Is it possible to stop Facebook spying on you?

It seems that Facebook have upped their game further.

If I even so much as look at anything on Ebay or Amazon I get bombarded with adverts on Facebook for similar items.

Just posted on the “Clean eating” thread and now have an advert for some “healthy food” website!

Is it unavoidable or can I change some browser settings to stop it?

Yes – don’t use it.

Rachel

Easily avoided if you want. You can turn off targeted ads so you get random ones instead. You can also do your browsing in an incognito window or even use a special browser like duckduckgo

Easiest is not to use FB but even then they have a habit of setting their tracking cookies which are what does the spying.

Next easiest way would be to use one browser for FB and another for everything else.

I just have my browser set to never remember anything, and open a fresh browser for facebook, and close the browser when im done, and ope a new one to continue browsing.

Is this not Amazon and Ebay saving cookies out, Facebook’s adverts are just targeting using those?

Clear cookies and shop in a private window if you really don’t like it. You’ll most likely just get adverts aimed at your gender/age/usage, which I usually find even worse.

Is your problem that the ads or targeted or that there are simply too many ads? You can probably resolve the former but, since you can’t resolve the latter, I’m not sure why you’d want to sort the former. Surely it’s better to have relevant ads than irrelevant ads*

*or is the relevancy what’s causing the issue 😉 😆

I get bombarded with adverts on Facebook for similar items.

You won’t get bombarded. You’ll get the same number of adverts, they’ll just be for one thing rather than another thing.

The funny thing about that method of advertising is you notice it because its so bluntly targeted – following your search and browse history then trying to advertise stuff that you’ve already satisfied you’re curiosity about. You read an article/search for/click on a link for a particular pair of shoes and you either buy the shoes or don’t like the shoes, or can’t afford them or they’re not in your size……. then a few minutes later you get adverts saying ‘Hey look at these shoes that you’ve either already bought or don’t like’

You’ll most likely just get adverts aimed at your gender/age/usage, which I usually find even worse.

Once upon a time I was clicking about deep in my google account settings and found a box you could tick to ask them not to try and shape adverts and search results to my browsing profile. So I checked the box and the the next time I logged into STW I was treated to a page surrounded by adverts for men’s incontinence pants.

So you want to use their service, but you don’t want to give them anything in return? That makes sense….

@mac I believe there is some research showing a benefit to showing you ads to things you’ve just bought – but I can’t imagine how that works, nor am I sure that’s what they are actually doing. But I certainly get Amazon ads for things I’ve just bought *from Amazon* so they ought to know that I’ve just bought it!

I always assumed it was intended to nudge you into buying that thing you’ve spent your lunch break ‘window shopping’ for on the internet.

But I agree, I don’t understand what the problem is, but I suspect it’s a reaction to the unsettling experience (realisation?) that your browsing history is collected, and shared.

Currently in my mind as I watched Snowdon last night. 😯

On a slightly different tack, my wife was called on her mobile on Saturday by somebody who had never called her before. Within an hour this person had popped up on MY Facebook in the ‘people you might know’ section. That is sinister.

On a slightly different tack, my wife was called on her mobile on Saturday by somebody who had never called her before. Within an hour this person had popped up on MY Facebook in the ‘people you might know’ section. That is sinister.

yes this also happened to me yesterday. A text from someone who I have no ‘internet’ link or contact with at all, suddenly appeared as a suggested friend on facebook. I dont even have the facebook app installed, but access facebook in a browser on my phone.

There are loads of browser plug ins to stop FB and other sites following you across other sites..

Ghostery[/url] is the most universal

There are also several FB/ Twitter specific browser plug ins which stop those sites following you.

I run this lot..

Browser Plugins by Ben Freeman[/url], on Flickr

Maybe they’d looked you up on Facebook.

Yes – don’t use it.

Too true. Works for me.

@barkm – yes, but it was my wife’s phone that was called – not even my device. That must be in contravention of privacy laws or something?

That is sinister.

Nothing sinister about that at all if you think about it. You and your wife clearly know each other. Your wife and her friend clearly know each other and probably have some friends in common. Either prior to of after that call your friend probably looked her and/or you up on Facebook. Facebook makes suggestions to you based that third persons Facebook searches and page views. When they are saying ‘someone you might know’ they’re making that assumption based on the fact someone has looked for you (or looked for people you have close involvement with) and if that person knows you then you probably know them.

Also, FB own WhatsApp, which has access to your phone directory (unless you barred it). This means they can match all your contact phone numbers / emails with everyone else and see who knows who…

But I agree, I don’t understand what the problem is, but I suspect it’s a reaction to the unsettling experience (realisation?) that your browsing history is collected, and shared.

I guess it is.

A text from someone who I have no ‘internet’ link or contact with at all, suddenly appeared as a suggested friend on facebook.

I have had similar. Where the link came from I have no idea. No mutual friends, no contact online. My phone number isn’t my current one, so I have no idea how they knew I knew him?

Another weird thing with my MS account – got a new netbook over Christmas, logged into my Windows account for the first time on that machine, using my personal email address.

The netbook automatically downloaded my employers wallpaper!

The only link was that I had put that mailbox on my works Outlook on another machine.

So does Office 365 spy on you as well?

Tinfoil hat time.

It’s not sinister if you consider that it’s no different to talking to strangers in a public space. If you go into a shop and say ‘I’m interestd in X’ and they say ‘we’ve also got Y and Z’, that’s entirely normal. If their manager then asks them how many people have asked about X, the assistant might tell them. Just remember that on FB it’s no different. Your comments and actions are both publicly available AND owned by FB. If you ‘like’ something, the originator knows you’ve liked it. And FB know everything you’ve liked. Same as on here. If you like a company, you’re basically inviting ads from them.

If you go in with your eyes open, it’s just another service.

Pretty much everything is being tracked and has been for a long time ever since cookies, they’re just getting a lot clevererer at cross referencing and processing it.

So does Office 365 spy on you as well?

You know those terms and conditions you clicked through and accepted? Try reading them.

And it’s not tinfoil hat time. Tinfoil hats (metaphorically) arise from governmnets snooping on things that should be private. You’ve willingly used these services that have published T&Cs, and you can choose not to use them.

The netbook automatically downloaded my employers wallpaper!

W10 does upload your settings to the cloud so you can synchronise them across devices. You might’ve linked work and personal email somehow. I have both on my work device and can switch, and have, so perhaps I’d get the same thing.

The funny thing about that method of advertising is you notice it because its so bluntly targeted – following your search and browse history then trying to advertise stuff that you’ve already satisfied you’re curiosity about.

Indeed. A little while back I clicked on a link on an STW post to an eBay store which turned out to be some well-endowed lady employing her assets to sell lacy underwear. Since then I keep getting Facebook ads to the same / similar store, “feeling inspired? Take another look.”

A text from someone who I have no ‘internet’ link or contact with at all, suddenly appeared as a suggested friend on facebook.

You’ve got no link with them but that doesn’t mean they don’t have one to you. Its a two way street. They took the initiative to contact you by text not the other way round – its their actions not yours that matter but you don’t know what the full extent of their actions are. They may have taken other initiatives as part of looking you up prior to / subsequent to texting, searching for your contact details, saving those details in an app that they’ve given their Facebook profile access to, looking you up to make sure they’re not mixing you up with another Barkm, wondering where you went on holiday, hoping you posted pictures of yourself in a bikini and so on

A text from someone who I have no ‘internet’ link or contact with at all, suddenly appeared as a suggested friend on facebook.

WhatsApp sends all your contact list to FB, so all phone numbers and emails are known……

Indeed. A little while back I clicked on a link on an STW post to an eBay store which turned out to be some well-endowed lady employing her assets to sell lacy underwear.

It’s the Mods trying to make some money on the side….

There are some browser plugins out there that allow you much greater control over guff in your feed than FB do, without automatically blocking ads. FB Purity is one.

allthegear – Member
Yes – don’t use it.

Not even this works. They once got caught tracking and building shadow profiles of people who didn’t have facebook accounts.

footflaps – Member

WhatsApp sends all your contact list to FB, so all phone numbers and emails are known……

They’ve also done far more than this. I’ve had it suggest someone I’d never known as a friend, and with some digging found out the only thing connecting us was our forum usernames on a single forum. That I’d never linked to from Facebook.

If you have the FB app check it doesn’t have access to your microphone. Mrs Beaker and I had noticed the odd thing from a conversation we’d had appear on ads. We turned off access after Mrs Beaker had her phone next us during a conversation about her broken handbag, and had mentioned she was going to send it back to the manufacturer for repair. Lo and behold adverts for said handbag company all over her FB. She hadn’t googled or anything like that, it could only be that FB was listening.

Clear Cookies everyday/Session

Turn off third party cookies.

Run an advertising blocka UBlock Origin is my favourite atm.

Run No Script.

Alternatively use a separate browser just for Facebook.

If you have the FB app check it doesn’t have access to your microphone. Mrs Beaker and I had noticed the odd thing from a conversation we’d had appear on ads. We turned off access after Mrs Beaker had her phone next us during a conversation about her broken handbag, and had mentioned she was going to send it back to the manufacturer for repair. Lo and behold adverts for said handbag company all over her FB. She hadn’t googled or anything like that, it could only be that FB was listening.

Didn’t we discuss this a while back and conclude that this was somewhere between confirmation bias and mince?

FB Purity hides all the guff, and gives quite comprehensive settings to personalise the guff hiding too.

Not sure that it stops or cuts down spying though, so I run Ublock Origin, Privacy Badger, etc. as well. Disconnect.me is another.

Also running FB specifically in an incognito window, and before that even in a different dedicated browser, but it still “knows” stuff from somewhere.

None of the above are freeloaders. They all block dodgy tracking, which often/usually has the side effect that ads… erm… “fail to appear” 😉

Phone numbers… Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo, et al will never get my mobile number from me. They’ll try to wrap it up as security, but it’s really there as a very reliable way to know that this is you. If FB know my number, it’s because they have tricked someone else into sharing their entire phone book. Thank you for asking for permission.

Ok, so I had a conversation in real life with a friend about Polaroid cameras, never looked at anything online, the very next day an advert for Polaroid popped up on my Facebook feed…

never looked at anything online

… though your friend probably did?

I got a new phone at Xmas, there is now a photo of my bike in the snow from 2012 in my photos folder – just EFF right off google, I bought a phone with a camera for me to take photos and store as I feel fit not to be shared on the frigging cloud – and breath

I bought a phone with a camera for me to take photos and store as I feel fit not to be shared on the frigging cloud – and breath

But they’re not being shared, they’re just being backed up to the cloud. And you can switch that functionality off. I think that’s a great bit of functionality.

I bought a phone with a camera for me to take photos and store as I feel fit not to be shared on the frigging cloud

So why didn’t you turn off cloud sync then?

Nonsense. The only way to stop FB from spying on you is closing your account. They will keep all your previous data though 😉

not quite.

you need to quit using the internet, and also get every one you know to do the same.

FB don’t only learn about you by you having an account. They learn about you from others (indeed data about you from others is deemed more reliable than that you provide), and by you visiting 3rd party sites where the 3rd party is happy for FB to learn about you.

Foil hat wouldn’t go amiss too.

I did turn the cloud sync off – I have no idea where that one photo has even come from, I presume it sync’d from somewhere before I turned it off – I have never used a cloud based system before. To be honest I’d be quite happy to go back to dumb phone, laptop & camera all being separate. Grump mumble mumble

Foil hat wouldn’t go amiss too.

Now I’m getting adverts for foil hats. Damn you!