How Facebook Watches You and Tracks You

Others are doing this. Look at an item on Amazon, B&H and others then see an ad on Facebook when you bring it up!

Big buildings constructed and being constructed to house servers and other stuff.

Maybe you should do this? Could it help you sell more stuff?

I'm not too worried since my activity would bore most, nohing worth saving!

Big Brother?

Thanks for he link.
 
It seems that "Data Mining" is a big-big deal.

In my case my purchases of a few limited luxury items has caused me to be mistaken for someone very-very wealthy and somehow I got "A" listed.

First off I got a free subscription to "Forbes" just in case I wanted to buy a small Island or a small country.

I got "A" listed into the "Hudson Society" where I get invited to meet and socialize with dignitaries, celebraties, heads of state, Prime Ministers at events that cater to the elite.

I got four invitations to meet Mayor Bloomberg, but I only went to one event at Gracie Mansion, and I snubbed him the other three times. BTW Mike Bloomberg is the shortest billion-air I ever met. He was really surprised to see me because I was dressed like a surfer wearing a Hi-why-an shirt while all the other men were suited up.

Just understand we are all being tracked and profiled.

Funny thing is how the mistook my identity because of only a few luxury items.

Cal
 
It used to be that durable goods were the only commodities. Now, thanks to Mark Zuckerberg, and Sergey Brin, we ourselves have become the commodities. They got rich, we got used.
But, thanks to the sheeple who are fine with this, it's here to stay.
Yeah, I know, it's a "service". Right.
 
Larry Cloetta said:
It used to be that durable goods were the only commodities. Now, thanks to Mark Zuckerberg, and Sergey Brin, we ourselves have become the commodities. They got rich, we got used.
But, thanks to the sheeple who are fine with this, it's here to stay.
Yeah, I know, it's a "service". Right.
Click to expand...

Larry,

"Sheeple" is a cool term.

Kinda like "Food Eaters" that Henry Kissinger called the masses that were not the power elite.

Cal
 
Yup, I find it disturbing too. What happens if a fascist government again comes to power in a Western democracy? If in the US, I'm sure they'll make good use of the NSA's extensive database.

Credit cards? Yes, that as well, which is why I try to pay for almost everything in cash. But, haven't you heard about all the plans to eliminate cash?

Everything we do will be tracked to the point that we will be scared to speak out when democracy most needs it.
 
JPSuisse said:
Yup, I find it disturbing too. What happens if a fascist government again comes to power in a Western democracy? If in the US, I'm sure they'll make good use of the NSA's extensive database.
Click to expand...


We've had a puppet government here in the US as long as I can remember.

Banks control everything - why do you think they could destroy the world's economy a few years ago, get bailed out by our tax dollars, keep their jobs and bonuses (remember the 'brightest and best' claim?) and not a single banker be charged with a crime? Because all the US politicians in Congress are paid for by them.

On a lighter note... occasionally I frequent the 99c stores here (discount chain where most things are under $1) to buy chips or chocolate (they sometimes have Toblerone!). Never pay using credit or debit cards at places like that, no matter how big your bill is as the banks check where u spend ur money. If they see bills from discount stores they have an algorithm that determines that you must have financial problems and they can and will ding your credit which you may only notice next time you apply for a loan etc.
It is quite insane how in this country you are essentially penalized for being thrifty. What 'they' want to see is you taking out loans, but paying it off on schedule. That is what makes you a good citizen...
I know this because when I check my credit report, the only black mark I have is for not having enough (any) loans out!
 
This may come as news to some but you don't actually have to be on Facebook.

Last time I checked it was voluntary.

Anytime you are getting a service for free, the product is probably you.
 
This technology is far from infallible though. I recently bought a snowboard from an online retailer. Now guess what I constantly see ads for on various websites - yup, snowboards! If they were smart they would now try to sell me a new helmet or boots. ;)

Seriously though, delete your cookies and history on a regular basis, and if you have a Facebook/LinkedIn/etc. account then set it so that only your friends can see what you post. Go through the security settings carefully and lock them down as much as possible. Or don't complain when what you post becomes more public than you intended!

I go for a slight variation on what nightfly says above - "Anytime you are getting a service for free, the product IS you."
 
You stop it, by never signing up to begin with...

Am I the only person on earth left who's never been on Facebook and never will? And no, I'm not missing anything....
 
Gregm61 said:
You stop it, by never signing up to begin with...

Am I the only person on earth left who's never been on Facebook and never will? And no, I'm not missing anything....
Click to expand...

No, I have many friends who avoid Facebook, but Facebook is not the only one. Google, Amazon, Instragram, Flickr, Twitter, LinkedIn, What's App, various internet mail services, various company websites, etc., etc.

Not that I am saying don't go on these sites. I do all of the time. I'm just saying be very aware that everything you do on these and many other sites is tracked.

Cheers,
Rob
 
JPSuisse said:
Yup, I find it disturbing too. What happens if a fascist government again comes to power in a Western democracy? If in the US, I'm sure they'll make good use of the NSA's extensive database.

Credit cards? Yes, that as well, which is why I try to pay for almost everything in cash. But, haven't you heard about all the plans to eliminate cash?

Everything we do will be tracked to the point that we will be scared to speak out when democracy most needs it.
Click to expand...

Bit of paranoia here, wot?

HFl
 
After years of having flyers constantly stuffed in my letterbox I find being targeted for advertising on the internet very similar ... though of course what is turning up on my computer is dictated by my browsing history. Sometimes it annoys me but most of the time I accept that this is just the way things are in 2016, so live with it.
 
And I have noticed that when I'm here at RFF all the adds to the left of the home page seem to be for camera and photography stuff.

Concidence? ... I think not! :D
 
Huss said:
On a lighter note... occasionally I frequent the 99c stores here ... Never pay using credit or debit cards at places like that, no matter how big your bill is as the banks check where u spend ur money. If they see bills from discount stores they have an algorithm that determines that you must have financial problems and they can and will ding your credit which you may only notice next time you apply for a loan etc.
Click to expand...

I would love to see an article regarding this. I made a large (requiring a credit check) purchase last week and my rating was up a few points since the last one about six months prior. Trust me, with two young kids and their constant school projects, my wife and I clean these "dollar stores" out on a regular basis and have for years. I almost never have cash on me -just my debit card and my DL.
 
"Banks control everything - why do you think they could destroy the world's economy a few years ago, get bailed out by our tax dollars, keep their jobs and bonuses (remember the 'brightest and best' claim?) and not a single banker be charged with a crime? Because all the US politicians in Congress are paid for by them."

The Koch brothers control everything, not the banks. Read Jane Mayer's "Dark Money ...".

HFL
 
I left Facebook years ago. Also left Twitter several months ago, though I may return there with a fresh (and private) alias.
 
Ugh, it's one of the reasons I don't use Facebook even though I get the guilt trip from many friends for holding out this long. Sounds like they sufficiently bury all of these settings to make it confusing enough to disable that many probably don't bother to do so.

But I do use Google and Amazon, B&H, etc... they all track you to some extent.

When my smartphone died a couple weeks ago, I was kind of in a panic. Suddenly no more Google Maps to help me get to places, anticipate traffic and travel times, etc. I had to resurrect a circa 2008 flip phone for emergency service while waiting for my new phone to arrive (from B&H coincidentally)... Once I readjusted to the plain old cellphone, it was kind of liberating, in some respects. Battery life was amazing and I felt little urge to unnecessarily and constantly look at my phone for status updates.

Anyway, the new smartphone arrived and it runs a newer version of Android, which means some services like Google Maps are richer. But I've been constantly reminded by that particular app how much Google knows about my travel history. I was just asked to answer some yes/no questions about places I've recently visited... Sure, I've known all along that Google keeps a travel history. And it's kind of cool to browse it to remind myself where I've been. But I've also been making a point of turning off location services whenever I don't need it. Not that it makes me invisible since the phone can still potentially be tracked by cell tower service, etc....

Anyway, I know I'm well documented by Google, but I do try to limit it to some degree. I stopped using Google search a long time ago when I was annoyed to constantly see ads pop up of things I had just searched for. And I have been using Startpage.com as a proxy search engine since then (they search Google for you). I installed an ad blocker long ago, as well as Ghostery, which supposedly blocks all the trackers, beacons, bugs, etc. lurking on websites to generate analytics about your browsing habits (i.e. like the VigLink service used here, though kudos to Stephen for keeping it reasonable. Other forums have a half-dozen or more trackers, etc.). Ghostery is supposed to kill the Facebook, Twitter, Google and other trackers that follow you from website to website. To keep Google further in check on my computers, I log into only Google on a separate browser app from the one I regularly use and log out of it immediately after I get what I need, i.e. from Google Drive. I almost never use web-based Gmail, instead checking it with a mail app (to avoid seeing the ads). Same with on my phone. I never use Chrome, though my GF uses it as her primary browser, to my chagrin. I know a lot of websites hate ad blockers, but without it, it's just such a 'noisy' browsing experience. Lately a number of sites have interfered with access with an ad blocker running... I guess it's a possible strategy, but I just go elsewhere since there is almost always an alternative.

BTW, the USA Today site has about 8 trackers running on the page linked here by the OP. That seems to be about average, but some of the click-bait 'news' rehash sites are a lot worse.

For a while I was doing all of my internet activity through a VPN to mask activity from my ISP. Not that I was doing anything dubious, just that I didn't want them too building a database of my browsing...

But a big problem IMO with Facebook is that when you're on the site itself (same with Google, I guess), there's no way to stop the tracking by FB itself. And I'm sure that's something FB is counting on as it gets bigger and bigger with more and more unique content only available within its walls.

With any of these free services there's always going to be a give and take between what you benefit from them and what they gain from you... just it feels like some take a lot more than they give back.
 
Huss said:
We've had a puppet government here in the US as long as I can remember.
Click to expand...

Puppet government maybe. Fascist? Not quite yet. I love my country and hope simply that behaviors will not be tracked and analysed to the point that people will be scared to speak up.

I see more risks from indiscretionary access by out of control government agencies forcing, for example, Amazon to turn over my book reading list to the NSA than simple merchants trying to sell me things. The NSA's algorithms might determine that the books I read correlate with people who "cause social unrest." How will people be able to build political opinions and speak out?

Here is a cute video to watch about just such possibility: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnuH-yO0BJE
 
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