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Ignorance may be bliss for Facebook's users. About 74 percent of adults in the US who use Facebook didn't know the social network keeps a list of their interests and traits for ad targeting, says a study released Wednesday by the Pew Research Center.
About half of Facebook users said they weren't comfortable that the company compiled this information.
The world's largest social network came under fire in 2018 for a series of scandals over data privacy and security. The episodes caused concern about whether Facebook does enough to let users know what information it tracks and how it uses the data.
Facebook knows your age, gender and location, along with what you post, the pages you like and the businesses you check into on the social network. All that information helps the company determine what ads to show its 2.3 billion users.
Facebook users can view their "ad preferences" page to see what the social network thinks their interests are and why they're seeing a given ad. This list can include users' political leanings, hobbies and even the type of smartphone they use. Facebook users can also remove an interest from that list to change the type of ads they see on the social network.
(Score: 2) by noneof_theabove on Saturday January 19 2019, @10:24PM (7 children)
but people need to wake up to being "raped" by the "ad slingers".
Possibilities
Opera Browser - has a built in [must turn it on] VPN [virtual private server]
Private Internet Access - [disclaimer I am a long time user and not ties to the company] fixes everything else
$36 / yr for 6 devices last time I renewed and ranked very very good.
VPN
Everything you type is encrypted and then set to the server you are connecting/connected to.
They then forward you information out.
When it comes back they encrypt it and send it to you.
Result - the ad-slingers only see the VPN and not you.
AVOID GOOGLE like a plague ! ! ! Really they trap EVERYTHING.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 19 2019, @10:50PM (2 children)
Is a VPN really needed? With the right ad and script blocking you should be able to stop most profiling. Then if you don't trust your ISP, why trust some other random company? Use Tor.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by MostCynical on Saturday January 19 2019, @11:08PM (1 child)
note, then you are trusting some random people (or TLAs) running the exit nodes.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Sunday January 20 2019, @04:08AM
'Nuff sed.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Sunday January 20 2019, @04:07AM (2 children)
SSH Tunneling works well, it's just that you have to forward each port with an explicit, separate command.
I keep planning to set that up at boot but can't be bothered. Even so, I've done it in the past and so would appear to be a web server from a land where prostitution is not only legal, but a respectable line of work.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 20 2019, @07:05AM (1 child)
Try sshuttle [github.com].
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Sunday January 20 2019, @06:37PM
-rson:
doubleplusgood:
root@oggfrog2:/home/mike# apt-get install sshuttle
...Setting up sshuttle (0.54-1) ...
root@oggfrog2:/home/mike#
doubleplusungood:
sammy:~ mike$ port search sshuttle | less
sammy:~ mike$
I'll Use The Source, Luke when I'm done downloading vast sums of Videos Of Ill Repute. >:-) 8===m=w====D~~~~
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 21 2019, @05:29PM
Um, no. You have to log into the Facebook with your login. (TFA is about Facebook, not browsing in general.) Sure, you may have concealed your location and whatnot... but you are STILL giving Facebook what you're interested in, how long you look at it, what you click on, what you don't, what videos you skip past, which "sponsored" items get a pause and which don't. They will associate other websites for a time looked at from that IP address that you logged into Facebook with - which yes, in a VPN may be disguised a little by other traffic flowing on that I.P., sure.
But thinking you've "cured" the ads-and-tracking problem with the technical aspects of using a VPN or a privacy browser is a little naive, sorry. And as soon as the world dumps Facebook.... TPTB will figure out a new dodge.