Warning: Social Networks Leaking Your Info
Are social networks selling your info to 3rd-party advertisers?
Will social networks be the downfall of humanity? Probably not, but they're apparently leaking your personal information to third-party advertising and tracking companies. This enables those parties to associate the browsing habits to a specific person, meaning they'll know where consumers are going and what they're checking out... just like the government.
The revelation was made over a month ago (PDF), but was recently revisited by Macworld and mentioned in a blog post by civil liberties Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). "There are some interesting technical details in how the social networking sites leak this data," said EFF's Peter Eckersley. "In some cases, the leakage may be unintentional, but in others, there is clever and surreptitious anti-privacy engineering at work."
There's anti-privacy engineering at work on Facebook? On MySpace? Talk like that gives a new meaning to the word "conspiracy." But according to the study, eleven out of twelve social networks are leaking personal information to data aggregators by way of tiny images or invisible JavaScripts embedded in the Web pages. Eckersley said on his blog that he caught ten different tracking domains embedded in CareerBuilder. The scary aspect is that each of these tracking companies can follow consumers over multiple different websites, following them as they surf the Web.
Eckersley goes on to mention the study conducted by AT&T Labs and WPI in his blog. "The main theme of the paper is that when you log in to a social networking site, the social network includes advertising and tracking code in such a way that the 3rd party can see which account on the social network is yours," he said. "They can then just go to your profile page, record its contents, and add them to their file."
Scary stuff indeed.
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I'd love to say I'm surprised. . . .
Duh....
IMA LET YOU GUYS FINISH BUT THIS IS THE NEWEST OLD NEWS OF ALL TIME!
NoScript is your friend.
I think some people are a little too paranoid. Suppose some random company across the globe somewhere DOES find out your age, D.O.B and where you live. It doesn't mean all of a sudden you are, i don't know, being stalked, likely to be murdered? Email addresses and telephone numbers i agree should not get out, but i don't see what harm can come from finding out details such as your date of birth.
Just my thought on the matter.
Obvious article is obvious.
The last few "news" articles were Obvious. Slow day eh?... WTH?!?!? shouldn't you be at IDF???
tell us something new...same with webmails yahoo,gmail,hotmail,etc,etc...even this page... LOL
yeah i've been aware of this for awhile now. I've noticed how all the ads on my Facebook are related to the groups i've joined, people I've become fans of, things I like etc.
thanks to careerbuilder I get more spam and junk email more then ever before.
yup, the internet gets more and more anoying
NoScript is your friend.
Indeed it is, but I also don't have accounts or profiles on any social networking sites so they are out of luck
pop-up blockers and ads blockers help?
NoScript is your friend.
I don't think the Internet is usable anymore without noscript and adblock. Even sites like Toms is covered unnecessary scripts.
Really??? They are selling our info??? Damn!!! maybe I shouldn't have given my credit card and social number....
"Warning: If you catch the flu, you'll get sick"
"Warning: If you catch the flu, you'll get sick"
Nuff said.
I doubt the vast majority of people even using these sites cares much. You can search just about any teenage girls page and find practically naked pictures of herself all over it. So oh well.
Don't even put it on the internet if you dont' want it seen...
If it is free, it is worth what you paid to join.
REALLY !?!?
I am so shocked
Good luck finding mine, For some unknown reason they keep sending me commercials offers and infos from Brazil, and I am not in Brazil nor do I visit webpages in Brazil or even search info or content from brazil, they are not sure where I´m from so they keep trying and keep failling. As long as you keep cleaning your browser and cookies and and all that mambojambo stuff you will be relatively safe, and unrequested emails that says "we cannot be considered spam because we give you the option to unsubscribe our mail list", well to you I say SPAM, I say this because I have this option given to me from my right of freedom of speech and freedom of choice.
A question aside, couldn´t this be considered some sort of harassment? Think about it, this guys are selling our info to a 3rd party without our consent, and that 3rd party send us annoying messages all the time. MMmmmm just wondering
I still remember and use from time to time the "socialnotworking" word that the inquirer loves (at least it used to when I had the time to read their biases).
Faster connections operating under strick protocols that adhere to private, corporate and political ineterests rather than mostly public one's..think social networks using targeted media is bad? Ain't seen nothing yet.
..after all, according to certain politicians 'change is good'..and 'yes we can'. Sure.
Umm....duh? Anyone who thinks the information is private when it can be viewed by anyone is stupid. Of course you are being tracked.
This is precisely why i stay far away from the dumb social networking sites.
Its like when people post videos of themselves breaking the law and then are surprised they got caught. Or do something stupid, post it then get fired over their inappropriate behavior.
Bottom line, if you don't want EVERYONE to know about whatever info you put on the internet DON'T PUT IT ON THE INTERNET.
Read Facebook's License agreement...essentially, it says they own whatever u post, so they aren't breaking any rules here. Also, while I agree I don't think social sites are going to be the downfall of man, I do think they are making people stupid. If you don't agree with me, you don't have to. Go to your local bookstore and there is actually a section dedicated to the topic. As a matter of fact, we are considered "America's Dumbest Generation". Sad, isn't it.