Here is why no "safe" site has a "Like" button
Thread Starter
Moderator
Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 7,323
Likes: 529
From: Ann Arbor, MI
Here is why no "safe" site has a "Like" button I saw the thread on "Why no Like button..." yesterday that got closed.
As the owner of an IT security company, I highly recommend that people never press a "Like" button and even add an Extension to their browser to block it. The real purpose of the "Like" button is to track you, capture information about you which is stored by Facebook and sold to anyone!
The worst part is, much of the tracking is done just by the existence of the "Like" button on a site; you don't even need to press it.
Don't take my word for it:
http://www.geek.com/news/facebook-li...click-1380793/
"Any time the Like button is displayed, information is zapped back to Facebook’s servers. As long as you’ve been logged into the site in the past month, Facebook happily continues warehousing your whereabouts."
http://venturebeat.com/2011/09/25/fa...ng-logged-out/
"Any time you visit a web page with a Facebook button or widget, your browser is still sending personally identifiable information back to Facebook."
http://www.abine.com/blog/2012/how-f...cross-the-web/
"Here’s how the Facebook Like button, for example, can track people as they browse the web (so we’re not talking about tracking on Facebook.com itself, which has a higher level of tracking)....
...taking notes on the pictures you upload, the things you like on Facebook, the sites you visit most, the things you like to buy, where you live, and more. This person will take your personal information and sell it to another complete stranger, making money off something that you never agreed to share in the first place."
Every IT person knows this and will not place a "Like" botton on their site unless forced to do so my management.
As the owner of an IT security company, I highly recommend that people never press a "Like" button and even add an Extension to their browser to block it. The real purpose of the "Like" button is to track you, capture information about you which is stored by Facebook and sold to anyone!
The worst part is, much of the tracking is done just by the existence of the "Like" button on a site; you don't even need to press it.
Don't take my word for it:
http://www.geek.com/news/facebook-li...click-1380793/
"Any time the Like button is displayed, information is zapped back to Facebook’s servers. As long as you’ve been logged into the site in the past month, Facebook happily continues warehousing your whereabouts."
http://venturebeat.com/2011/09/25/fa...ng-logged-out/
"Any time you visit a web page with a Facebook button or widget, your browser is still sending personally identifiable information back to Facebook."
http://www.abine.com/blog/2012/how-f...cross-the-web/
"Here’s how the Facebook Like button, for example, can track people as they browse the web (so we’re not talking about tracking on Facebook.com itself, which has a higher level of tracking)....
...taking notes on the pictures you upload, the things you like on Facebook, the sites you visit most, the things you like to buy, where you live, and more. This person will take your personal information and sell it to another complete stranger, making money off something that you never agreed to share in the first place."
Every IT person knows this and will not place a "Like" botton on their site unless forced to do so my management.
HOOOLY CRAP!! I had heard rumors about this time ago, but you being owner of a security comapany all I can say is THANK YOU for sharing this great info Sir. Cant do much now days without being safe. Pretty scary and sad for our future childrens.
TECH Apprentice
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 375
Likes: 0
From: Bahrain
I saw the thread on "Why no Like button..." yesterday that got closed.
As the owner of an IT security company, I highly recommend that people never press a "Like" button and even add an Extension to their browser to block it. The real purpose of the "Like" button is to track you, capture information about you which is stored by Facebook and sold to anyone!
The worst part is, much of the tracking is done just by the existence of the "Like" button on a site; you don't even need to press it.
Don't take my word for it:
http://www.geek.com/news/facebook-li...click-1380793/
"Any time the Like button is displayed, information is zapped back to Facebook’s servers. As long as you’ve been logged into the site in the past month, Facebook happily continues warehousing your whereabouts."
http://venturebeat.com/2011/09/25/fa...ng-logged-out/
"Any time you visit a web page with a Facebook button or widget, your browser is still sending personally identifiable information back to Facebook."
http://www.abine.com/blog/2012/how-f...cross-the-web/
"Here’s how the Facebook Like button, for example, can track people as they browse the web (so we’re not talking about tracking on Facebook.com itself, which has a higher level of tracking)....
...taking notes on the pictures you upload, the things you like on Facebook, the sites you visit most, the things you like to buy, where you live, and more. This person will take your personal information and sell it to another complete stranger, making money off something that you never agreed to share in the first place."
Every IT person knows this and will not place a "Like" botton on their site unless forced to do so my management.
As the owner of an IT security company, I highly recommend that people never press a "Like" button and even add an Extension to their browser to block it. The real purpose of the "Like" button is to track you, capture information about you which is stored by Facebook and sold to anyone!
The worst part is, much of the tracking is done just by the existence of the "Like" button on a site; you don't even need to press it.
Don't take my word for it:
http://www.geek.com/news/facebook-li...click-1380793/
"Any time the Like button is displayed, information is zapped back to Facebook’s servers. As long as you’ve been logged into the site in the past month, Facebook happily continues warehousing your whereabouts."
http://venturebeat.com/2011/09/25/fa...ng-logged-out/
"Any time you visit a web page with a Facebook button or widget, your browser is still sending personally identifiable information back to Facebook."
http://www.abine.com/blog/2012/how-f...cross-the-web/
"Here’s how the Facebook Like button, for example, can track people as they browse the web (so we’re not talking about tracking on Facebook.com itself, which has a higher level of tracking)....
...taking notes on the pictures you upload, the things you like on Facebook, the sites you visit most, the things you like to buy, where you live, and more. This person will take your personal information and sell it to another complete stranger, making money off something that you never agreed to share in the first place."
Every IT person knows this and will not place a "Like" botton on their site unless forced to do so my management.
how would you integrate anything without tracking or using your original server, let's say ls1tech.com allows you to comment on ls1.com .. the process is the same, the same data is transferred.
else how would it identify who commented, facebook as a start isn't safe at all, no social networking website actually is.
Those widget's, shares, likes.. don't you notice that if you are not logged in it actually sends you back to login, see the code here is to actually get a request from the widget, like , share it then access fb and keeps post, like what ever, as in ways to say your data is secured as it's requested or given from the server, think of it as a give & take process, those like, share, etc are all linked to the server but are in no way affiliated with the other website they are on. Therefore no, there isn't really any "TRACKING" unless you've used that widget, like, w/e.
And no browser's do not actually send your data, people mistake browser's and assume it's their fault, people forget that behind those graphics and text's are codes for the computer to execute, a browser is just an interface allowing you to run such codes.
data security is a wide issue in the IT world and can never be solved, you'll never have people that will make sure of it.
do you know that facebook actually stores you're complete data, even if you close the account?
one more thing is pc's nor laptop's have GPS & i'm not sure about U.S. or any other country but IP tracking for my country only results in showing you the whereabouts of the ISP(Internet Service Provider).
---
in the end whoever thinks his data is secure on the internet should really re-think that through.
Thread Starter
Moderator
Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 7,323
Likes: 529
From: Ann Arbor, MI
People that know me and even people that barely know me are often shocked by how non-private I am. I am about the opposite of a "privacy nut". Nonetheless I use browser addons like Ghostery to block most tracking and especially anything related to Facebook. When I (rarely) log into Facebook, I use Chrome's Incognito window which auto-deletes all cookies.
I don't mind that there might be some sharing of info on the Internet. But first Google and then Facebook took this to an entirely new level. They might claim they don't know your name and only your IP, but if you allow all tracking, they will know this:
IP xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx visited these sites.....
IP xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx searched with these terms....
IP xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx Likes these sites and products....
There is probably more. And all this info is sold to "data combiners" that then sell it further and instantly.
I recall a recent article about a company claiming that for an IP, they can predict sex (99% accuracy), race, age range, income range, sexual preference, marital status, political and religious affiliations, all with 90% accuracy. The primary purpose is to present you with very fine-tuned ads on all free sites that show ads. That might not be all bad, but those ads steer you towards companies with the big bucks and not necessarily the best products or prices.
GPS? You smart phone has a GPS. Ever see the message "App wants to use your location". If you say Yes, it knows where you are within a few yards.
To me its not the end of the world, but we don't yet know all the dangers of this tracking.
Some of my staff knows this area much better than me, and blogs about it:
http://community.greenviewdata.com/b...sing-your-info
http://community.greenviewdata.com/b...nt-show-it-you
BTW - All this tracking also slows down your browsing experience by 50%. We proved it here:
http://community.greenviewdata.com/b...n-your-browser
http://community.greenviewdata.com/blog/?q=node/12
In summary this is why I am glad ls1tech.com doesn't link to Facebook.
I don't mind that there might be some sharing of info on the Internet. But first Google and then Facebook took this to an entirely new level. They might claim they don't know your name and only your IP, but if you allow all tracking, they will know this:
IP xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx visited these sites.....
IP xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx searched with these terms....
IP xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx Likes these sites and products....
There is probably more. And all this info is sold to "data combiners" that then sell it further and instantly.
I recall a recent article about a company claiming that for an IP, they can predict sex (99% accuracy), race, age range, income range, sexual preference, marital status, political and religious affiliations, all with 90% accuracy. The primary purpose is to present you with very fine-tuned ads on all free sites that show ads. That might not be all bad, but those ads steer you towards companies with the big bucks and not necessarily the best products or prices.
GPS? You smart phone has a GPS. Ever see the message "App wants to use your location". If you say Yes, it knows where you are within a few yards.
To me its not the end of the world, but we don't yet know all the dangers of this tracking.
Some of my staff knows this area much better than me, and blogs about it:
http://community.greenviewdata.com/b...sing-your-info
http://community.greenviewdata.com/b...nt-show-it-you
BTW - All this tracking also slows down your browsing experience by 50%. We proved it here:
http://community.greenviewdata.com/b...n-your-browser
http://community.greenviewdata.com/blog/?q=node/12
In summary this is why I am glad ls1tech.com doesn't link to Facebook.
TECH Apprentice
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 375
Likes: 0
From: Bahrain
People that know me and even people that barely know me are often shocked by how non-private I am. I am about the opposite of a "privacy nut". Nonetheless I use browser addons like Ghostery to block most tracking and especially anything related to Facebook. When I (rarely) log into Facebook, I use Chrome's Incognito window which auto-deletes all cookies.
I don't mind that there might be some sharing of info on the Internet. But first Google and then Facebook took this to an entirely new level. They might claim they don't know your name and only your IP, but if you allow all tracking, they will know this:
IP xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx visited these sites.....
IP xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx searched with these terms....
IP xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx Likes these sites and products....
There is probably more. And all this info is sold to "data combiners" that then sell it further and instantly.
I recall a recent article about a company claiming that for an IP, they can predict sex (99% accuracy), race, age range, income range, sexual preference, marital status, political and religious affiliations, all with 90% accuracy. The primary purpose is to present you with very fine-tuned ads on all free sites that show ads. That might not be all bad, but those ads steer you towards companies with the big bucks and not necessarily the best products or prices.
GPS? You smart phone has a GPS. Ever see the message "App wants to use your location". If you say Yes, it knows where you are within a few yards.
To me its not the end of the world, but we don't yet know all the dangers of this tracking.
Some of my staff knows this area much better than me, and blogs about it:
http://community.greenviewdata.com/b...sing-your-info
http://community.greenviewdata.com/b...nt-show-it-you
BTW - All this tracking also slows down your browsing experience by 50%. We proved it here:
http://community.greenviewdata.com/b...n-your-browser
http://community.greenviewdata.com/blog/?q=node/12
In summary this is why I am glad ls1tech.com doesn't link to Facebook.
I don't mind that there might be some sharing of info on the Internet. But first Google and then Facebook took this to an entirely new level. They might claim they don't know your name and only your IP, but if you allow all tracking, they will know this:
IP xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx visited these sites.....
IP xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx searched with these terms....
IP xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx Likes these sites and products....
There is probably more. And all this info is sold to "data combiners" that then sell it further and instantly.
I recall a recent article about a company claiming that for an IP, they can predict sex (99% accuracy), race, age range, income range, sexual preference, marital status, political and religious affiliations, all with 90% accuracy. The primary purpose is to present you with very fine-tuned ads on all free sites that show ads. That might not be all bad, but those ads steer you towards companies with the big bucks and not necessarily the best products or prices.
GPS? You smart phone has a GPS. Ever see the message "App wants to use your location". If you say Yes, it knows where you are within a few yards.
To me its not the end of the world, but we don't yet know all the dangers of this tracking.
Some of my staff knows this area much better than me, and blogs about it:
http://community.greenviewdata.com/b...sing-your-info
http://community.greenviewdata.com/b...nt-show-it-you
BTW - All this tracking also slows down your browsing experience by 50%. We proved it here:
http://community.greenviewdata.com/b...n-your-browser
http://community.greenviewdata.com/blog/?q=node/12
In summary this is why I am glad ls1tech.com doesn't link to Facebook.
And i didn't mention phones in my last post but yes you are right.
Incognito - well that doesn't really change anything because not all data is only got from your cookies or browser data, etc. some websites have transferring scripts, logging, data sharing more & more stuff i don't want to bore the readers.
