How does Facebook know what sites I have visited on other platforms? For instance, today I researched flights for an upcoming trip. Later, when I logged into Facebook, there were advertising posts by the same airline. I’ve never seen those ads before, so doubt it was coincidence. Or, the MSN news feed often targets topics based on other research I have done online. I use an ad blocker & I’ve tried very hard to keep all privacy settings at maximum, but obviously not enough.
Nothing is secret on the internet. Everyone is tracking you - facebook, google, different internet sites. Assume that any device you have with a microphone - laptop, phone, any homepod like Siri, Alexa, Google Assistant - is also listening in. Welcome to the future - the future is now.
^^Yep. Every time I see one of those lame Facebook quizzes (“What animal are you?”), I think ‘Hey, yet another Russian bot is (forbidden word on CC, but it starts with a t and is a legit English word) for security question answers!’
This is a must to watch:
https://www.pbs.org/video/in-the-age-of-ai-zwfwzb/
You’ll be fascinated and terrified at the same time. Regulation is beyond needed. We need many more Alastair Mactaggarts in our world. He’s a hero of our age.
Forget about browsing in private. The sites are fingerprinting you, and in private browser just adds one more data point to confirm that you are you:
Definitely. It’s not just retail/businesses but government agencies/law enforcement as well. We definitely need to support legislation protecting citizen and consumer privacy.
My HUSBAND was researching piano restoration companies (not on my computer) and all of a sudden I was getting Facebook ads for that type of service!! That’s when I freaked out.
Use DuckDuckGo for more private browsing and follow the founder on Twitter for more info on this topic!
I get random ads for really frumpy clothing. Depressing!
Keep the highest security setting on your computer, and check the setting every few months to see that it hasn’t changed. Don’t use Facebook on your phone, don’t fill out online quizzes and share the results with friends. Find out where you computer stores cookies and delete them ever so often. Don’t allow tracking cookies, don’t allow Google to track your location on your phone, and use a VPN when surfing. Don’t use Alexa, or any voice activated command. if you have used “OK Google” anything you say is recorded and saved. Go to https://myactivity.google.com/ to see what random stuff has been recorded, and then delete it. Then change setting so that Google doesn’t record your activity.
Your phone will still record your location, though.
Delete history and delete cookies ever so often. Never trust Facebook, never post anything on Facebook that you wouldn’t say in public, and assume that they will never delete anything.
@surfcity - read the link I posted above about fingerprinting.
https://restoreprivacy.com/browser-fingerprinting/ has more detail about browser fingerprinting. It includes links to tests which tell you how easily fingerprinted your browser is.
Some web browser features and add-ons try to prevent use of some of these fingerprinting methods.
Be careful about some of these sites that claim to “prevent” or “reduce” internet “fingerprinting” - according to a guy on our IT staff they can be sheep in wolf’s clothing - actually adding hidden software on your system to track even more than what was being tracked before (including sensitive passwords and the like. Our IT staff have created a password specifically so that “we” underlings are not able to add ad blockers, etc. without them being vetted first.
Note that fingerprinting can be used for benign purposes, such as giving you a security alert if you login to your account from a previously unseen browser or device. Using a fingerprint randomizer (e.g. Trace add-on for Firefox) could cause a website to issue a security alert every time you login.
Of course, if you believe that the same website is using fingerprinting for purposes you do not like, that may be a trade-off if you want to avoid fingerprinting. But if it is a website you login to, then it can track you anyway, so you may want to turn off your fingerprint randomizer for that website.
I’ve come to the conclusion that it is hopeless. My DH and I both have Siri and (for him) the Android counterpart turned off, and we still get ads for things that we TALK about and have never searched online…for example, an expensive exercise equipment that he saw a commercial on TV for…after talking about it in the car, I had an ad for it hours later on my phone. The ad companies say that they use very complex technology to target ads and are really good at making them relevant WITHOUT listening to you, but I don’t believe it after several instances of getting ads for unique things only mentioned in actual in-person conversation.
The Great Hack is another documentary on the subject, specifically about those FB quizzes and targeted political ads.
Yup. There is no such thing as a general right to privacy. It is not in the Constitution, nor the SCOTUS has ever said so. 
We can only keep pushing for laws defining how the personal data can be used without taking away our existing rights.
Speaking of ads, I tell Mr. that he better refrain from browsing questionnable sites… because those ads would appear on my phone. ? Like my running shoes and HerRoom bras periodically appear in his browser ads ?
^Yes, I told DH that I can tell what kind of movies he’s been looking at by the Netflix suggestions that appear!
Re: fingerprinting: https://blog.mozilla.org/firefox/how-to-block-fingerprinting-with-firefox/ Firefox can block most trackers too.
I switched to Startpage for search - DuckDuckGo is based on Bing and I prefer Google. https://www.startpage.com/
Firefox, with add-ons. Tuned up to the point some sites won’t let you participate, which bothers me less each day.
DuckDuckGo, 'cause Google’s idea of ‘do no evil’ is so conditional, I’m thinking of checking as to whether I can still do a flip-phone. Won’t save my medical history being vacuumed up, but I’m thinking that turning off location is simply taking a sugar pill.
Amazon, I don’t use much anymore, but that door was open so long all the livestock is long, long gone.
Tried FB for a couple months but, besides being creeped out by the data mining aspect of the quizzes &games, couldn’t justify the time spent on it. Wish I hadn’t uploaded a dozen photos to it.
Just say no to the quizzes and games. 