sturg33
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Someone posted an article about some of the terms that Facebook has people submit to. I'll post a summary of it here - in case anyone cares:
Here is the article - it is long.
The last time you accepted the Facebook Terms of Service you agreed to a clause that essentially says from here on out, by continuing the use of Facebook on the web or the Facebook App you agree to any new ToS and any changes to the ToS. Basically from here onward, you will not ever have to accept any new ToS/Privacy changes and Facebook can essentially change whatever they want and not inform you because you will never need to directly accept any change/new policy.
On January 30th, Facebook changed a few things.
They now track your location via your phone and track when/where/who you hang out with based on other people having the app on their phone as well. The latest update to the Facebook App has asked for permissions to use your microphone can enable it and record you/others without you knowing and without any indication.
This cannot be turned off or disabled in any way. (Google tracks you too but have been transparent in my opinion and allow you to turn off every aspect and even delete things they've cataloged in the past about you).
Furthermore, they have disabled some privacy settings you could have disabled/tweaked in the past. Other settings you can disable now but there have been loopholes established. For example, you can choose to not share certain data publicly or with anyone for that matter but if any of your friend(s) have chosen to share everything (most people do because they are unaware) then they implicitly share your data too and your data will be publicly shared even if you have it turned off yourself. The same applies to other Apps that have Facebook permissions/ask for any Facebook related connections.
Most concerning:
If you are unaware, in the past if you log into Facebook on your browser and check your stuff then close the tab and don't log out, Facebook actually tracks what you do next. They track what sites you visit and things you look at in order to give you better ads. That I knew of and was kind of OKAY with because it seemed fine to me. Now with the latest update to the ToS, even if you log out of Facebook and close the tab, they continue to track what you are doing. Furthermore, and this is insane , now they have your permission to track what you search for, what you enter into fields INCLUDING banking information, credit card information, stuff you type but then delete and don't even submit. This is absolutely ludicrous in my opinion and I cannot imagine how this could be used without malicious intent. What is utmost disappointing is, through my trial and experimentation and from what the author of the article has stated there is nothing we can do to undo what has already been collected on us in the past.
Looking ahead, you can do several things if you are not okay with getting rid of Facebook entirely. First and foremost, I'd suggest uninstalling the app immediately. Then there are several settings you can and should change to minimize what is collected on you. I can detail this if anyone wants me to. Second, if you'd like to continue to use Facebook, log out of it in your normal browser that you use and restart your current browser or even computer if you can. Then I'd suggest only access Facebook in an incognito mode (hold Ctrl+Shift+N in Chrome) and log out every time.
Hopefully a lawsuit or some big news break could put a damper on this but only time will tell.
Here is the article - it is long.
The last time you accepted the Facebook Terms of Service you agreed to a clause that essentially says from here on out, by continuing the use of Facebook on the web or the Facebook App you agree to any new ToS and any changes to the ToS. Basically from here onward, you will not ever have to accept any new ToS/Privacy changes and Facebook can essentially change whatever they want and not inform you because you will never need to directly accept any change/new policy.
On January 30th, Facebook changed a few things.
They now track your location via your phone and track when/where/who you hang out with based on other people having the app on their phone as well. The latest update to the Facebook App has asked for permissions to use your microphone can enable it and record you/others without you knowing and without any indication.
This cannot be turned off or disabled in any way. (Google tracks you too but have been transparent in my opinion and allow you to turn off every aspect and even delete things they've cataloged in the past about you).
Furthermore, they have disabled some privacy settings you could have disabled/tweaked in the past. Other settings you can disable now but there have been loopholes established. For example, you can choose to not share certain data publicly or with anyone for that matter but if any of your friend(s) have chosen to share everything (most people do because they are unaware) then they implicitly share your data too and your data will be publicly shared even if you have it turned off yourself. The same applies to other Apps that have Facebook permissions/ask for any Facebook related connections.
Most concerning:
If you are unaware, in the past if you log into Facebook on your browser and check your stuff then close the tab and don't log out, Facebook actually tracks what you do next. They track what sites you visit and things you look at in order to give you better ads. That I knew of and was kind of OKAY with because it seemed fine to me. Now with the latest update to the ToS, even if you log out of Facebook and close the tab, they continue to track what you are doing. Furthermore, and this is insane , now they have your permission to track what you search for, what you enter into fields INCLUDING banking information, credit card information, stuff you type but then delete and don't even submit. This is absolutely ludicrous in my opinion and I cannot imagine how this could be used without malicious intent. What is utmost disappointing is, through my trial and experimentation and from what the author of the article has stated there is nothing we can do to undo what has already been collected on us in the past.
Looking ahead, you can do several things if you are not okay with getting rid of Facebook entirely. First and foremost, I'd suggest uninstalling the app immediately. Then there are several settings you can and should change to minimize what is collected on you. I can detail this if anyone wants me to. Second, if you'd like to continue to use Facebook, log out of it in your normal browser that you use and restart your current browser or even computer if you can. Then I'd suggest only access Facebook in an incognito mode (hold Ctrl+Shift+N in Chrome) and log out every time.
Hopefully a lawsuit or some big news break could put a damper on this but only time will tell.
