Facebook Data Tracking and Privacy
Ever feel like someone is watching you? Well, if you are on Facebook they are! Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been in the news quite a bit trying to defend their Facebook data tracking process. (You can read a breakdown of Zuckerberg’s testimony here.) “They don’t delete anything, and that’s a general policy,” said Gabriel Weinberg, the founder of DuckDuckGo, which offers internet privacy tools. He added that data was kept around to eventually help brands serve targeted ads. Which is good if you are a business investing in Facebook ads, but not so much if you are a user.
This got me wondering what they have on me so I downloaded my data. It’s crazy what they have! Seeing everyone in my contact list included in the data is an eye opening experience. Let’s look at how you can download your information along with some privacy settings:
Beth Gautier, a Facebook spokeswoman said: “When you delete something, we remove it so it’s not visible or accessible on Facebook.” Which is true, they just hang on to it though so it’s useful to them. Of course, there is always the option of deleting your Facebook account.
What do you think about all of this tracking? Will you be deleting your profile or do you feel Facebook is not a necessary evil, especially if you are a small business owner?