Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Off-Facebook activity

facebook.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

251–260 of 395 posts

Re: Off-Facebook activity

#251

Post by gjm11 »

There's a little note saying that the list may not be complete. If you click that, they pop up an explanation, one of the bullet points in which says this:

> We receive more details and activity than what appears here. For technical and accuracy reasons, this list doesn't show all of the activity that we've received. Activity that is not shown includes information that we've received when you're not logged in to Facebook, or when we can't confirm that you've previously used Facebook on that device. It also includes details such as the item that you added to your shopping basket.

It seems to me that this gives them carte blanche to omit anything they feel like omitting.

Re: Off-Facebook activity

#252

Post by vinaypai »

elicash wrote: post #241
vinaypai wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Online advertising is pretty much always going to be a race to the bottom because everything a website does is just a dog and pony show to get people to watch ads. Why bother putting together quality content when churning out clickbait and low-effort crap generates far more clicks with far less work?

As an advertiser, I can tell you that clickbait is the worst place for my ad to live because people click away immediately.

Yeah I agree advertisers would rather have their ads next to quality content. Publishers don't always have the same incentives while it's easy to fill lots of inventory with at lower prices but make up for it in volume. A fine dining restaurant might make more money per diner than a McDonald's, but your average McDonald's probably makes way more money.

Re: Off-Facebook activity

#253

Post by Nextgrid »

vinaypai wrote: post #208
elicash wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My particular issues are different from most people here. The biggest impact, for me, is that the dominance of Google and Facebook based on having access to this data for the general population has led to worse advertising revenue for the news industry and some of my favorite websites. That has caused some of them to rely on memberships and paywalls. I also don't appreciate that the money that they've accrued due to…

I for one much prefer paywalls. I'd rather be the customer than the product.

Most news websites load trackers regardless on paying so you can be both the customer and the product. This is also why I will never subscribe to a news website. I'd rather let them try their luck with tracking rather than just hand them in all my personal & payment info on a platter.

Re: Off-Facebook activity

#254

Post by Nextgrid »

metachris wrote: post #169
stonedge wrote: post #160

Allegedly, I ditched my Facebook account years ago. Not just deactivated but delete, though I don’t really believe it. Is there anyway to see what’s in this (or to see if my account really is gone) without accidentally re-upping?

Depending on your location, but you could do a GDPR Data Subject Request (DSR)

Facebook doesn't really comply with the GDPR. The data displayed on this new page wasn't part of their data export and I'm sure is still not part of it.

Here's an example to what extents they will go in order to not give you what you're entitled to by law: https://ruben.verborgh.org/facebook/

In fact, if they were GDPR compliant, they wouldn't be collecting this data in the first place.

Re: Off-Facebook activity

#255

Post by reaperducer »

philwelch wrote: post #240
dmayle wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They don't charge 3%, they charge about a tenth of a percent (0.11%). What you think of as fees is actually a basket of charges going to different parties. almost 2% goes to your (the purchaser) credit card company to cover the risk of you not paying them, about a percent goes to the store's bank to cover the case when they have to give the money back (either because it was a fraudulent online transaction, or the sto…

And if you’re a savvy customer you get “cash back rewards” from your credit card, meaning some of the fees just end up coming back to you.

A "savvy" customer has a card that doesn't make them perform a dog and pony show like you describe. A savvy customer's card charges the lowest reasonable rate in order to provide the service.

Giving someone money and then feeling all giddy when you get a "reward" later means you've been gamed.

Re: Off-Facebook activity

#256

Post by Nextgrid »

nerdjon wrote: post #188

The fact that they have information about apps that I specifically chose to not link to facebook for variety of reasons... Including one specific app that they have 356 interactions from that I really do not want associated with my facebook account. Looks like I am going to be spending the next couple of days digging through the report I just generated. When this is all server side is the only option to make an email…

The fault is half on Facebook but also half on the providers & services sending the data to Facebook. The Facebook SDK or tracking pixel doesn't magically embed itself into apps or websites, it's still up to the developer to include this.

I suggest stopping doing business with that vendor and letting them know why.

Re: Off-Facebook activity

#257

Post by reaperducer »

tprynn wrote: post #216
jannes wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anyone who wants to do this: Make sure that you also opt out your virtual card numbers (such as Apple Pay or Android Pay). Also, the opt-out of each number is only honored for FIVE years after which you need to opt-out again.

How can I opt out a virtual card number through Apple Pay? It doesn't seem that you can get the full "Device Account Number".

I'm not sure that the "Device Account Number" matters. As I recall from the presentation, that number changes with each purchase. And Goldman has promised (ha!) not to sell your information for marketing purposes.

But it's still worth opting-out of your Apple Card's virtual number.

The number is in the wallet app, ... > Card Information

Re: Off-Facebook activity

#258

Post by reaperducer »

artificial wrote: post #193
organsnyder wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless you are carrying your cell phone at the time—not sure anyone is doing this yet, but I have heard of at least one chain that tracks customers' cell phone locations via triangulation.

The accuracy by Bluetooth is horrendous.

How accurate does it need to be? If you shop in a market stall, or a bodega, then you could be tied to a neighboring store. But if you're in a regular-sized (American) store, it's certainly good enough.

Re: Off-Facebook activity

#259

Post by reaperducer »

lawlessone wrote: post #97
kpozin wrote: post #12

In my profile, they managed to obtain a `PURCHASE` event from Macy's -- for an in-person purchase at a physical store . Macy's has my email address and certainly linked it to my credit card number, but this is nonetheless seriously creepy. I just tried to change my email address on Facebook and discovered that they canonicalize plus and dot variations in gmail.com addresses, and thus claim that the new email address…

>, they managed to obtain a `PURCHASE` event from Macy's interesting.. they could use that to predict earnings..

interesting.. they could use that to predict earnings..

A few years ago when Chipolte had its little food scare, Foursquare used its data to predict how much the restaurant chain's revenues would decline. IIRC, it was accurate to within 1%.

Post reply on HN