Facebook Employee: Site Tracks Your Every Move
Does Facebook track your every move while logged into the social website?
An anonymous Facebook employee spoke with The Rumpus during a tour of the Facebook central office back in the summer of 2009. Although the two were personal friends, the supposed employee chose to remain anonymous for obvious reasons: she's still employed by the social website, and cannot divulge "company secrets." The conversation was rather lengthy however, and revealed a few frightening tidbits.
According to the anonymous friend/employee, Facebook tracks your every move on the website. This means that every click, every instant message, and every game played on Facebook is tracked. Immediately this sounds like a privacy issue, however the employee stressed that the tracking is only related to making a better product, not accounting for every naughty letter or quick peep at a hot stranger's photos.
The employee also stated that Facebook employees had easy access to user accounts. This means that any one of them could log into your Facebook account and obtain "hidden" personal information. Apparently that has now changed, as the master password has been discontinued. Now employees must provide a written explanation as to why they need access to a user account. If they are caught logging in without permission, they are fired on the spot.
And as for all those deleted, secret love letters to old high school girlfriends and boyfriends, Facebook has those tucked away in its database, undeleted. That means that any Facebook employee can query the database and pull up every Facebook message you've sent and received. Naturally, Facebook denies everything like a classic government cover-up. "This piece contains the kind of inaccuracies and misrepresentations you would expect from something sourced 'anonymously', and we’ll leave it at that," the company said in an email.
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I don't use facebook so no probs on my end..
I don't use fb anyways...
If you don't want people to see something online, don't put it on.
... in other news, angry Facebook developer gets demoted to tour guide and divulges well known company secrets
Mostly sensationalist fodder. Almost all companies want to track user habits on their website in order to see how it is being utilized. This is standard in the world of metrics. Just about every site you go to records your visitation path and that information is in turn analyzed and influences the direction of how that website could evolve in the future.
And honestly, I'm sure the FB message database is encrypted pretty well, just like any other high-profile company. And I would assume they have safeguards from letting unauthorized employees in there. (I would hope, anyway.)
Sounds like google =p
Should people be surprised by this? If you read this article and think "Woah, WTF!", you are among the people who contribute to the decline of Western Civilization.
+1
I have facebook and what is on my facebook really doesn't bother me if someone else sees it...
Those who have nothing to hide don't care, those who care simply should't go on facebook...
I don't expect it to be any different on myspace or other.
If you don't want people to see something online, don't put it on.
It amazes me how difficult of a concept this is for people.
As others have commented, this kind of stuff shouldn't come as a surprise.
Also, I wonder how many females they have working there that would have this kind of information.
And nobody that actually knows about computers, websites, and other tech stuff is surprised
In other news, Facebook makes news!
that seems like an obscenely large amount of data to collect and maintain, i understand tracking app visits and games played but i think tracking what profiles you visit would explode into a massive file very quickly, google only stores about 2% of the data that passes through them and thats still an obscenely large amount, with facebooks growth rate it cant be done.
Hey coolit, you are an utter fool. Facebook tracks and records EVERYTHING your computer does. Not just what you do on facebook. It copies all your cookies on your computer every time you log on to facebook.
Hunter:
It doesn't create copies of every bit of data you access! Duh! It only creates a record of your queries, so to speak. Not a large amoount of data. If they got room for all your photos and videos, they sure as hell got room for a goddam mouse click, LOL!
Hey coolit, you are an utter fool. Facebook tracks and records EVERYTHING your computer does. Not just what you do on facebook. It copies all your cookies on your computer every time you log on to facebook.
Not according to this anonymous source- "Facebook tracks your every move on the website."
But I'm sure you know more than this person. And there's always your tinfoil hat will protect you no matter what.
Beehew, The cookie info was reported here on this site. facebook tracks your cookies. Go ahead and check this link. So...how do you like your crow, dipshit?
http://www.tomsguide.com/us/Social [...] -4723.html
How else will they turn a profit? When the time comes, they will sell you data for the highest dollar.....
Here's another interesting article on toms hardware:
http://www.tomsguide.com/us/Consol [...] -5193.html
I've read a couple other articles regarding facebook privacy from places other than toms. I might be able to find some links.
I got a little too emotional on my previous posts. But dangit! I get torqed off when people are naive about this stuff. It boils my blood to see an ostrich stick his head in the sand or a pacifist turn the other cheek. That actually upsets me more than the injustice does.
I used Facebooks own (and nicely hidden) deletion tool to eliminate my account two nights ago.
Felt good. Can't stand the place.
Is there a publish on Facebook link around here somewhere?
The only thing I don't like about this is that Facebook should say everything upfront about what they save in DETAIL. It would be up to the discretion of the user to continue.
I used Facebooks own (and nicely hidden) deletion tool to eliminate my account two nights ago. Felt good. Can't stand the place.
You sure you "deleted it"? I have done this a couple times and if you go back and log in with your "old" user name it will let you start your account back up. That is unless you found something to DELETE your account permanently?? If so, please share.
Mostly sensationalist fodder. Almost all companies want to track user habits on their website in order to see how it is being utilized. This is standard in the world of metrics. Just about every site you go to records your visitation path and that information is in turn analyzed and influences the direction of how that website could evolve in the future.And honestly, I'm sure the FB message database is encrypted pretty well, just like any other high-profile company. And I would assume they have safeguards from letting unauthorized employees in there. (I would hope, anyway.)
We all know what assuming does.
If they want to know about my social life so be it. Do I care, nope!
I've always lived by the rule that I shouldn't be surprised if everything I do online ends up on the front page of the newspaper the next day. (Although with newspaper readership what it is these days, that's keeping things pretty private!)
As for looking at all of a user's cookies, the tomsquide link posted says the opposite. It doesn't say that facebook has access to all yoru cookies, but rather that a 3rd party ad can get access to your facebook profile.
Did anyone find info in the links about
"It copies all your cookies on your computer every time you log on to facebook."
"ALL MY COOKIES" would access non-FaceBook info. If true, this would be a killer lawsuit! "This was done before by a music download site and there was a lawsuit about 2yrs ago"
Well... It is not okay to invade your privacy, online should not mean open-line. The Government records everything now but that is not okay either. Demographics are valuable BUT companies should be forced to declare clearly how they track and use your information. It is not a simple case of... "if you have nothing to hide - you have nothing to fear", that is simply a disgraceful abuse of a fundamental rite to the requirement of having your permission. Only Gordon Brown listening in his lamp-post would disagree!
Facebook is very handy for those with access to its data. One of its primary purposes is to generate a world-encompassing database of facial recognition information. Every time you tag yourself or someone else, you are allowing the government to identify you. Next time you walk past one of those security cameras that uses facial recognition software, don't be surprised if it matches you to your Facebook account. Six degrees of preventing you from ever being anonymous again, slaves.
it's their web site, they can do whatever they need to do in order to protect themselves in case someone is trying to sue them. thanks to a broken judicial system in the big old USA
Why do people post stuff online and insists making it 'hidden'? I would've thought social networks encourage socializing instead of driving people to pretentious acts of exclusivity.
Lets start a group on Facebook saying Stop Using Facebook becuase of privacy concerns !