Each Facebook user is monitored by thousands of companies
consumerreports.org
Each Facebook user is monitored by thousands of companies
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Re: Each Facebook user is monitored by thousands of companies
#2Re: Each Facebook user is monitored by thousands of companies
#3Has anyone tried doing a deep dive on their own data from FB?
Is it fairly accessible to crunch this?
Re: Each Facebook user is monitored by thousands of companies
#4This is depressing, but of even more concern is the fact that this data (and other, perhaps more "important" data) is available to essentially anyone with enough money to pay for it. This obviously includes most governments. I'm fairly sure the data brokers are not too picky about how they get paid.
There has to be regulation at the federal level to stop such practices. Nothing else will do.
Re: Each Facebook user is monitored by thousands of companies
#5Link 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 data that does not help it make matches with its existing data set: https://www.facebook.com/business/help/2082575038703844?id=2...
Love this note at the bottom: "Editor’s Note: Consumer Reports has a business relationship with LiveRamp and another data broker, Acxiom. Consumer Reports shares data with each of these companies in order to help support its mission."
Re: Each Facebook user is monitored by thousands of companies
#6Has anyone tried doing a deep dive on their own data from FB? Is it fairly accessible to crunch this?
The actual Consumer Reports piece has exactly the information on how to do this:
https://www.consumerreports.org/electronics/privacy/each-fac...
> Facebook users can browse through the list of companies that have sent their data to Facebook by going to the Accounts Center and clicking on “Your information and permissions.”
Re: Each Facebook user is monitored by thousands of companies
#7Has anyone tried doing a deep dive on their own data from FB? Is it fairly accessible to crunch this?
I don't believe anyone has ever received a copy of their "shadow profile". Nor do I think folks can see all of the data associated with their FB account (or Google account, even). I think it would really creep folks out if they could.
Re: Each Facebook user is monitored by thousands of companies
#8Link 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…
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)
Re: Each Facebook user is monitored by thousands of companies
#9Never 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.
Re: Each Facebook user is monitored by thousands of companies
#10Never 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.
That is a good start but unfortunately my understanding is that they will still have a data profile on you specifically.
This is a problem for us all and we need regulation to solve it. And we probably need campaign finance reform to get people in power willing to regulate it.