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What’s Not Included in Facebook’s “Download Your Data”

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Re: What’s Not Included in Facebook’s “Download Your Data”

#91

Post by richardfeynman »

JoshMnem wrote: post #88
richardfeynman wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

agreed

I had to know the answer, so I wrote a quick script to test it. It appears that incognito windows can't read cookies from normal windows. I've linked to the source code there. If I've missed anything, let me know. https://cookiechecker.netlify.com/

So cool that you built that!

Here's what Google says about cookies in incognito mode: "If you use Chrome in incognito mode (or in guest mode on Chrome OS), it will not transmit any pre-existing cookies to sites that you visit. Sites may deposit new cookies on your system while you are in these modes; these cookies will only be temporarily stored and transmitted to sites while you remain in incognito / guest mode. They will be deleted when you close the browser, close all open incognito windows or exit guest mode." Source: https://www.google.com/chrome/browser/privacy/archive/201408...

I first noticed that FB might be able to detect sites you visit while in incognito mode when I noticed that I was personally being retargeted by sites I visited in incognito mode while on Facebook. Here's an interesting quora thread I found while looking into it: "Also the cookies act too important role here. Cookies during Incognito Mode are saved in temporary folder, and they get purged after session ends. But when browsing Facebook and Google in the same session, they both share same cookies folder and cookies help to send tailored ads to users." https://www.quora.com/Im-using-Incognito-mode-for-Google-sea...

Curious for your take.

Re: What’s Not Included in Facebook’s “Download Your Data”

#92

Post by shakna »

koko775 wrote: post #90
shakna wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> since the download might be a prelude to an irreversible account deletion. Is it not one of their aims to make it always reversible?

that's what disabling your account is for, but deletion is deletion.

> but deletion is deletion.

Is it? Cases like this [0] make that seem unlikely.

[0] http://europe-v-facebook.org/

Re: What’s Not Included in Facebook’s “Download Your Data”

#93

Post by vageli »

whyever wrote: post #63

I'm surprised this article does not mention Max Schrems, who requested all data Facebook had on him in 2011: > He later made a request under the European "right to access" provision for the company's records on him and received a CD containing over 1,200 pages of data, which he published at europe-v-facebook.org with personal information redacted. (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Schrems. )

Just a heads up, your Wikipedia link doesn't work.

Re: What’s Not Included in Facebook’s “Download Your Data”

#94

Post by whyever »

vageli wrote: post #93
whyever wrote: post #63

I'm surprised this article does not mention Max Schrems, who requested all data Facebook had on him in 2011: > He later made a request under the European "right to access" provision for the company's records on him and received a CD containing over 1,200 pages of data, which he published at europe-v-facebook.org with personal information redacted. (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Schrems. )

Just a heads up, your Wikipedia link doesn't work.

Yeah, unlike most sites, HN includes the dot in the link for some reason...

Re: What’s Not Included in Facebook’s “Download Your Data”

#95

Post by DoreenMichele »

vageli wrote: post #93
whyever wrote: post #63

I'm surprised this article does not mention Max Schrems, who requested all data Facebook had on him in 2011: > He later made a request under the European "right to access" provision for the company's records on him and received a CD containing over 1,200 pages of data, which he published at europe-v-facebook.org with personal information redacted. (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Schrems. )

Just a heads up, your Wikipedia link doesn't work.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Schrems

Re: What’s Not Included in Facebook’s “Download Your Data”

#96

Post by richardfeynman »

JoshMnem wrote: post #88
richardfeynman wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

agreed

I had to know the answer, so I wrote a quick script to test it. It appears that incognito windows can't read cookies from normal windows. I've linked to the source code there. If I've missed anything, let me know. https://cookiechecker.netlify.com/

"It appears that incognito window can't read from cookies from normal windows."

To be clear, the claim I'm making is that normal windows can read cookies from incognito windows.

Re: What’s Not Included in Facebook’s “Download Your Data”

#97

Post by tlb »

richardfeynman wrote: post #96
JoshMnem wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had to know the answer, so I wrote a quick script to test it. It appears that incognito windows can't read cookies from normal windows. I've linked to the source code there. If I've missed anything, let me know. https://cookiechecker.netlify.com/

"It appears that incognito window can't read from cookies from normal windows." To be clear, the claim I'm making is that normal windows can read cookies from incognito windows.

A simple test suggests otherwise, using Gruez's recipe above but swapping the private and non-private windows.

There are potential information leaks, such as the combination of IP address, user agent, screen size, and fonts available. And there may be bugs in 3rd party plugins like Flash that fail to respect private mode. But it doesn't seem to be anything as simple as cookies being shared.

Re: What’s Not Included in Facebook’s “Download Your Data”

#98

Post by rrix2 »

cromulen wrote: post #9
lamename wrote: post #6

This 'Download Your Data' tool is highlighted every few years when ire toward facebook is renewed, but while appealing it's never seemed more than table scraps to me looking at the data. Even without looking, the idea that a data broker would just willingly give us all the information it has is unbelievable. The scale is so large, how would you even know?

They don't have a choice under GDPR.

GDPR's right to portability only extends to things you provide directly, or are collected on the basis of explicit consent, or wmthings which are required to fulfill a service or contract, like status and photos. There are explicit exclusions for a lot of things like things collected in service of antifraud & security efforts, and for things collected offline (IIRC), leaving a big set of holes that they can hide quite a bit.

They're also not allowed to infringe on the data rights of other users which is why the friends list export is so anemic, for example.

Re: What’s Not Included in Facebook’s “Download Your Data”

#99

Post by richardfeynman »

tlb wrote: post #97
richardfeynman wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"It appears that incognito window can't read from cookies from normal windows." To be clear, the claim I'm making is that normal windows can read cookies from incognito windows.

A simple test suggests otherwise, using Gruez's recipe above but swapping the private and non-private windows. There are potential information leaks, such as the combination of IP address, user agent, screen size, and fonts available. And there may be bugs in 3rd party plugins like Flash that fail to respect private mode. But it doesn't seem to be anything as simple as cookies being shared.

Thanks. If they're not using the temporary cookies folder, I'm curious how Facebook shows ads based on incognito browsing. Some form of device fingerprinting?
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