We won't track you anymore....honest!

I find it suspicious that Facebook and OnStar are both in the news today regarding their promises to not track you once you're logged off or no longer their client.

Here are the articles:
Facebook: "We didn't mean to track you"
www.dailymail.co.uk...

"OnStar Kills Plan to track ex-subscribers"
jalopnik.com...

So, on one hand we have a company saying that the tracking was a complete accident (Yeah. Sure.) while on the other hand we have a company who admits to tracking, but says that this is no longer going to be conducted as long as you're not their client.

How do we even trust them now and know that they're telling the truth?

Both companies have been accused of being in collusion with the government, and, frankly, we already know that the gubermint lie and lie and lie. Facebook's Zuckerberg has met with Obama and GM is often called Goverment Motors. I don't believe that it's a coincidence that both of these companies are associated with the government and utilizing features the Patriot Act has made possible. You know, all in the name of catching those evil doers.

As consumers and American citizens, what can we do? Trust is earned. These two companies have broken that trust. I can't simply take their apologies and say, (Goofy voice)"OK, since you're telling me you aren't going to be tracking me anymore, I'll use your product." No, it doesn't work that way in my world. I've never used Facebook and I currently don't have a GM vehicle or have used an OnStar mechanism.
As of the latest developments, I will most likely never subscribe to either company's products.

For those of you who have used these products, are you feeling once bitten, twice shy or are you accepting their apologies/excuses?

I will admit that I'm a suspicious person by nature and saw Facebook for what it was from the beginning, so I was able to avoid this whole debacle, but I will admit that, given the right circumstances, I could've been an OnStar client. I will also admit that I'm not a very forgiving person either. Once you've fooled me, you're on probation until I deem otherwise. That's just the way it is here in my world.

So, as consumers, what should we do? Can we create a contract to make them sign? We're always signing company contracts, so they can take us to court. Why don't we turn the tables and create a Consumer Contract for the companies to sign? If they breach the binding agreement, we can take them to court.
Then again, this is just an idea. I'm hoping to hear other ideas, too.

Please don't say, "Just avoid Facebook and GM." This isn't the issue. I believe that these are just a small percentage of companies who have been found out. There are most likely other companies who are tracking their consumers/clients, too. Google is one company I'm very suspicious of as well as AT&T.

So, how can we combat this and make the companies too afraid to conduct tracking?
In my opinion, we need to threaten their wallets and livelihoods. If there is a consumer website with a downloadable contract that we can have companies sign, maybe the idea of being taken to court and sued will stop the tracking (and other nefarious secret practices) in its tracks.

After all, this is our privacy we're talking about here and we need to begin to take it back before it's eroded away even further.

Maybe Anon has a solution to this?

They will have just found a way to hide them tracking you, so it can't be found again like it was. Personally i am looking forward to Anon taking down Facebook in November.

Originally posted by Ellis1234
They will have just found a way to hide them tracking you, so it can't be found again like it was. Personally i am looking forward to Anon taking down Facebook in November.

I agree. They just changed the lock on the door so their tracking won't be as easily detected anymore.

Regarding Anon and Facebook, I can't wait either!

Facebook, the largest data mining operation in the history of the world, oh and Zuckerburg attended the Bilderberg meetings, along with Schmidt and others and all the lovely western government officials. The meetings so secret that they wont say whos been, whats said etc need i say more

Do I believe they'll never track again, never in a million years, I'm with the OP, they'll all have to earn their respect back

So, as consumers, what should we do? Can we create a contract to make them sign? We're always signing company contracts, so they can take us to court. Why don't we turn the tables and create a Consumer Contract for the companies to sign? If they breach the binding agreement, we can take them to court.

Agreed. I like the idea, but as we both know, it's far from plausible.

I boycotted Facebook when it starting becoming popular. However, I succumbed to the moaning of one of my ex girlfriends, and idly sat by and watched her create FOR me. Nowadays, I don't use it as a social tool. It has become my political activist page. I plaster world news and politics all over in attempt to get friends and family involved. My efforts have proven futile so far...

I've been aware for quite sometime that members of FB and the site is self can stalk and track, I'm not worried for I have no information about myself. If they want to scan my face and pinpoint my location, so be it. I have no fear of these invisible cyber stalkers. I'm expressing my first amendment I'll be damned to cease my efforts just because Big Brother is watching.

reply to post by DanteMustDie

I plaster world news and politics all over in attempt to get friends and family involved. My efforts have proven futile so far...

I know the feeling, I post videos and articles that have everyday relevance, libya, facebook tracking and the people i have on my facebook probably just think i am a crazy deluded anti government student. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink.

It's almost impossible for them to do it in a hidden way, that's one good thing about the internet. Code is visible in the browser, although admittedly techniques can be used to hide it.

Also web developers use tools that watch HTTP traffic (Fiddler etc), which means they can see when for example Facebook's servers are being contacted. This is fairly standard stuff, not advanced by any means.

If they tried to hide it geeks would be onto them very quickly.

reply to post by DanteMustDie

Nowadays, I don't use it as a social tool. It has become my political activist page. I plaster world news and politics all over in attempt to get friends and family involved. My efforts have proven futile so far...

I like your style!
Don't get discouraged. I've found that people wake up at their own pace, so keep at it!

Has anyone tried the Ghostery add on for Firefox? Tracks the trackers and tells you what companies are interested in your activities, you'd be surprised at the amount of trackers on some websites.

www.ghostery.com...

reply to post by Ellis1234


Yes, I did check them out, but they also want to be "liked" on Facebook.
I am now distrustful towards some companies who are linked with Facebook. If Ghostery is supposed to combat tracking, they should disengage from Facebook. It makes them look two-faced.
From your experiences, have you noticed anything about Ghostery that would seem as though they use tracking or other similar tactics? Is it possible that Ghostery is programmed to ignore some tracking cookies, but not others, so it appears as though it's doing its job?

By attacking facebook, Anon does nothing but hurt the consumer. They really aren't hurting Zuckerman and facebook. Anon is just helping to expose the user that uses facebook, not expose zuckerman, Anon really is in turn giving Zuckerman what he wants. How is that fair to the consumer?

reply to post by Manhater


How is screwing with Facebook giving Zuckerberg what he wants?
Please clarify your reasoning.

I look at Facebook as a drug. If I took out a drug dealer, am I hurting his/her customers more? It may feel this way to their druggie clients, but eventually they'll just find a new supplier.

Originally posted by Afterthought
reply to post by Manhater

 

How is screwing with Facebook giving Zuckerberg what he wants?
Please clarify your reasoning.

I look at Facebook as a drug. If I took out a drug dealer, am I hurting his/her customers more? It may feel this way to their druggie clients, but eventually they'll just find a new supplier.

Zuckerman is exposing the consumers tracking everything they do.

Anon will be exposing the consumers and private details about the consumer, just like zuckerman.

Solves nothing.

reply to post by Afterthought


Facebook doesn't get many trackers... yeah whatever. The adverts alone on facebook show i am being tracked. ATS has quite a few which i was surprised about. Quancast, Google +1, Google Analytics, Gorilla Nation and Comscore Beacon.

I think personally, some trackers have been left off the Ghostery add, whether they have been paid not to have the tracker tracked or if its to advanced for Ghostery to pick up? I don't particularly trust Ghostery, but its a helpful app if i want to know where my information is going.

well i dont trust facebook but i cant afford to top up my mobile to keep in touch with people so im kinda stuck with it for the time being if anyones interested, check out fb purity. i use it to hide all the ads n cr*p on facebook. another good trick regarding websites tracking u etc is to use the opera browser. i use opera and i have extensions for it that remove all the facebook like buttons on websites, blocks ads embedded in webpages and stops pages tracking you ( every site i visit has a google analytics tracker on it according to my extension) hope this useful to some of you

reply to post by Ellis1234

they have been paid not to have the tracker tracked

Ah! Great point!
So, if they don't want the tracker, they have to pay money.
Similar to if I don't want my info in the phone book, I am charged.
Interesting concept!

Regarding onstar, can't you just disconnect their system? I haven't looked into it yet, but it would seem that you could just disconnect the interface module.

reply to post by Manhater

Anon will be exposing the consumers and private details about the consumer

Can you show proof that this is how Anon is going to do this?
I was under the impression that they were simply going to hack into Facebook and render it useless.

Originally posted by Ellis1234
They will have just found a way to hide them tracking you, so it can't be found again like it was. Personally i am looking forward to Anon taking down Facebook in November.

Any site that shoves a Netflix and/or Publisher's Clearing House cookie down your throat is also tracking you. In many instances... you're unable to access designated sites unless you accept those cookies. So that means that your pop-up blocker is virtually useless if you want to gain access.

Originally posted by Ellis1234
Has anyone tried the Ghostery add on for Firefox? Tracks the trackers and tells you what companies are interested in your activities, you'd be surprised at the amount of trackers on some websites.

www.ghostery.com...

Thanks for this, I just installed for Chrome, they have options for all major web browsers too, anyone using FB should probably get this.

Here's some more tips/plugins to help maintain some form of privacy from Lifehacker