What did I eat for lunch? How am I feeling? How did I feel this day in 2008? Chances are you can find all of those answers on the wide world of Facebook.
Well, lately my face is suffering from Facebook overload! All the changes, updates, time lines, I feel like it's all turning into a bad movie line! Well, now that there's a new question creating a cloud over the social media world. Does Facebook track users while they're offline?
According to ABC news, two congressmen and 10 public advocacy groups have now urged the Federal Trade Commission to investigate whether Facebook tracks users' online movements even after they log off the site. A class-action (Davis v. Facebook) has been filed as well in Federal District Court in San Jose, Calif.
Reps. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Joe Barton, R-Texas, co-chairmen of the Bipartisan Privacy Caucus, wrote to the FTC "We believe that tracking users without their knowledge or consent raises serious privacy concerns. When users log out of Facebook, they are under the impression that Facebook is no longer monitoring their activities. We believe this impression should be the reality."
Facebook said the issue was overblown, however they did find that three of its "cookies" -- small files a website leaves in your computer when you visit -- "inadvertently included unique identifiers when the user had logged out of Facebook,"
On the other hand, what's the harm to most people if a website knows your interests? That they'll show you ads tailored to your preferences?
"Some groups believe people shouldn't have the option to easily share the songs they are listening to or other content with their friends," said Facebook's Noyes. "We couldn't disagree more and have built a system that people can choose to use, and we hope people will give it a try."
Regardless of how secure or not Facebook is, I will continue to live by my own Facebook golden rule. "Do not put anything on Facebook you wouldn't want your sweet little old grandmother to see, and log off when need be!"
