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

Each Facebook user is monitored by thousands of companies

consumerreports.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 148 posts

Re: Each Facebook user is monitored by thousands of companies

#31

Post by nuker »

legitster wrote: post #11
goenning wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess FB tracking pixels will no longer work when third-party cookies are removed from browsers. That seems like a massive hit for them if I understand it correctly (and a big W for us)

Yes and no. FB's tracking pixel can be both first and third party: https://www.facebook.com/business/help/471978536642445?id=12... Getting rid of third-party support will mean FB doesn't get anonymous data from random website users - but if you are logged into FB or hit the page from a FB link, it would still be trackable as a first-party cookie.

My default for all browsing is to use Private Safari window and never stay logged in for longer than needed.

Btw, there is hidden Safari setting in iOS, under Advanced at the bottom, “Privacy Preserved Ad Measurement” that was on, for some weird reason. And check and purge Website Data periodically.

Oh, and use iCloud Private Relay. A must.

Re: Each Facebook user is monitored by thousands of companies

#32

Post by hedora »

legitster wrote: post #20
legitster wrote: post #5

Link to the actual Consumer Reports report: https://www.consumerreports.org/electronics/privacy/each-fac... So most of the data provided is probably coming in via the FB tracking pixel. I think the references to FB's "custom audiences" is a red herring - it's a very manual process and very few companies use that feature in any sort of scale. FB hashes the data that gets uploaded and specifically throws out extraneous…

Update: Having poked around my own FB privacy report, Consumer Reports is clearly using the data available in the "Advertisers using your activity or information" report. There are a ton of random companies on here, but it's important to note that this is NOT data being sent to FB as the report implies. This particular report is just the number of times I have been matched to an uploaded list - the uploading company…

How is “they sent facebook a list with my name on it, and facebook showed me their records showing I was on their list” compatible with the statement “this is NOT data being sent to FB”?!?

Re: Each Facebook user is monitored by thousands of companies

#33

Post by Zelphyr »

Cheer2171 wrote: post #18
TacticalCoder wrote: post #9

Never had Instagram. Never had WhatsApp. Had an old Facebook account opened under a fake name, using a throwaway email (haven't opened it in six months, maybe more). That company is cancer.

Let me guess: you don't have a kid that goes to a school that only posts crucial news and updates to their Facebook page and you don't have a friend group that uses a WhatsApp group to plan events. Try explaining to the average human that you have a moral objection which means you can't install the same app everyone else has, and that everyone else needs to do a lot of work to accommodate you. One of my friend groups…

I have kids that go to school and they don't use Facebook. They don't want to. I didn't even ask them to not have an account. (that one kind-of surprised me, honestly)

My Jiu Jitsu gym heavily uses Facebook but they're smart enough to recognize that not everyone (even the people that have an account) checks it regularly so they notify the members through other means. Lately they've been telling people to be on the lookout for a text message they're planning on sending so, it sounds like they're recognizing that Facebook use is waning in a meaningful way.

I haven't had a Facebook account in 12 years and haven't missed it one bit. I don't expect everyone else to do any extra work to accommodate my preferences. I didn't ask my gym to text me. The just started doing it.

Time and again for the last 12 years I've found that if there was something someone needed me to know, they found a way to contact me and, if I needed to get in touch with them I found a way. Just like we did for many, many years before Facebook started.

Re: Each Facebook user is monitored by thousands of companies

#34

Post by hedora »

nuker wrote: post #31
legitster wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes and no. FB's tracking pixel can be both first and third party: https://www.facebook.com/business/help/471978536642445?id=12... Getting rid of third-party support will mean FB doesn't get anonymous data from random website users - but if you are logged into FB or hit the page from a FB link, it would still be trackable as a first-party cookie.

My default for all browsing is to use Private Safari window and never stay logged in for longer than needed. Btw, there is hidden Safari setting in iOS, under Advanced at the bottom, “Privacy Preserved Ad Measurement” that was on, for some weird reason. And check and purge Website Data periodically. Oh, and use iCloud Private Relay. A must.

Thanks for the pointer. That was somehow enabled even though I locked it to private mode, and disabled the iOS level ad tracking bullshit.

Re: Each Facebook user is monitored by thousands of companies

#35

Post by gorhill »

wackget wrote: post #28

There's such a beautiful irony in reading about unfettered data mining on a website (theverge.com) which connects to *37* third-party domains when displaying the article: 1. ak.sail-horizon.com 2. amazon-adsystem.com 3. api.parsely.com 4. c.amazon-adsystem.com 5. cdn.concert.io 6. concert.io 7. coral.coralproject.net 8. coralproject.net 9. csp.withgoogle.com 10. d35xxde4fgg0cx.cloudfront.net 11. duet-cdn.vox-cdn.com…

I see 156 distinct 3rd parties on my side if I disable the content blocker so as to let the second-, third- and nth-waves of JavaScript execute:

https://imgur.com/a/lZbUqnQ

Re: Each Facebook user is monitored by thousands of companies

#36

Post by mtillman »

wackget wrote: post #28

There's such a beautiful irony in reading about unfettered data mining on a website (theverge.com) which connects to *37* third-party domains when displaying the article: 1. ak.sail-horizon.com 2. amazon-adsystem.com 3. api.parsely.com 4. c.amazon-adsystem.com 5. cdn.concert.io 6. concert.io 7. coral.coralproject.net 8. coralproject.net 9. csp.withgoogle.com 10. d35xxde4fgg0cx.cloudfront.net 11. duet-cdn.vox-cdn.com…

New outlets are constantly trashing “Silicon Valley” for apparently providing them with a non trivial portion of their revenue stream.

Re: Each Facebook user is monitored by thousands of companies

#37

Post by andirk »

I downloaded my FB data and as I predicted, nothing I'm bothered with. It is my common behavior that is ad targeted.

Can someone please tell me what data people are so bothered with that Facebook uses to target basic ads?

That "Facebook whistleblower" said the company is "profits over people". That people were appalled by that that will always be so funny to me.

Re: Each Facebook user is monitored by thousands of companies

#38

Post by ryandrake »

Zelphyr wrote: post #33
Cheer2171 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let me guess: you don't have a kid that goes to a school that only posts crucial news and updates to their Facebook page and you don't have a friend group that uses a WhatsApp group to plan events. Try explaining to the average human that you have a moral objection which means you can't install the same app everyone else has, and that everyone else needs to do a lot of work to accommodate you. One of my friend groups…

I have kids that go to school and they don't use Facebook. They don't want to. I didn't even ask them to not have an account. (that one kind-of surprised me, honestly) My Jiu Jitsu gym heavily uses Facebook but they're smart enough to recognize that not everyone (even the people that have an account) checks it regularly so they notify the members through other means. Lately they've been telling people to be on the lo…

This is an excellent reply to the tired old "But nobody can possibly live without Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp" claim people keep making. I'm sure there are tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of people who, apparently by some great miracle, manage to live normal, healthy lives without using these apps. If businesses want to do business with you, they will find a way to be reachable outside of Meta. If your friends are actually your friends, they will communicate with you outside of Meta. If your school has a mandate to keep in touch with parents, they will find a way.

Re: Each Facebook user is monitored by thousands of companies

#39

Post by yedava »

Earlier today, this[1] was on the HN front page, a blog post on how Meta processes trillions of serverless functions. All that impressive tech exists for one single reason - massive surveillance at scale.

[1] https://read.engineerscodex.com/p/meta-xfaas-serverless-func...

Re: Each Facebook user is monitored by thousands of companies

#40

Post by NoPicklez »

ryandrake wrote: post #38
Zelphyr wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have kids that go to school and they don't use Facebook. They don't want to. I didn't even ask them to not have an account. (that one kind-of surprised me, honestly) My Jiu Jitsu gym heavily uses Facebook but they're smart enough to recognize that not everyone (even the people that have an account) checks it regularly so they notify the members through other means. Lately they've been telling people to be on the lo…

This is an excellent reply to the tired old "But nobody can possibly live without Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp" claim people keep making. I'm sure there are tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of people who, apparently by some great miracle, manage to live normal, healthy lives without using these apps. If businesses want to do business with you, they will find a way to be reachable outside of Meta. If your friend…

Not really, I think it's more the fact that Facebook use has dropped significantly.

Nowhere near as many people are using Facebook and therefore people are more accommodating and understanding of not using it.

Post reply on HN