FARK.com: (6218325) Twitter and Facebook are tracking every web page you visit that have FB or Twitter buttons

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		Twitter and Facebook are tracking every web page you visit that have FB or Twitter buttons (slate.com)		47
		More: Obvious, Twitter, Facebook, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, web pages

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2621 clicks; posted to Geek » on 19 May 2011 at 8:49 PM | Favorite | share:

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Bukharin		2011-05-19 05:39:36 PM

get a HOSTS file.

wee		2011-05-19 05:41:42 PM

My company makes software that tracks a shiatload more than that.

serial_crusher		2011-05-19 05:49:37 PM

Ugh, more fear mongering over nonexistent privacy concerns. Can't the media find some shark attacks or killer bees to get hyped up about instead? Something that doesn't make my customers freak out and start wanting me to "fix" things in a hurry?

Bunnyhat		2011-05-19 05:57:17 PM

I've hacked your webcam and am currently tracking you in the shower.

I was able to gain access because you befriended me on Facebook and I was able to hack you after you read a wallpost I made.

R.A.Danny		2011-05-19 06:01:44 PM

I click on damn near every link on Fark. Now you know that too.

cman		2011-05-19 06:11:44 PM

R.A.Danny: I click on damn near every link on Fark. Now you know that too.

Beat me to it

R.A.Danny		2011-05-19 06:18:14 PM

cman: R.A.Danny: I click on damn near every link on Fark. Now you know that too.

Beat me to it

I still rarely RTFA before posting though.

John Paul Jones		2011-05-19 06:28:27 PM

This is why you use two browsers: One for FB and Twitter, and another for everything else. Like I've been doing for years.

/yes, the geek shall inherit the Earth

penthesilea		2011-05-19 08:38:32 PM

I have a Stylish add-on that gets rid of all the social media crap on websites. I guess I have no idea if/where I'm getting tracked.

Toy_Cop		2011-05-19 09:01:10 PM

ghostery and noscript take care of all that.

drjekel_mrhyde		2011-05-19 09:12:35 PM

No shiat

penthesilea		2011-05-19 09:13:36 PM

Toy_Cop: ghostery and noscript take care of all that.

I already have noscript. I'll take a look at ghostery. Thanx!

daveinaz		2011-05-19 09:31:09 PM

How come I can't "like" the article?

DeadNotSleeping		2011-05-19 10:17:57 PM

Toy_Cop: ghostery and noscript take care of all that.

I also had noscript and just installed ghostery, thanks for the tip!

torusXL		2011-05-19 10:22:34 PM

What I don't even...I just....I can't believe people are surprised.

I wish people would learn more about technology so that it doesn't steal their soul and then they're surprised it happened :(

ole prophet		2011-05-19 10:22:56 PM

penthesilea: Toy_Cop: ghostery and noscript take care of all that.

I already have noscript. I'll take a look at ghostery. Thanx!

Ghostery is the biz. For example, it says there are 23 trackers on this page alone.

/would also recommend WoT (Web of Trust)

envirovore		2011-05-19 10:28:05 PM

Toy_Cop: ghostery and noscript take care of all that.

Already run with NoScript and ABP. Gonna check out Ghostery. Thanks for the tip.

/doesn't use FB or Twitter so doesn't have to worry about 'liking' anything.

Blind_Io		2011-05-19 10:29:12 PM

Do not accept cookies.
Do not accept third party cookies.
Clear all cookies upon closing the browser.
Don't leave FB or Twitter open while browsing other sites.

/really wish there was a way to make websites think they got the cookie on your system.

Igor Jakovsky		2011-05-19 10:32:21 PM

I've noticed on a few websites my name and profile pic shows up asking if I want to share this with my FB friends. Ummm...no. This despite setting everything to private or friends only and not participating in those shiatty FB games or other widgets. Like they aren't using some other shiat to track me.

/Don't put any info other than a name and pic on FB.
//Only have it to keep up with some old friends.
///Going to get the addons suggested above.

RoyBatty		2011-05-19 11:14:49 PM

wee: My company makes software that tracks a shiatload more than that.

You should be a very proud young man.

thenateman		2011-05-19 11:46:52 PM

wee: My company makes software that tracks a shiatload more than that.

Does it actually track my shiats? I dropped a huge load this morning, but you probably already knew that.

lushmore		2011-05-19 11:56:33 PM

Facebook Disconnect extension.

/equivalent for twitter, anyone?

Mme.Mersault		2011-05-20 12:54:02 AM

thenateman: wee: My company makes software that tracks a shiatload more than that.

Does it actually track my shiats? I dropped a huge load this morning, but you probably already knew that.

We did. Pump the brakes on the corn.

gilgamesh23		2011-05-20 01:03:25 AM

I seriously can't be bothered to care. I'm too farking busy to worry about creating a few footprints in untold terabytes of data. I hope that the government or someone is looking out for my best interest and that there are rules about how such data can be used, but I don't know and I'm not going to find out. If they're using it to market to me that's fantastic -- finally ads I can use. If they're selling it to auto insurance companies so that they can jack up my rates for tweeting from a mobile device at 1 a.m. on a Saturday, that's sort of crossing the line.

I guess I care about this a little more than I thought.

Cthulhu_is_my_homeboy		2011-05-20 02:51:26 AM

wee: My company makes software that tracks a shiatload more than that.

I'm just out on a limb here, but, uh, could you guys maybe.... not do that? Use your nerd-powers for good, make software that un-tracks people somehow?

/the only people that should be tracked are pedophiles and Randians. the former to keep them away from our kids and the latter to keep them away from our government
//on second thought, let's add Fascists, Scientologists, and people who like the color fuchsia to the watch list

Snarcoleptic_Hoosier		2011-05-20 04:06:53 AM

wee: My company makes software that tracks a shiatload more than that.

Since you're into the data collection business, would you mind tailoring the spam for NEW porn? I mean, a man can only watch slasher clown rape fantasies so often.

I'd be more than happy to shell out more money, but get with the program dammit!

Doctor Jan Itor		2011-05-20 05:41:24 AM

ole prophet: penthesilea: Toy_Cop: ghostery and noscript take care of all that.

I already have noscript. I'll take a look at ghostery. Thanx!

Ghostery is the biz. For example, it says there are 23 trackers on this page alone.

/would also recommend WoT (Web of Trust)

Also check out "Beef Taco" for targeted advertising, and "CsFire" for cross-site scripting.

Hawnkee		2011-05-20 06:56:18 AM

And?

Click Click D'oh		2011-05-20 07:40:59 AM

... you guys do realize this can be disabled inside your facebook settings right?

bush		2011-05-20 08:01:59 AM

Click Click D'oh: ... you guys do realize this can be disabled inside your facebook settings right?

I have this setting disabled and I still show up as "logged in" on sites that allow you comment as a FB user.

Yes, I've checked my settings multiple times. Not surprised.

beerdini		2011-05-20 08:03:32 AM

I think I posted this "story" in a comment I made to a FB story a few months ago. My workplace wanted to allow FB for employees but our firewall's web filter had it classified as a personals/dating site so I had to manually whitelist 28 servers to make FB work. During that time when I was watching FB traffic I noticed that any site/blog that had the like button attached or any of the other widgets contacted at least 3 FB servers when the page was loading. Since only one was the image hosting server I could only guess that the others were tracking that I was at the site even if I didn't click the Like button. That was about the same time I decided to remove my FB account, I'd like to keep it to just google knowing everything about me.

Click Click D'oh		2011-05-20 08:32:59 AM

bush: I have this setting disabled and I still show up as "logged in" on sites that allow you comment as a FB user.

Yes, I've checked my settings multiple times. Not surprised.

You have to disable both the Third Party Ad settings and the Social Ad settings.

Then go to your privacy settings and kill all of the "Info accessible through your friends" settings. ... and "Public Search" while you are there.

If you kill it all properly the the websites you visit won't pull your facebook profile.

mavexe		2011-05-20 08:56:55 AM

The easy thing here is to just chose not to have accounts with these services?

Arkanaut		2011-05-20 09:05:10 AM

daveinaz: How come I can't "like" the article?

You don't have to. "They" already know.

xkillyourfacex		2011-05-20 09:13:32 AM

I thought the U.S. had a law preventing this... Cookies can't cross domains or something... whatever happened to enforcing that??

Blind_Io: Don't leave FB or Twitter open while browsing other sites.

I thought this would do the trick, too. ALso, I thought logging out of FB would do it.
Somehow, it doesn't. I have no idea how they do what they do, but I don't think there's a good fix for it, that doesn't affect other functionality in Opera.

Suggestions??

annitabonghit		2011-05-20 09:26:49 AM

xkillyourfacex: I thought the U.S. had a law preventing this... Cookies can't cross domains or something... whatever happened to enforcing that??

Blind_Io: Don't leave FB or Twitter open while browsing other sites.

I thought this would do the trick, too. ALso, I thought logging out of FB would do it.
Somehow, it doesn't. I have no idea how they do what they do, but I don't think there's a good fix for it, that doesn't affect other functionality in Opera.

Suggestions??

Facebook is storing info locally on your machine which other sites can access to "personalize" their services? Just a guess - could be totally wrong.

For those more knowledgeable - does using private browsing in Firefox/IE/Safari/(or insert favorite browswer here) block this type of tracking? If so, is there a way to enable private browsing as the default setting so it's on when you open the browser each time?

StarBob		2011-05-20 09:55:27 AM

Or you could just log out and it wouldn't do any of that.

But no one will ever... log... out...

steveGswine		2011-05-20 10:11:36 AM

People went apeshiat rejecting Microsoft Passport as a unified login ten years ago, because it would add this kind of tracking business to everything Microsoft already had.

Ten years later, people are geeked up about how convenient Facebook/Twitter sign-in is, having shifted browsing to less-versatile mobile devices that make logins/logout less convenient to manage. Because of this, companies now exist that have NO OTHER line of business, and profit to the exact extent that they sell whatever information they can glean about you through your unified login.

Good job, society. I would have rather have given that business to Ballmer than Zuckerberg, because at least Ballmer has other things to do than fark me over.

ImRonBurgundy		2011-05-20 10:21:37 AM

Even heaven666?
/oh crap!1!

djscram		2011-05-20 10:28:19 AM

I spend a lot of time looking at web analytics and thus know everything about you. By the way, you are probably a 50+ divorced woman who looks for health information online and may or may not have a real estate license. Also, you watch Oprah. Inexplicably, you don't keep clicking through our ridiculously complex navigation to find out more about what the Institute Director thinks.

Addicted		2011-05-20 11:36:34 AM

meh. All I'm interested in is gay porn, sportbikes and linux. All Facebook has to do is read my wall, no need to spend all that effort to track me.

DanZero		2011-05-20 01:28:02 PM

If you're running AdblockerPlus, add "Fanboy's List" to your filter subscriptions. One of his subfilters named "Fanboy's Annoyances" turns off all Facebook/Twitter/Digg/etc. buttons/links/references.

wee		2011-05-20 02:01:13 PM

RoyBatty: You should be a very proud young man.

I admit that it's fun to invent new things.

thenateman: Does it actually track my shiats? I dropped a huge load this morning, but you probably already knew that.

We're not really in the shiat business. Although, I bet it'd be possible to put an array of barcode scan lasers on garbage trucks to scan your trash. When they pour your can out, all they need to do is blow some air up against the stream of trash to separate it a little and slow it down. Then the barcode readers can pick up how ever many UPC codes they can, and that gets saved with your address. If you can combine all that info, and get enough of it, and you have pretty decent heat maps for various products. And by checking the address, you could make reasonable guesses as to the contents of your dump.

Though it'd probably be a lot easier to buy info from the grocery stores' shopper's discount clubs. That info isn't even close to anonymized, and it'd let you know, with some pretty decent certainty, exactly what would likely be in your poop on any given week.

Cthulhu_is_my_homeboy: I'm just out on a limb here, but, uh, could you guys maybe.... not do that? Use your nerd-powers for good, make software that un-tracks people somehow?

I turned to the dark side many years ago. The money is very good. But there's no going back. I'm too far invested already.

The nature of things is that ads really don't work anymore. Knowing what people do, combined with knowing what they've done, does work because you can make guesses on what they might do next. Really, it's all just rose-colored glasses thinking that the tracking stuff will go away. It'll get more personalized, but still remain largely anonymous. People don't care about you they just care about what you do and how you spend. You're a faceless wallet, in other words.

There ways to get around all this stuff, but it makes the web mostly useless.

etherknot		2011-05-20 04:47:31 PM

Oooh. Thanks for the tip on Ghostery.

Very nice.

NateAsbestos		2011-05-20 06:21:35 PM

Privoxy.

{ +block{ fark this } }
.facebook.
.twitter.

Done.

Goodfella		2011-05-20 06:24:40 PM

Facebook = spyware

kroonermanblack		2011-05-21 08:22:36 AM

DanZero: If you're running AdblockerPlus, add "Fanboy's List" to your filter subscriptions. One of his subfilters named "Fanboy's Annoyances" turns off all Facebook/Twitter/Digg/etc. buttons/links/references.

I checked the little ABP icon in my bottom left, and there at the bottom was a 'like us on facebook' button.

I found it amuzing.

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