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Facebook Is Giving Advertisers Access To Your Shadow Contact Information

gizmodo.com

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Re: Facebook Is Giving Advertisers Access To Your Shadow Contact Information

#51

Post by ageitgey »

hnzix wrote: post #4

The reason I never give fb my mobile is if you use a pseudonym account, it will suggest your profile as a friend to anyone who has your mobile in their phone contact list (eg ex-partners, stalkers, employers, drug dealers). Found that one out the hard way. I know Zuck wants me to preemptively upload my nudes, but still.

This is basically how FBI Director Comey's secret Instagram account (and thus Twitter account) was unmasked. But it was even worse - you are suggested to 3rd party people who just follow the people who know you: https://gizmodo.com/this-is-almost-certainly-james-comey-s-t...

Re: Facebook Is Giving Advertisers Access To Your Shadow Contact Information

#52

Post by Illniyar »

ddebernardy wrote: post #44

The url should point to the Gizmodo article; not the sensationalizing tweet. https://gizmodo.com/facebook-is-giving-advertisers-access-to... The actual story is FB enriching your profile with shadow contact information about you when you or third parties provide it with details it wasn't aware about yet. For instance when a friend of yours has your landline number in their address book and gives FB access to the latt…

Oh, that's troubling. Not the fact that they are adding 2FA phone numbers to their collected data, but rather that custom audience is a thing.

I thought they were taking pains to limit the ability to directly target individuals. They limited audience size to at least 1000 people previously when doing regular targeting.

How is it that I've never heard of custom audience until now?

Re: Facebook Is Giving Advertisers Access To Your Shadow Contact Information

#53

Post by mojuba »

ezoe wrote: post #42
mojuba wrote: post #21

Another personal observation. I have an Instagram account that I thought was fully incognito. I never connected it to any other social account, I used a separate email for authentication etc. Just days after the Instagram founders left Facebook I started receiving friend suggestion on my IG that were very very relevant. Those were people I knew in real life and mostly connected via Facebook but not only. I shouldn't…

Are you sure you didn't access it from the same IP address? There are so many fingerprints you are willingly sending to the public.

I did of course, how could I not access both from the same IP. The bottom line is: a property owner is a property owner even if it comes to separate domain names.

Re: Facebook Is Giving Advertisers Access To Your Shadow Contact Information

#55

Post by amirmc »

ezoe wrote: post #42
mojuba wrote: post #21

Another personal observation. I have an Instagram account that I thought was fully incognito. I never connected it to any other social account, I used a separate email for authentication etc. Just days after the Instagram founders left Facebook I started receiving friend suggestion on my IG that were very very relevant. Those were people I knew in real life and mostly connected via Facebook but not only. I shouldn't…

Are you sure you didn't access it from the same IP address? There are so many fingerprints you are willingly sending to the public.

‘Willingly’? I think unwittingly is more likely.

Re: Facebook Is Giving Advertisers Access To Your Shadow Contact Information

#56

Post by type0 »

afandian wrote: post #23
rikkus wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes using information for a purpose other than it was collected for. Hopefully this means in Europe we won’t see this spam.

Hopefully? Hopefully this means we will see facebook employees faceing criminal charges!

If it's a corporate decision they won't be liable.

"Similarly, individual employees, managers, and directors are liable for their own malfeasance or lawbreaking while acting on behalf of the corporation, but are not generally liable for the corporation's actions."

from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_personhood#Case_law_...

I don't think GDPR has any tooth in this.

Re: Facebook Is Giving Advertisers Access To Your Shadow Contact Information

#57

Post by dalbasal »

Illniyar wrote: post #52
ddebernardy wrote: post #44

The url should point to the Gizmodo article; not the sensationalizing tweet. https://gizmodo.com/facebook-is-giving-advertisers-access-to... The actual story is FB enriching your profile with shadow contact information about you when you or third parties provide it with details it wasn't aware about yet. For instance when a friend of yours has your landline number in their address book and gives FB access to the latt…

Oh, that's troubling. Not the fact that they are adding 2FA phone numbers to their collected data, but rather that custom audience is a thing. I thought they were taking pains to limit the ability to directly target individuals. They limited audience size to at least 1000 people previously when doing regular targeting. How is it that I've never heard of custom audience until now?

They limited as targetting to 1,000 people because (a) people were using it in very noticeably creepy ways, highlighting thing FB wanted less attention on and (b) it wasn't making money. Targeting 1 person is not the advertising business.

Custom audiences though, is why FB are profitable. The platform before those tools were intriduced (5-8 yes ago) made a lot less.

Re: Facebook Is Giving Advertisers Access To Your Shadow Contact Information

#58

Post by TheGrumpyBrit »

rikkus wrote: post #18
anilakar wrote: post #13

This is exactly the kind of abuse that GDPR is designed to curtail.

Yes using information for a purpose other than it was collected for. Hopefully this means in Europe we won’t see this spam.

Don't count on it. From the Gizmodo article:

> I’ve been trying to get Facebook to disclose shadow contact information to users for almost a year now. But it has even refused to disclose these shadow details to users in Europe, where privacy law is stronger and explicitly requires companies to tell users what data it has on them. A UK resident named Rob Blackie has been asking Facebook to hand over his shadow contact information for months, but Facebook told him it’s part of “confidential” algorithms, and “we are not in a position to provide you the precise details of our algorithms.”

Re: Facebook Is Giving Advertisers Access To Your Shadow Contact Information

#59

Post by krn »

mariusmg wrote: post #43
krn wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Haven't you used the same web browser for both, Facebook and Instagram? They might just be sharing cookies.

Well, Instagram and FB being 2 separate domains , they shouldn't (in theory at least) be able to access each others cookies in browser. The tracking is most likley still server side based. Based on what the OP is writing, the unique identifier foe the user can even be the IP address...

They shouldn't be able to access each other's cookies at the browser's level, but instagram.com might include third-party javascript code from facebook.com, which connects the two accounts in the system.

Re: Facebook Is Giving Advertisers Access To Your Shadow Contact Information

#60

Post by newscracker »

The situation is such that this is what's expected of Facebook. It would be a shocker if Facebook didn't do this. Actually, it's quite surprising that it took so long to do this.

Bottom line, Facebook will devalue you as a human and invade your privacy in any manner possible for as long as it can withstand legal pressures and get away with paltry fines. Obviously, all these measures are to provide users with a better experience. That's Facebook's DNA.

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