Facebook tracking

Chickereeeee

My wife gets advertising 'meant' for me on her Facebook feed. Has anybody any ideas how?

She use the Facebook app (doesn't post much), I use Facebook via Chrome, pretty much as read only, with all privacy options on.

If I browse to a website, such as Halfords, looking for an item, SHE starts getting Halfords ads, for the specific thing I was looking for!

We use the same private email domain, and the same ISP IP address,  but I do not think they track those? We are not 'friends' on Facebook either. 

Seems like an invasion of privacy.

J_B

Me the other day to Mrs B

"I see that C that I work with is off to XYZ camp site this weekend"

Mrs B "yes, I know where you mean"

Couple of days later Mrs B has an advert from XYZ Campsite on her FB feed

Is big brother listening?

matelodave

Perhaps a detailed peruse of all of this might help you understand what Facebook is all about and how much data they collect (even if you don't have a FB account). https://www.facebook.com/policies_center/

Effectively once you've shared almost anything with anyone, or even just checked summat  they have got your details (as well as the details from any recipient). They've also potentially gathered all the info they can suck out of your contacts folder as well.

Not only do you open yourself up to data gathering but you probably make all your contacts vulnerable as well, even if they dont actually subscribe to FB.

Big brother has been listening a lot longer than we give it credit for and many if not most of us are willingly letting happen by sharing our info. Once you've let it go, its nigh on impossible to get it back or stop it being used by others.

PHK

They do get your IP address (Unless you use a VPN).

What happened is that with the ability to  use tracking cookies removed,  Facebook moved to other technologies.  In very basic terms, they build a profile for you based on things like the type of activity you do, metadata from photos etc, information you've given them (name, email address, IP etc) and then use a model to determine what to show you. 

So how to avoid this: Use a VPN, use a service that disguises your email (such as Apples hide my email) , do not use a personalised email domain but something like Gmail forwarded to your actual email, in Facebook settings turn off personalised advertising. Use a browser such as duck duck go in a private session that will nuke everything once you've left. Remove metadata from any photos you post (it contains the location and time).

Chickereeeee

PHK said:

They do get your IP address (Unless you use a VPN).

What happened is that with the ability to  use tracking cookies removed,  Facebook moved to other technologies.  In very basic terms, they build a profile for you based on things like the type of activity you do, metadata from photos etc, information you've given them (name, email address, IP etc) and then use a model to determine what to show you. 

So how to avoid this: Use a VPN, use a service that disguises your email (such as Apples hide my email) , do not use a personalised email domain but something like Gmail forwarded to your actual email, in Facebook settings turn off personalised advertising. Use a browser such as duck duck go in a private session that will nuke everything once you've left. Remove metadata from any photos you post (it contains the location and time).

My issue is NOT that FB tracks me, it is that it gives my tracked information to my wife. If I were browsing a site to buy her a secret present, she would know about it as she would get ads for that site!

Neil_Jones

Chickereeeee said:

PHK said:

They do get your IP address (Unless you use a VPN).

What happened is that with the ability to  use tracking cookies removed,  Facebook moved to other technologies.  In very basic terms, they build a profile for you based on things like the type of activity you do, metadata from photos etc, information you've given them (name, email address, IP etc) and then use a model to determine what to show you. 

So how to avoid this: Use a VPN, use a service that disguises your email (such as Apples hide my email) , do not use a personalised email domain but something like Gmail forwarded to your actual email, in Facebook settings turn off personalised advertising. Use a browser such as duck duck go in a private session that will nuke everything once you've left. Remove metadata from any photos you post (it contains the location and time).

My issue is NOT that FB tracks me, it is that it gives my tracked information to my wife. If I were browsing a site to buy her a secret present, she would know about it as she would get ads for that site!

So log out of Facebook when you're searching for the present then.

Or use another browser that has never been anywhere near Facebook to go shopping with.

PHK

Chickereeeee said:

PHK said:

They do get your IP address (Unless you use a VPN).

What happened is that with the ability to  use tracking cookies removed,  Facebook moved to other technologies.  In very basic terms, they build a profile for you based on things like the type of activity you do, metadata from photos etc, information you've given them (name, email address, IP etc) and then use a model to determine what to show you. 

So how to avoid this: Use a VPN, use a service that disguises your email (such as Apples hide my email) , do not use a personalised email domain but something like Gmail forwarded to your actual email, in Facebook settings turn off personalised advertising. Use a browser such as duck duck go in a private session that will nuke everything once you've left. Remove metadata from any photos you post (it contains the location and time).

My issue is NOT that FB tracks me, it is that it gives my tracked information to my wife. If I were browsing a site to buy her a secret present, she would know about it as she would get ads for that site!

I must not have made it clear.

Without tracking cookies they use other methods (as mentioned above) which will link people and therefore serve them similar adverts.

Some simple examples : email addresses John@smithfamily.me and Mary@smithfamily.me who have photos with metadata in similar locations or IP addresses are likely to be in the same family and interested in the same things.

In reality they use much more information than this simple example but it demonstrates the point.

To avoid this you and your wife should adjust your Facebook advertising and privacy settings then follow the advice above..

wongataa

Install ad blockers in your browser (uBlock Origin is excelllent) and you will not see ads again.

PHK

wongataa said:

Install ad blockers in your browser (uBlock Origin is excelllent) and you will not see ads again.

One slight correction, adverts on Facebook are actually personalised promoted posts. I don't think an ad blocker is able to see these or block them.

Chickereeeee

PHK said:

Chickereeeee said:

PHK said:

They do get your IP address (Unless you use a VPN).

What happened is that with the ability to  use tracking cookies removed,  Facebook moved to other technologies.  In very basic terms, they build a profile for you based on things like the type of activity you do, metadata from photos etc, information you've given them (name, email address, IP etc) and then use a model to determine what to show you. 

So how to avoid this: Use a VPN, use a service that disguises your email (such as Apples hide my email) , do not use a personalised email domain but something like Gmail forwarded to your actual email, in Facebook settings turn off personalised advertising. Use a browser such as duck duck go in a private session that will nuke everything once you've left. Remove metadata from any photos you post (it contains the location and time).

My issue is NOT that FB tracks me, it is that it gives my tracked information to my wife. If I were browsing a site to buy her a secret present, she would know about it as she would get ads for that site!

I must not have made it clear.

Without tracking cookies they use other methods (as mentioned above) which will link people and therefore serve them similar adverts.

Some simple examples : email addresses John@smithfamily.me and Mary@smithfamily.me who have photos with metadata in similar locations or IP addresses are likely to be in the same family and interested in the same things.

In reality they use much more information than this simple example but it demonstrates the point.

To avoid this you and your wife should adjust your Facebook advertising and privacy settings then follow the advice above..

If FB think members of the same family are interested in the same things, then they have a very odd perception of a family!

PHK

Chickereeeee said:

PHK said:

Chickereeeee said:

PHK said:

They do get your IP address (Unless you use a VPN).

What happened is that with the ability to  use tracking cookies removed,  Facebook moved to other technologies.  In very basic terms, they build a profile for you based on things like the type of activity you do, metadata from photos etc, information you've given them (name, email address, IP etc) and then use a model to determine what to show you. 

So how to avoid this: Use a VPN, use a service that disguises your email (such as Apples hide my email) , do not use a personalised email domain but something like Gmail forwarded to your actual email, in Facebook settings turn off personalised advertising. Use a browser such as duck duck go in a private session that will nuke everything once you've left. Remove metadata from any photos you post (it contains the location and time).

My issue is NOT that FB tracks me, it is that it gives my tracked information to my wife. If I were browsing a site to buy her a secret present, she would know about it as she would get ads for that site!

I must not have made it clear.

Without tracking cookies they use other methods (as mentioned above) which will link people and therefore serve them similar adverts.

Some simple examples : email addresses John@smithfamily.me and Mary@smithfamily.me who have photos with metadata in similar locations or IP addresses are likely to be in the same family and interested in the same things.

In reality they use much more information than this simple example but it demonstrates the point.

To avoid this you and your wife should adjust your Facebook advertising and privacy settings then follow the advice above..

If FB think members of the same family are interested in the same things, then they have a very odd perception of a family!

I agree and it's pointless from their point of view as the promotions are going to waste. But they make their money selling these and seem to have done well. So I guess the advertisers are happy.