FB Probes Much Deeper Than You Ever thought Possible

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For the full article, go here:  http://www.pdf-archive.com/2012/05/21/fulltext-24-1/fulltext-24.pdf  and you probably better do it soon, suspect it will disappear, red hot info!



A
small but important difference with the Like button is that there is at least supposed to
be some link to Twitter, because the web user has visited this website. For Facebook,
this is not necessary at all, which implies that individuals who consciously choose not
to participate in Facebook are still tracked and traced by Facebook. Even if someone
does not connect to Facebook himself, Facebook makes the connection.
Another important difference is that Facebook can trace the browsing behavior
to member accounts. These accounts are, usually, quite rich concerning disclosed
information, but the Like button as exploited by Facebook allows far more information
to be collected about individual members than the information disclosed on
the personal profile page. Thus, people who have an account, but do not want to
disclose much information are still profiled more extensively. Their browsing behavior
discloses much information concerning personal interests, and this information
can also be collected by Facebook and connected to the individual account. In the
end, consciousness in disclosing information, either by not participating on Facebook
or by very limited disclosure of personal information, is not sufficient to escape
Facebook’s tentacles.
An additional point of attention lies in the function Facebook is exploiting as an
identity provider. An increasing amount of websites offers the possibility to register
or log on with Facebook credentials.10 The username and password are consequently
used at places other than on Facebook only. Obviously, the services that provide this
possibility are linked to Facebook as well. However, a more pressing issue is the fact
that, for some web services, logging on is only possible with a Facebook account. This
means that, without a Facebook account, accessing or using the services is simply
10 For instance:www.slideshare.net.
1 We Are All Connected to Facebook . . . by Facebook! 11
impossible. If the amount of web services requiring a Facebook account increases,
web users will become more dependent on Facebook as an identity provider so users
can indirectly be forced to create an account.
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