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Facebook's 'Clear History' Tool Doesn't Clear Shit (2020)

gizmodo.com

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Re: Facebook's 'Clear History' Tool Doesn't Clear Shit (2020)

#81

Post by exporectomy »

Gibbon1 wrote: post #61
stevehawk wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

as a ~40yr old it feels like the greatest disappointment of my generation is that most of our brain power went towards making better spyware, click tracking, etc, all in the name of maximizing ad revenue and click through.

Went from designing stupid stuff like cheap audio IC's which meant any teenager with a part time job could afford a bitchin stereo. To designing cool stuff like a wiget that disables a single mother's car when she's a day late on her car payment!!!

You say that car thing like it's bad. Instant enforcement of debt is good for both the lender and borrower. It stops people getting trapped deeper and deeper in debt. A lot like pre-pay phone/power/etc. Your life isn't ruined because you stopped paying, just inconvenienced for a few days.

Re: Facebook's 'Clear History' Tool Doesn't Clear Shit (2020)

#82

Post by patorjk »

lprd wrote: post #23

Color me surprised. I kept hoping that with one of these privacy leaks, or any of the other atrocities that FB has committed, it would've triggered the beginning of their demise...but nope. Their stock prices just keep rising, and people continue to use the platform.

People are addicted and enjoy it too much. I have family members who spend all day posting memes, pictures, comments, etc. The only way I see FB failing is if something better comes along that can replace it.

Re: Facebook's 'Clear History' Tool Doesn't Clear Shit (2020)

#83

Post by mleonhard »

Even if you clear it, they continue to link future third-party site activity to your FB profile.

https://www.facebook.com/off_facebook_activity/activity_list

To actually opt out, you have to click the "More Options" button, then "Manage Future Activity" at the bottom, then "Manage Future Activity" button, then toggle off the "Future Off-Facebook Activity" toggle.

Dark patterns. So disrespectful. Shameful. :(

Re: Facebook's 'Clear History' Tool Doesn't Clear Shit (2020)

#85

Post by nicbou »

yosito wrote: post #69
nicbou wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

uBlock has a blocklist for cookie notices and other annoyances. Turning it off feels like watching cable TV after a decade of Netflix. It's crazy that we need to go through so much crap (tracking, cookie notices, ads, newsletter prompts, SEO keyword soup) to get the simplest answers. The website I run is deliberately annoyance-free. I see it as a competitive advantage.

There's also a Firefox extension called "I don't care about cookies"

You can use their blocklist with uBlock Origin. It's a great extension but it wasn't available on Firefox for Android. Maybe that changed.

Re: Facebook's 'Clear History' Tool Doesn't Clear Shit (2020)

#86

Post by dspillett »

aierou wrote: post #65
dspillett wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For those who have signed up. What about "shadow profiles"?

It seems that the term "shadow profile" refers to a feature where Facebook retains contact information uploaded by other users in order to recommend them as friends if/when you create a profile [1]. For all the fear associated with the term, that's pretty benign. Is there any evidence for a link between these "profiles" and some of the more egregious claims of privacy infringement? [1] https://www.zdnet.com/article/f…

For privacy advocates the simple act of linking people that way is worrying enough. Not much of a concern for me (my government's creepiness is vastly overshadowed by its incompetence) but it could certainly be dangerous to free thinkers in certain regimes.

I find it hard to believe that they can't associate more information with those profiles than just who has who else as a contact (or has in the past), some derived/guessed and some from purchasing access to other data-sets, and I find impossible to believe that they won't if they can. Not just FB but other purveyors of advert targetting stalkerdom too. This isn't "don't trust the man" foil-hat paranoia - knowing as much as possible about as many people as possible is their well documented business model.

Re: Facebook's 'Clear History' Tool Doesn't Clear Shit (2020)

#87

Post by atat7024 »

cgriswald wrote: post #32
user764743 wrote: post #22

There is also a reason websites have stopped using the term 'delete' and are using 'clear' instead. Because clearing something does not imply that it's gone unlike with delete, just out of view.

I'm not sure what distinction I'm supposed to be making. What are these websites doing differently? To me, 'delete' means 'remove this entry' and 'clear' means 'remove the data in this entry.'

What you want it to mean is "remove this entry from my view in the frontend, delete the related record in the backend, and delete all previously cached copies of it in the backend."

Re: Facebook's 'Clear History' Tool Doesn't Clear Shit (2020)

#88

Post by atat7024 »

c7DJTLrn wrote: post #41
gjsman-1000 wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One tactic I've worked out with individual mods is I have them ban me, then unban me, which causes all of my posts to be erased from the public chat. Of course Discord probably still has them privately, but it's better than nothing.

That's interesting, thanks for the tip. I would hope they would have a sort of garbage collection that deletes orphaned messages, but this is Discord we're talking about.

Are they owned by Microsoft yet?

Re: Facebook's 'Clear History' Tool Doesn't Clear Shit (2020)

#89

Post by atat7024 »

intricatedetail wrote: post #51
benlivengood wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fine the Facebook subsidiaries incorporated in the EU. Or completely ban them from doing business, which prevents advertisers in the EU from giving them money.

This is impossible - the fine would have to be absurdly high to matter and if they disabled their business in the EU there would be riots. Facebook can essentially do whatever they want as they are also likely sending information to services.

> if they disabled their business in the EU there would be riots.

Line em up.

Re: Facebook's 'Clear History' Tool Doesn't Clear Shit (2020)

#90

Post by 52-6F-62 »

olyjohn wrote: post #72
ThisWasTaken wrote: post #33

it's funny how when you open an article criticizing how Facebook tracks you the first thing you have to do is go through 70 pages to tell the site you're reading the article on to not track you.

The fucking article even mentions how many trackers are on Gizmodo, and then says "BUT THATS NORMAL ITS ON EVERY SITE YOU GO TO!" The author writes a piece and shits all over Facebook, and then goes on to minimize it when it comes to them doing it.

The author has absolutely 0 control over that.

Directions on analytics come from the "serious, business-minded" end of the company. That is true for every [major] journalism outlet. It's always been true.

Don't put that on the writers to resolve. Unless they have the resources to found their own competitor, they're as much at the mercy of the whims of the company heads as the readers are.

Even the development staff have little to no say about it. Inclusions of those kinds of things are at the behest of sales/marketing and management/executive. There is less crossover between those groups and the editorial staff than many people have decided to believe, no matter how often they're reminded.

If you ask me, the writer is doing plenty and they're doing exactly what is in their power to do: write about it.

Frankly, it seems like a modern miracle that a publication will produce editorial pieces that are so self-critical. I think it speaks to a healthy journalistic environment in general, even if the business practices need an overhaul.

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