Facebook etc using my browsing history

[Artemesia's Garden]

I block all trackers on websites, including Facebook's and Google's (and any stat counter sites, etc). I use the Ghostery app on Chrome if anyone wants to look into it.

Very handy yes please! I use fireflox but think chrome with this app might be the way forward for my mobile phone.

Thanks all for your comments

[kiwimlp]

Thank you for the link. I have opted out of 114 companies!

[hathorcat]

I would add a word of warning on the original link...you know this actually downloads another cookie to your computer anyway? One which can, in the nature of being a cookie, be trackable? Also every single time you clear up temp files on your computer [manually or if your computer is set to do it automatically] you remove the cookie which blocks this add on. And unless you go and download it again...you are back to square one. And of course if you browse the internet, logged into FB, with anything other than the computer you originally download this cookie to...you just let them back in again.

The internet is a pest but unfortunately unless you are going all out, things like this happen on every single website you visit.

The easiest option to avoid FB doing this is simply to log out of your account every single time you leave FB and before you log back in, clear the cookies your machine is holding. Its may be a little more time consuming but every single time you go on a webpage which has a social network icon, if you are logged into that social network, it will see you there. That is not just facebook but also twitter, google +, linkedin, pinterest and any other.

In the long term you are better to get into the habit of always logging out of accounts and not being on other websites when logged into them. And if you simply dont want to see adverts then put an add on like Adblocker on your browser - much easier and although, yes, its also a trackable add-on, its nicer than an unknown cookie added to your machine.

[Artemesia's Garden]

I would add a word of warning on the original link...you know this actually downloads another cookie to your computer anyway? One which can, in the nature of being a cookie, be trackable?

Also every single time you clear up temp files on your computer [manually or if your computer is set to do it automatically] you remove the cookie which blocks this add on. And unless you go and download it again...you are back to square one. And of course if you browse the internet, logged into FB, with anything other than the computer you originally download this cookie to...you just let them back in again.

The internet is a pest but unfortunately unless you are going all out, things like this happen on every single website you visit.

The easiest option to avoid FB doing this is simply to log out of your account every single time you leave FB and before you log back in, clear the cookies your machine is holding. Its may be a little more time consuming but every single time you go on a webpage which has a social network icon, if you are logged into that social network, it will see you there. That is not just facebook but also twitter, google +, linkedin, pinterest and any other.

In the long term you are better to get into the habit of always logging out of accounts and not being on other websites when logged into them. And if you simply dont want to see adverts then put an add on like Adblocker on your browser - much easier and although, yes, its also a trackable add-on, its nicer than an unknown cookie added to your machine.

This is good to know, many thanks. I got the link from what I think is a trusted source but I can look into it more. I have noticed that my 'preferences' update when I  leave myself logged in so I'll be more aware of that and stop doing it in future. As you can tell I'm not a computer expert and I no longer have anyone in my life who is either so any assistance is much appreciated! I am paranoid about my personal information might be used for but I don't know enough to make any effective choices. I have heard a VPN is the way forward but I don't trust any of the sites that come up when I search on it. I have one good friend who I trust with this sort of thing I think I need to ask him for a tutorial 

[ponycake]

The easiest option to avoid FB doing this is simply to log out of your account every single time you leave FB and before you log back in, clear the cookies your machine is holding.

Facebook tracks you even if/after you are logged out. I'm confused as to why you're saying don't clear the cookies until you're ready to log back in? Clear the cookies any time you leave Facebook and browse anywhere else. I would do it even if I visited someone's Facebook page logged out, if I was concerned about it.

[mlp4me]

I clean cookies/browsing history all. the. time.
I laugh every time I log into Facebook and it shows me things I've looked at on ebay the previous day. Sickening.

[Wardah]

I know I'm probably the minority but it doesn't really bother me. I mean it's all just code in servers with no human involvement. It isn't like there is some person who sees our browsing history. It's just programs that look for key words and act accordingly. Anyways it isn't like Facebook or their affiliates can do anything more than serve up ads. And as annoying as ads are they are the price of free content online.

[hathorcat]

The easiest option to avoid FB doing this is simply to log out of your account every single time you leave FB and before you log back in, clear the cookies your machine is holding.

Facebook tracks you even if/after you are logged out. I'm confused as to why you're saying don't clear the cookies until you're ready to log back in? Clear the cookies any time you leave Facebook and browse anywhere else. I would do it even if I visited someone's Facebook page logged out, if I was concerned about it.

I didnt say dont clear the cookies until you are ready to log back in. I said make sure to clear the cookies - after you have logged out, during the time you have logged out, before you log back in. It doesnt matter. :/

It doesnt track you to the same degree or gather the same information if you are logged out. As soon as you see a social network icon on a website you are being tracked, yes, and FB gathers that information. However, its cookies that the original post links to an article about and its cookies that people are now mostly concerned about due to the sheer volume of information that they contain about your browsing history/pattern/preferences. And FB cant track you on any sites which dont contain FB widgets/etc because they rely on that button providing the FB servers with your IP address in order to link it to your account.

[LadyFoxling]

Geeze I thought I was safe with adblock and even with that they had me on 19 different lists! Opted out of all of them.Thanks for posting this thread! This is completely ridiculous.

[Artemesia's Garden]

I know I'm probably the minority but it doesn't really bother me. I mean it's all just code in servers with no human involvement. It isn't like there is some person who sees our browsing history. It's just programs that look for key words and act accordingly. Anyways it isn't like Facebook or their affiliates can do anything more than serve up ads. And as annoying as ads are they are the price of free content online.

IMHO Facebook doesn't provide free content it's just a glorified email client - surely we are the content?