[Faline]

Facebook has admitted that it continues to track users after they log out, sparking yet another privacy row.
The social networking website said that it monitors every single web page its 750million users go to even after they have signed out.
Under these circumstances most would assume that Facebook stops working but technology bloggers have discovered that this is not the case.



In fact data is regularly sent back to Facebook’s servers which gives it yet more information on what its users are doing.
Such information is incredibly valuable and helps Facebook make billions of pounds each year from advertising.
The website’s practices were exposed by a Australian technology blogger Nik Cubrilovic and provoked a furious response across the Internet.
Mr Cubrilovic found that when you sign up to Facebook it automatically puts files known as ‘cookies’ on your computer which monitor your browsing history.
Some of the cookies remain on your computer even after you log out and report back when you visit a site that is connected to Facebook.
This covers millions of websites worldwide and refers to anything with a Facebook ‘like’ or ‘recommend’ button on it.
The data that is sent back is the IP address, or unique identifier of your computer, and a log of what you have been viewing.
Mr Cubrilovic wrote: ‘Even if you are logged out, Facebook still knows and can track every page you visit.
‘The only solution is to delete every Facebook cookie in your browser, or to use a separate (web) browser for Facebook interactions.
‘This is not what ‘logout’ is supposed to mean’.

The admission is the latest in a series of privacy blunders from Facebook, which has a record of only correcting such matters when they are brought to light by other people.
Earlier this year it stopped gathering browser data from users who had never even been to Facebook.com after it was exposed by a Dutch researcher.
The site was forced into a partial climbdown over changes to privacy settings which many claimed made too much public.
It also came under attack for launching a ‘stalker button’ which allowed users to track another person’s every move in a list which was constantly being updated.

Arturo Bejar, one of Facebook’s directors of engineering, admitted that users continue to be tracked after they log out but said that the data was deleted right away.
He said it was to do with the way the ‘like’ feature works, which is a button users can click on to show they like something.
He said: ‘The onus is on us is to take all the data and scrub it. What really matters is what we say as a company and back it up.’
On technology blog CNET, however, users were outraged at what was going on.
One wrote: ‘Who the hell do these people think they are? ‘Trust us?’ Why? Why should we trust a company that spies on us without our knowledge and consent?’
Another added: ‘Holy wow.... they've just lept way past Google on the creepy meter’.
According to U.S. reports Facebook has recently set up its own Political Action Committee, an American term for a lobbying outfit to get its views heard on Capitol Hill.
So far this year it has already spent £352,000 on lobbying, already ahead of last year’s total of £224,000.
The website has also been forced to deny Internet rumours it will begin charging for it services and said it will ‘always be free’.
A spokesman for Facebook said that the login and log out measures were designed for security and were there to prevent fraud.
He added: ‘We to do not use this information to target adverts’.

[Lee]

We are in big brother times now, everything tracks everything else

[meeb]

It's unfortunate that Facebook is the way of the world. I'm keeping it until college is over and then deleting the damn thing. It's really annoying and misrepresents social reality.

[BryanXavier]

Thanks. I just deleted the account. I knew this was going in the wrong direction for a while and this was the tipping point. Thanks

[johnleeknoefler]

You can delete your account but Facebook.com saves all your files and information. One way around this is to first delete ALL your information and then delete your account. Delete your phone numbers and email addresses, photos, and any thing else you don't want them to have.

[meeb]

Actually, all your info on Facebook still remains on Google for a couple years. To delete your account permanently, there is a special link that Facebook doesn't make apparent to users (regular deletion doesn't delete your account, it puts it to sleep):

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=16929680703

"How to Permanently Delete Facebook". Steps on the link. But beware, once you do this, there's no turning back.

[thissiteisfuckedup]

doesnt worry me as i dont use facebook. Plus i use firefox plugins like adblock plus and better privacy that do a good job , everything they block is google tracking software and advertising, advertising rules the world.

[hckr_wolf]

Could you post the link to this article? I want to show it to my girlfriend who just caved in and started using facebook again Thanks

[Faline]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencete...=feeds-newsxml

[Flaka]

Wow. Invasion of privacy to the fullest