Post by leesalminen »

soared wrote: post #2

You can replace "Facebook" with thousands of other companies. Everyone is doing this because the cost is low, its easy, and the return is massive. The sole service my roommate's company does is match your customer with data about them from countless other sources. If you want a peek into a small section of this type of data, go build a facebook ad. You can see all the targeting options. You can upload a list of email…

My first time creating an ad on FB was startling. I didn't know all those targeting options existed.

But, they've worked extremely well for my niche SaaS. We currently focus 60% of our ad budget on FB.

Re: Facebook Doesn’t Tell Users Everything It Really Knows About Them

#44

Post by dade_ »

politician wrote: post #40
owly wrote: post #35

1. Of course! 2. It's not too late to delete your account. Go for it! 3. Block it all! https://github.com/jmdugan/blocklists/blob/master/corporatio...

Unfortunately, one should not believe that deleting your account removes the underlying data. The actual operation is probably more like, "set a bit that prevents anyone from logging in to this profile."

True, but I deleted my account 2 years ago, so at least they have a lot less info during that time. Also, I don't miss it at all, not even a little bit. I think it offers no value for my time, let alone data. I am not sure why I am still on Twitter, but Snapshot has been entertaining and LinkedIn invaluable.

Re: Facebook Doesn’t Tell Users Everything It Really Knows About Them

#45

Post by mattbee »

Facebook have to respond to Data Subject Access Requests in the UK, which oblige them to send you every piece of personally-linked information - for a maximum £10 fee.

I did this with my bank a few years back and got back a box file full of credit scores, lending decisions and other stuff they'd never normally expose. Facebook's data for a busy user is going to be enormous by comparison - has anyone done this lately (and published / summarised the results?)

Re: Facebook Doesn’t Tell Users Everything It Really Knows About Them

#46

Post by lisper »

dade_ wrote: post #44
politician wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately, one should not believe that deleting your account removes the underlying data. The actual operation is probably more like, "set a bit that prevents anyone from logging in to this profile."

True, but I deleted my account 2 years ago, so at least they have a lot less info during that time. Also, I don't miss it at all, not even a little bit. I think it offers no value for my time, let alone data. I am not sure why I am still on Twitter, but Snapshot has been entertaining and LinkedIn invaluable.

> at least they have a lot less info during that time

How do you know? If FB can't be trusted to actually delete your account (and they can't) how can they be trusted to stop collecting data on you?

Re: Facebook Doesn’t Tell Users Everything It Really Knows About Them

#47

Post by IshKebab »

wallacoloo wrote: post #32
caconym_ wrote: post #12

> Facebook Doesn’t Tell Users Everything It Really Knows About Them I've been saying this for years. It's pretty clear that if Facebook told regular users just how much they knew, those users would be seriously creeped out (though, these days, probably not creeped out enough to do anything about it). I expect that another example of this would be the ability of their facial recognition system and the breadth of the d…

When you download the archive of personal data Facebook shares with you, it includes some facial recognition data. Specifically, it gives 3 "Threshold" decimal values. Does anyone know what these numbers mean? I read up on "eigenfaces", and it sounds like Facebook is most likely subtracting my face from the mean and then projecting it onto N different face-like and orthogonal images to obtain numbers like this, and s…

Facebook has far more sophisticated facial recognition systems than Eigenfaces, based on deep neutral networks.

Re: Facebook Doesn’t Tell Users Everything It Really Knows About Them

#48

Post by nilved »

caconym_ wrote: post #12

> Facebook Doesn’t Tell Users Everything It Really Knows About Them I've been saying this for years. It's pretty clear that if Facebook told regular users just how much they knew, those users would be seriously creeped out (though, these days, probably not creeped out enough to do anything about it). I expect that another example of this would be the ability of their facial recognition system and the breadth of the d…

Everyone has been saying this for years. I honestly can't believe anyone would think that Facebook shares all their data with you.

Re: Facebook Doesn’t Tell Users Everything It Really Knows About Them

#49

Post by nilved »

ForrestN wrote: post #41
soared wrote: post #2

You can replace "Facebook" with thousands of other companies. Everyone is doing this because the cost is low, its easy, and the return is massive. The sole service my roommate's company does is match your customer with data about them from countless other sources. If you want a peek into a small section of this type of data, go build a facebook ad. You can see all the targeting options. You can upload a list of email…

Apple, for example, seems quite committed to competing on the fact that they do not do this...

They do.

Re: Facebook Doesn’t Tell Users Everything It Really Knows About Them

#50

Post by x1798DE »

lisper wrote: post #46
dade_ wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True, but I deleted my account 2 years ago, so at least they have a lot less info during that time. Also, I don't miss it at all, not even a little bit. I think it offers no value for my time, let alone data. I am not sure why I am still on Twitter, but Snapshot has been entertaining and LinkedIn invaluable.

> at least they have a lot less info during that time How do you know? If FB can't be trusted to actually delete your account (and they can't) how can they be trusted to stop collecting data on you?

Presumably if you've cleared your cookies and you use an adblocker, their ability to reliably track your activity goes way, WAY down.

In addition to the standard protections of the adblocker and privacybadger, I also generally set a full block on all content from facebook[.com/.net] and any identifiable facebook subdomains. I really have no use for facebook, so it is zero imposition on me, and if I ever want to view something on facebook, I can open up a new private window in an alternate browser as a one-off (or, if I'm feeling paranoid, spin up a VM).

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