Hello, readers welcome to the new post. here we will learn Things Facebook Knows About You. The shocking methods of Facebook spy on their users are described in detail in a large text presented to the American Congress.It includes tracking mouse movements, battery penetration and proximity monitoring devices on the same network.
The 454-page report was made in response to questions asked by Mark Zuckerberg when he appeared before Congress in April. Lawmakers offered Zuckerberg public outcry over Cambridge Analytica’s scandal, but he failed to answer many of their questions.
The new report is Facebook’s attempt to answer their questions, though it sheds some light on the Cambridge Analytica scandal. However, it contains a lot of disclosures about how Facebook collects data.
Things Facebook Knows About You
Some are shocking, such as the time people spend on Facebook, while others may shock most users.
Device details
- Facebook tracks which device you use to access the network.
- To do this, it will go to the hardware maker of your smartphone, connected television, tablet, computer, or other connected devices. Facebook also tracks the operating system, software types and web browser.
- If you use a smartphone, it will keep a record of the mobile company, while Internet service providers (ISPs) will be kept for users who use Wi-Fi or Ethernet connections to access Facebook. In some cases, it will look for devices that use the same network as yours.
- ‘Facebook services work with device: understanding where people use our services on multiple devices helps us provide the same personal information wherever people use Facebook,’ the company wrote in a lengthy document.
- As for FB concern, it is finished, for instance, ‘to make sure that a person’s Newsfeed or profile contains the same content whether they are accessing our services on their mobile phone or desktop web browser.’
- Facebook also claims that this information is used to determine which ads are most relevant to you.
Mouse movement
- Facebook watches your computer mouse move across the screen when you connect to a social network.
- According to the company, this type of information can ‘help distinguish people from bots.’
App names and files
Tracking the app you use to communicate with Facebook helps the company learn the type of devices you like.
Facebook keeps note of file names in your system for the same reason. This data is synced to your profile, and will influence the types of ads you see when you launch Facebook.
Device performance
- Facebook wants to learn how to use its social network.
- To do so, it records whether you keep your Facebook browser window in front of your computer screen – even if you usually leave it behind, hidden behind other windows. Facebook also looks at ‘performance and behavior performed on the device’ while working on a social network.
- ‘We collect information about how you use our Products, such as the content you view or share; features you use; actions you take; people or accounts you work with; and time, frequency and length of your activities, ‘says Facebook.
- ‘For example, we sign in when you use and keep using our Products, and what posts, videos, and other content you see in our products.
- ‘We also collect information on how you use things like our camera.’
Device connection
- The social network monitors dozens of different communications from your smartphone, tablet, laptop, or smart TV.
- It checks the signal strength of your mobile data connection (if you use one), Bluetooth signals, and information about nearby Wi-Fi locations and cell towers. This data can be used to determine whether you are using Facebook in one place, or when traveling.
- Nearby access points, beacons and cell towers can be used to create a more complex user area, which Facebook can use to create search results and ads.
Devices nearby
- Facebook acknowledges that it collects information about other devices nearby or on the same Wi-Fi network when you sign in or open the app.
- The Menlo Park-based company says it traces the data to help users perform tasks that require multiple devices, such as streaming video from their phone to their TV.
- ‘We collect information on computers, phones, TVs and other web-connected devices that our users use that interact with our Products, and we combine this information with different user devices,’ says Facebook. This is part of the company’s efforts to create a Facebook experience tailored to you personally, according to the company.
- ‘Creating Personalized Products that are unique and relevant to them, we use their interactions, preferences, interests and activities based on the data we collect and learn from them and others (including any special protection information they choose to provide)’ ‘Facebook said.
- This means that they rewrite ‘how they use and interact with our Products; with people, places, or things to which they are connected and interested in and outside of our products, ‘the company says.
Battery level
- The battery level of your device has been checked by Facebook.
- The company claims to be tracking ‘hardware changes’ on any devices running their app.
- This data could be used to track the impact Facebook’s application has on the battery life of the device, however, a previous study from Princeton University stated that battery life data alone could be used to track people across the web.
Last available
- Facebook tracks the available space on any device that uses its app.
- An application needs this information to work on whether it can perform certain tasks, such as keeping a photo album on a desktop.
Plugins installed
- As well as tracking the web browser you use to access the site, Facebook also keeps tabs on whether you have plugins installed.
- Software plugins, such as Ad Blockers, may interfere with the functioning of your social network, which in turn may alert you.
Connection speed
- The document stated that your device’s connection speed is also being recorded.
- Facebook already has information on your mobile operator and your internet service provider, so it makes sense to want to know what speed you are getting again. This data is used by Facebook to organize its targeted advertising.
- So, if you experience the frustrating 3G speed in one week, don’t be surprised if your News Feed starts to show ads for new 4G systems.
Purchases made on websites of third parties
- Facebook also collects information from its Facebook Business Tools on third-party websites and mobile applications.
- Business tools include ‘Facebook Login’ and ‘Like’ buttons that are seen on other services across the web.
- When this is found on a website or in the app, data about your activities is recorded and returned to the social network.
- So, if you are buying band tickets from a site with a Like button on its website, don’t be surprised when ads for official music tours first appear on Facebook.
- As well as purchasing, Facebook claims to collect ‘information about their device, the websites they visit, the ads they see, and how they use their services.’
Contact information
- Facebook tracks information about people, accounts, groups, hashtags and contact pages on your social network.
- This allows the company to make your contacts more accessible so that they can prioritize their content in News Feed.
- Facebook also saves additional contact data when you decide to upload, sync or import contacts from a device. According to the company, this could include ‘address book or call log or SMS log history’.
- Facebook claims to use the information to help users connect with other people on the network.
How users use features such as the camera
- In a 454-page text, Facebook acknowledges: ‘We sign into where users use and maintain our Products, and what posts, videos and other content users see in our products. We also collect information on how users use things like our camera. ‘\
- The details of how the camera is used allows Facebook to suggest new features – such as filters, or masks – that it knows you are not currently using. However, Facebook insists that it does not ‘operate, test, or hold’ the microphone or camera data without the user’s knowledge and consent.
- ‘Facebook does not engage in these practices or capture data from microphones or cameras without permission,’ says the company
- ‘Of course, we allow people to download videos on their devices and share them with those on our platform.’
- The location of the image or the date the file was created
Facebook uses location data to organize ads in News Feed for you.
- It receives this data from the instances where you logged in, the location on your device when you log in to Facebook, and the meta-data stored in the images.
- Digital photos save the day when the photo was taken, and more often than not, the location of the camera where the file was made. This metadata allows Facebook to display an image on a map in a social network.
- It also enables Facebook to show you ads from a paying advertiser to promote its services in the same local area.
GPS location, camera or photo details
- If you install Facebook on a mobile device for the first time, the social network will ask you to access your location information.
- This data is generated and used for its targeted advertising.
- On iOS, tracking can be disabled by going to Settings> Privacy> Location Services> Facebook and changing the option to Never.
- On Android, launch the Facebook app, then Help & Settings> App Settings> Messenger Location Services and uncheck the box labeled Location Unlocked.
Purchase from third-party providers in the real world
- As well as tracking purchases made on third-party websites made online, Facebook looks at your shopping habits in the real world, too.
- In this document, Facebook acknowledges: ‘We also receive information about personal and offline personal actions and purchases from third party information providers who have the right to provide us with that person’s information.’
- For example, a business can tell Facebook about purchases made in its store.
- This data is used to track whether you have taken an action based on an Facebook ad from you. It is also used to try to sharpen ads on Facebook to keep you relevant.
Device IDs and other identifiers
- To help track your activity on different devices, Facebook keeps tabs of many different identifiers.
- Some of these are different for you – like the serial number of your device.
- However, some of the indicators viewed by a social network are very common, including games, apps or users who use accounts. This can help to create a better image of its users, which can be used with targeted ads.
- ‘We provide advertisers with information about the types of people who see their ads and how their ads work, but we do not share personal identification information (information such as a person’s name or email address that they can use to contact or identify themselves) without giving us permission,’ ‘notes.
Photo sharing, sent messages, uploads and import
- Facebook also monitors your regular use of its service so that it not only improves advertising but also the design and features of its website in an effort to keep you coming back.
- This includes the date and time of your Facebook visit, features you have used on social media, posts, videos and other content you have viewed.
- Facebook does the same for your friends, and friends, to help create a more complete picture of how you interact with the service.
Device IDs and other identifiers
- To help track your activity on different devices, Facebook keeps tabs of many different identifiers.
- Some of these are different for you – like the serial number of your device.
- However, some of the indicators viewed by a social network are very common, including games, apps or users who use accounts. This can help to create a better image of its users, which can be used with targeted ads.
- ‘We provide advertisers with information about the types of people who see their ads and how their ads work, but we do not share personal identification information (information such as a person’s name or email address that they can use to contact or identify themselves) without giving us permission,’ ‘notes.
Photo sharing, sent messages, uploads and import
- Facebook also monitors your regular use of its service so that it not only improves advertising but also the design and features of its website in an effort to keep you coming back.
- This includes the date and time of your Facebook visit, features you have used on social media, posts, videos and other content you have viewed.
- Facebook does the same for your friends, and friends, to help create a more complete picture of how you interact with the service.
- ‘This can include information about users, such as when others share or comment on their photo, send a message to them, or upload, sync or import their contact information,’ Facebook said in a 454-page text.
- It is also described in the Terms and Conditions Policy, which you will approve before signing up for the service.
- Facebook also used the opportunity to protect some of the controversial material used by the company.
- Responding to whether the company Menlo Park had ever taken microphone or camera data without the user, a spokesman said: ‘No, Facebook does not engage in these activities or capture data from the microphone or camera without permission.’
- Responding to a question on whether Facebook intended its racial or religious advertising, the spokesman added: ‘We offer what we call multicultural corporations, which are groups of people whose activities on Facebook indicate that they may be interested in content related to African American, Asian American, or American communities of Spain.
- ‘As we define advertisers in our tools, these sections are based on people’s activities on Facebook, not on race or ethnicity.’
- Asked about ‘profile profiles’, allegedly tracking data from non-Facebook users, the spokesman said:’ Facebook does not make profiles or track visits to people who do not have a Facebook account.
- The company also ensured that it automatically added IP addresses when a user signed in to his Facebook account.
- Months ago, U.S. lawmakers criticized Zuckerberg, saying the millionaire had lied about his testimony in Congress.
- It was revealed that Facebook had passed user information to 60 smartphone manufacturers – including a Chinese company flagged by American spies.
- The news came just two months after Zuckerberg testified at Capitol Hill following his company’s disclosure of information to 87 million users at the political advisory firm Cambridge Analytica, many without their consent.
- Senators have criticized the 34-year-old player for not disclosing confidential Facebook agreements with smartphone companies during recent evidence.
- One legislator said Zuckerberg’s withholding of key information during the trial meant it was ‘difficult to know what was true’.
WHY DID FACEBOOK HAVE DETAILS OF WORKING WITH LOCATIONS BY PHONE EMPLOYEES?
- Facebook has shared user details with phone manufacturers since 2007.
- The network has been working with 60 companies, including many local names, such as Apple, Microsoft, Samsung, Blackberry, and Amazon, allowing them to access the login details of network users.
- Facebook says it has reduced data sharing deals with hardware manufacturers because it can’t keep up with the demand for its mobile app. Since almost every handset maker has its own operating system, Facebook would need to build some sort of app for each company.
- To solve this problem, Facebook has allowed device manufacturers themselves to access user data to build Facebook ‘experience’ for their platform.
- ‘In the early days of mobile phones, Facebook’s need was greater than our ability to create product types that work on every phone or app,’ said Ime Archibong, Facebook VP of Product Partnerships.
- ‘To close this gap, we’ve created a collection of APIs integrated with devices that allow companies to re-use Facebook-like experiences on their devices or operating systems.’
- Facebook says it is strictly controlled by how companies can use the information available through the APIs.
- ‘Knowing that these APIs enabled other companies to re-use the Facebook experience, we controlled them tightly from the start,’ Archibong said.
- ‘These partners have signed treaties that prevent personal information on Facebook from being used for any other purpose without repeating what happened on Facebook.’
- Since most modern smartphones work on iOS or Android, Facebook is able to keep up with demand.
- As it stands, the developer recently announced that it will limit access to APIs integrated with the device.
- According to Archibong, 22 collaborations are already over.
WHAT IS THE CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA SCANDAL?
Communication firms Cambridge Analytica has offices in London, New York, Washington, as well as in Brazil and Malaysia.
The company prides itself on being able to ‘get your voters to action’ with data-driven campaigns and a team that includes data scientists and psychologists.
‘In the United States alone, we have played a very important role in winning presidential elections and in national and national elections,’ with the details of more than 230 million American voters, says Cambridge Analytica
