Facebook and the forum

BongoHunter · 2 Apr 2018 at 14:10

Might be a bit contentious - and regardless of result its not going to stop me posting here

*puts on fireproof suit*

Given all the recent news about Facebook I wondered if OcUK would consider removing the FB integrations from the forums, I'm not suggesting the OcUK FB group or links to it be removed form the shop - just the forum integrations pieces like the share on FB button - as I understand it the current setup effectively would let FB link posts to their own data, see what you read, which pages get hit etc (assuming your FB user).

FB SSO might be harder to remove depending on how many members signed up / through SSO

Thoughts? Looking at the way the FB button has been implemented through addthis.com - is tracking not an issue?

Diddums · 2 Apr 2018 at 14:16

Can anyone think of a single time when they've used that feature?

SexyGreyFox · 2 Apr 2018 at 14:16

I have never seen an OCUK thread on facebook - have you?

I've seen lots of Facebook threads on OCUK though.

Tobywon · 2 Apr 2018 at 14:16

I'd consider that you're being neurotic and all the data and information you are concerned about is generally of little interest to anyone. Even without a fb account you're being tracked by them anyway so why bother even attempting to remove.

BongoHunter · 2 Apr 2018 at 14:18

Tobywon said:
I'd consider that you're being neurotic and all the data and information you are concerned about is generally of little interest to anyone. Even without a fb account you're being tracked by them anyway so why bother even attempting to remove.

Am not an FB user myself - I just think they've been quite irresponsible and arent worthy of an association with such a great community

Diddums · 2 Apr 2018 at 14:20

BongoHunter said:
Am not an FB user myself - I just think they've been quite irresponsible and arent worthy of an association with such a great community

Hmmmmm.

Thekwango · 2 Apr 2018 at 14:20

What do you think will be achieved by removing the FB interaction 'stuff'?

BongoHunter · 2 Apr 2018 at 14:26

Thekwango said:
What do you think will be achieved by removing the FB interaction 'stuff'?

Facebook’s Like button has made it easy for hundreds of millions of Web users to share content with their friends on the social networking site. The button appears on more than one-third of the top thousand websites and has been integrated into everything from Bing search results to countless blogs around the ‘net. What users may not realize is that the soft blue thumbs-up is tracking their surfing habits, even if it doesn’t get clicked.

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. Data which is gathered is retained for three months — substantially longer than the two weeks Google stores similar information it receives from users. So what exactly is Facebook doing with the browsing data it gathers?

Facebook says it’s not using the data to track you, per se, but rather to help power targeted ads which get displayed when you share a link with your friends. It’s also trying to ascertain how effective the Like button and widgets are and help websites figure out how to attract more traffic. Facebook CTO Bret Taylor told the Wall Street Journal, “We don’t use them for tracking and they’re not intended for tracking.”

Yes, somehow the company believes what it’s doing doesn’t qualify as tracking. Despite the fact that data about where you go and what you read online is being used to customize advertising delivered to you and your friends, you’re not being tracked. And while Facebook is busily analyzing usage to help site owners boost pageviews and interactions, you’re still not being tracked.

From: https://www.geek.com/news/facebook-like-button-tracks-you-even-if-you-dont-click-1380793/

Armageus · 2 Apr 2018 at 14:29

BongoHunter said:
From: https://www.geek.com/news/facebook-like-button-tracks-you-even-if-you-dont-click-1380793/

OcUK Forums haven't got an embedded like button though?

BongoHunter · 2 Apr 2018 at 14:48

Armageus said:
OcUK Forums haven't got an embedded like button though?

I think its any FB button

Open firefox dev console and reload any thread while on the network tab - plenty of calls get fired off to www.facebook.com

Glaucus · 2 Apr 2018 at 14:52

On computers at least, run ghostery, ad blocks etc. Harder on mobiles.
Haven't found a way on android to run both ghostery and ad blockers, although
Smasung browser has ad tracker and as blockers, but you can't see what it's blocking unlike ghostery

Imo you should be running these regardless.the biggest issue with data and FB seem to be self inflicted, using all these what character would you be and asks for access to everything and millions just accept it. Why! Oh and Facebook log ins for otherwise, just do email logins instead.

On android you should be using the built in function to limit what apps have access to, regardless of what they are actually asking for etc.

Bit of personal responsibility is needed, even if laws are updated.

Armageus · 2 Apr 2018 at 15:00

BongoHunter said:
I think its any FB button

Open firefox dev console and reload any thread while on the network tab - plenty of calls get fired off to www.facebook.com

Yep just checked via chrome's network tab (Control+Shift+I) then click network - like.php loads from facebook.com

Thekwango · 2 Apr 2018 at 15:13

BongoHunter said:
From: https://www.geek.com/news/facebook-like-button-tracks-you-even-if-you-dont-click-1380793/

Can I have a quick synopsis of what will be achieved by removing FB 'stuff' ......if possible.

NoobCannon · 2 Apr 2018 at 15:14

Asked ocuk to remove the facebook crap but they arent interested

BongoHunter · 2 Apr 2018 at 15:21

Thekwango said:
Can I have a quick synopsis of what will be achieved by removing FB 'stuff' ......if possible.

Data wont be shared with Facebook from the forum
At the moment if you have a Facebook and visit this forum they would be able to associate every thread you read with your user account in their systems. I don't know if they do this - but they have the required info to do it they want to.

EDIT: You can stop this with most adblocking software or other browser addons - but no all them will block FB calls by default, E.G Adblock Plus won't do it on Firefox out of the box.

Thekwango · 2 Apr 2018 at 15:29

BongoHunter said:
Data wont be shared with Facebook from the forum
At the moment if you have a Facebook and visit this forum they would be able to associate every thread you read with your user account in their systems. I don't know if they do this - but they have the required info to do it they want to.

EDIT: You can stop this with most adblocking software or other browser addons - but no all them will block FB calls by default, E.G Adblock Plus won't do it on Firefox out of the box.

And what exactly is the likely repercussions if the 'stuff' isn't removed.
What exactly will FB do or can they do with my posting history?

Glaucus · 2 Apr 2018 at 15:31

Thekwango said:
And what exactly is the likely repercussions if the 'stuff' isn't removed.
What exactly will FB do or can they do with my posting history?

With deep learning, who knows what they can do now or in the future.
I think it's safe to say you should resonantly protect your data and only share stuff you are happy to publicly and permanently share.

BongoHunter · 2 Apr 2018 at 15:32

Thekwango said:
And what exactly is the likely repercussions if the 'stuff' isn't removed.
What exactly will FB do or can they do with my posting history?

Well I dont know if you've seen the news lately - but one firm got access to some data like this from them and *MAY* have influenced the US election, Brexit vote with it - or data like it etc.

Thekwango · 2 Apr 2018 at 15:49

Glaucus said:
With deep learning, who knows what they can do now or in the future.
I think it's safe to say you should resonantly protect your data and only share stuff you are happy to publicly and permanently share.

If I/you/we make post on a public forum, you've already made the decision to permanently share.

BongoHunter said:
Well I dont know if you've seen the news lately - but one firm got access to some data like this from them and *MAY* have influenced the US election, Brexit vote with it - or data like it etc.

My OcUK postings can be used to influence elections?! God damn I knew I was some hot ****.

Glaucus · 2 Apr 2018 at 16:01

Thekwango said:
If I/you/we make post on a public forum, you've already made the decision to permanently share.

But most people haven't though how it can all be easily connected and how powerful deep learning is getting. Which is not amazing a and scray deepending how it's used.