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Are you ready? This is all the data Facebook and Google have on you

theguardian.com

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Re: Are you ready? This is all the data Facebook and Google have on you

#161

Post by Splines »

gowld wrote: post #85
Splines wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't have any evidence whatsoever but I speculate that between the options of: 1. collecting data and hiding it during times it was paused 2. checking if data collection is paused during collection time and keeping it/throwing it away Option (2) is the easiest and most foolproof. For (1), all it takes is a single tiny bug in any code that handles your data history and their whole privacy stance is shot.

How can these statemens both be true? "(2) is the easiest and most foolproof" That doesn't seem any easier; as hiding is harder than checking a bit and discarding at collection time. "For (1), all it takes is a single tiny bug in any code that handles your data history and their whole privacy stance is shot." That doesn't sound foolproof at all.

Right? Maybe I'm not explaining very well. I feel like we're agreeing.

Checking a bit and discarding at collection time is the easiest. You need to ensure data collection is aware of this setting, and anything that manipulates this data doesn't need to care whether or not some data is "hidden" or not.

> That doesn't sound foolproof at all.

Right - If you go the route of collecting all data and hiding it later then all tools that interoperate with customer data need to make sure they don't accidentally expose "paused" data back to the customer.

Given two choices of throwing away data at collection time, or forever in the future trying to hide data from the customer, it seems simpler to throw away data at collection time.

Re: Are you ready? This is all the data Facebook and Google have on you

#162

Post by stronglikedan »

mrtksn wrote: post #98
danarmak wrote: post #24

This is nonsensical: > The data Google has on you can fill millions of Word documents. > Google offers an option to download all of the data it stores about you. I’ve requested to download it and the file is 5.5GB big, which is roughly 3m Word documents. This link [Google Takeout] includes your bookmarks, emails, contacts, your Google Drive files, all of the above information, your YouTube videos, the photos you’ve t…

This is typical. As a techie, you're triggered by technical detail because you understand the technical details of that example that is intended to illustrate the size of the data collected. Rest assured that this happens all the time and when people read news about a topic that they are an expert on, they cringe all the time. For example, a paraglider pilot will get triggered if the reporter uses the word "Jumped" i…

When you start your article with, "I’m going to show just how much of your information the likes of Facebook and Google store about you without you even realising it", then include the user uploaded data in your proof, it's a bit disingenuous and reeks of FUD.

Re: Are you ready? This is all the data Facebook and Google have on you

#163

Post by caconym_ »

gowld wrote: post #78
DarkCrusader2 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also did it some time ago, but I have a feeling, with nothing to backup my claim, that they still log, store and analyse all my activity but just don't show it in the dashboard. I don't know how targeted ads are (because of ad block) but youtube doesn't suggest me anything based on watch history so I guess I might be wrong here.

Have you considered filing a lawsuit? That would be a great way to punish someone for violating their privacy policy and EU obligations.

> nothing to backup my claim

Re: Are you ready? This is all the data Facebook and Google have on you

#164

Post by therapeutic »

Xeoncross wrote: post #151
faitswulff wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The word "triggered" should really be reserved for military vets and those who have experienced traumatic events in their past that would cause severe distress, not as a synonym for "annoyed." A veteran who relives the horrors of war when fireworks go off is not nearly in the same space as a developer who is annoyed that someone misused technical jargon.

> The word "triggered" should really be reserved for military vets Certainly not. While many military personal certainly have faced mind-altering situations, they are far from the only ones who have ever suffered from traumatic events. Children and Women are the subjects of the most twisted and abusive stories I've ever been able to fathom.

The full quote is:

> The word "triggered" should really be reserved for military vets AND those who have experienced traumatic events in their past that would cause severe distress

(emphasis mine)

You can't just cut a sentence in half and then try to form an argument against it. That's not fair.

Re: Are you ready? This is all the data Facebook and Google have on you

#165

Post by thisacctforreal »

This headline is patently false, Facebook is known to purchase information on people from Data Brokers and none of that is included in their data downloads.

Things like MAC address logging and such is also missing.

The only things included in the download are things you've given them; pictures, messages, likes, contacts, web browsing history, and phone metadata if you gave them permission on your phone.

If they were able to purchase phone metadata from your service provider, it won't show up there.

If all Facebook kept was user-submitted data it would be orders of magnitude less creepy than it is.

Re: Are you ready? This is all the data Facebook and Google have on you

#166

Post by o_____________o »

faitswulff wrote: post #138
mrtksn wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is typical. As a techie, you're triggered by technical detail because you understand the technical details of that example that is intended to illustrate the size of the data collected. Rest assured that this happens all the time and when people read news about a topic that they are an expert on, they cringe all the time. For example, a paraglider pilot will get triggered if the reporter uses the word "Jumped" i…

The word "triggered" should really be reserved for military vets and those who have experienced traumatic events in their past that would cause severe distress, not as a synonym for "annoyed." A veteran who relives the horrors of war when fireworks go off is not nearly in the same space as a developer who is annoyed that someone misused technical jargon.

Words shift in meaning over time. They're defined by the active usage, not the ideal usage. Resisting that change is like trying to fence in water, however righteous it feels.

Re: Are you ready? This is all the data Facebook and Google have on you

#167

Post by wu-ikkyu »

Klathmon wrote: post #155
wu-ikkyu wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

None that are invulernable to an APT or an inside attack. Saying "I trust company X with my data" is the same as saying "I trust that company X cannot be hacked". "There are two types of companies: those that have been hacked, and those who don't know they have been hacked." -John Chambers

>Saying "I trust company X with my data" is the same as saying "I trust that company X cannot be hacked". No it is not, and it's also why I didn't reply at first because I had a feeling it would go down this path. I don't believe for a second that my data will never be "hacked" at Google (for whatever definition you want to think of for "hacked"). But I do believe that Google has done their due diligence in preventin…

Fair enough, you seem much more knowledgable of the risks (at least on an individual level) than the vast majority of users.

However, have you considered the threats to national and global security that are posed by the centralized aggregation of billions of the most detailed psychological data profiles the world has ever seen?

Re: Are you ready? This is all the data Facebook and Google have on you

#168

Post by Sylos »

chrischen wrote: post #44

How feasible is it for Google/Facebook to infer/build profile of private browser activity? Since most sites implement google Analytics and Facebook tracking code (ghostery is reporting both on the guardian website). They could use browser fingerprinting, which has already been proven to be extremely accurate, to augment known user profiles and data. Facebook already creates shadow profiles for people without profiles…

I'm presuming that you're not talking about Firefox's Private Browsing mode, which comes with an actual tracking script blocker.

The biggest factor for tracking without the ability to store things on the client is IP-based tracking. In many cases, the IP address narrows the number of possible persons down to a handful. Then you can use behavioural analysis, fingerprinting or factor in other data to narrow it down those last few meters.

And well, any time you visit a webpage which has a DoubleClick ad on it, uses a font from Google Fonts, incorporates JQuery from Google's server, incorporates Captcha, Maps, YouTube, Custom Search Engine, Google+-Button from Google's server, etc., or in fact, even though this is the least of your worries then, Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager, any time one of these is on a webpage you visit - which is pretty much every time you visit any webpage, your IP address is sent off to Google.

And now comes the bad part: As is information about what webpage you're currently on, as part of the HTTP Referrer.

And I mean, if your URL is not resolved by 8.8.8.8, you can consider yourself lucky, too.

So, Google effectively has your complete browsing history, whether you're in private mode or not.

Facebook is not nearly as bad in this respect, but their Like-Buttons are rather widespread, too, and they do have an analytics framework, as you've already pointed out.

Re: Are you ready? This is all the data Facebook and Google have on you

#170

Post by grzm »

johnalamos wrote: post #169

with all the data they have on us WHY IS IT STILL SO DIFFICULT TO PAY TAXES. Why can't this be easier ? Why can't google produce a tool for this ?

I believe the primary reason is that there's a pretty big industry around tax preparation that's making that difficult.[0] I've also heard arguments that there are anti-tax motivations that want to keep it difficult so people view taxes more negatively. I don't have any info on the latter, so take that with your daily recommended allowance of sodium chloride.

[0]: https://techcrunch.com/2013/03/27/turbotax-maker-funnels-mil...

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