RE: Cambridge Analytica: The Backstory
Glad I deleted my Facebook account 8 years ago. However, I doubt this really matters in the large scheme of things. The sheer number of spying, scraping, monitoring, harvesting, modeling, mining, analyzing mechanisms being used jointly between the state and the corporates basically ensure that whatever these entities want from you, they have the means to get them. I think the lesson is to be aware of the reality, push back the best you can, don't engage the worst actors (FB, Google, Amazon, etc) and limit the amount you share about yourself, family and friends online. Hmmm, I wonder now if that family member of mine I've had to bitch at several times now for posting pictures of my child on FB (take them down now!!) gets it??? No, absolutely she doesn't get it....and that is the point.
nobody has ever deleted any 'facebook account'.
your data is still in the database, your IP is still being tracked and data is being added to your 'account'
The only difference is that access to the outer layer has been disabled for you.
Your data is still in the system, in the backups, and it is actively used by facebook to make money.
I partially agree with you.
I can't imagine a reason why FB would get rid of my data, though, that was the me of 8 years ago and the value (relevance) of that data has certainly diminished over time. I seriously doubt FB is tracking my IP based on my IP info from 8 years ago considering I've moved several times (in and out of the country), use entirely different equipment and techniques and tools for accessing the web. Though, that being said depending on how far down the "conspiracy" hole you want to go, FB most likely has the technical capability to track/follow my presence around the webs where I make my presence known....further to that (if we go deeper down that hole) I'm sure FB has the tech capability to inject into anyone's system (think NSA type stuff here) if they really wanted to.
Getting back to the more practical reasons for deleting the FB account. #1 to stop interacting directly and willingly with companies whose interest directly clash with your own #2 ceasing participation in social systems that actually create negative emotional states in the user (lots of documentation on how FB does this) #3 make it more difficult (in some cases impossible...for instance, if I'm engaging in private conversation with all of my friends/family in old school analog, this is valuable information the likes of FB can't have) for those in power to execute their plans on you, the lowly citizen.
Whenever you moved FB followed you. It recognises your hardware your behaviour, sites you visit, people you connect with. It doesn't even need your IP address. Old data is used to analyse how your behaviour changed and why. Even if you don't use FB, there are FB scripts hidden all over the net that still keep tracking you. In big online shops etc.
FB tracks you FAR deeper then direct interaction. That's not even the main thing they use. It's more about what you do OUTSIDE FB what FB likes to know about you. Thats where you reveal much more about yourself since people KNOW that FB collects all their data they police themselves when ON FB, and once they LEFT the FB website they THINK they are safe, and at THIS point FB really kicks in.
So no, leaving FB really does not matter to FB.
Facebook also has WhatsApp and many other sisters outthere that track your every step. And feed it into the FB database sideways.
Private conversations are indeed best.
In Germany Malthe Spitz (I hope I spelled that correct) requested all his personal data and made it available online for people to play with and follow him. Not sure if that website is still online.
They don't just track you but also the people you hang out with. And if they are sloppy with their online life then they also reveal things about you. Etc., etc.
The budget of FB is insane. We with our personal budgets can't do much to protect us against such a large beast.
@caitlinjohnstone I hope I'm somewhat close in what i say, i'm not as well informed as you are, but with the limited knowledge that I have. I end up on your side on this subject.
@bifilarcoil
Without having an active FB account and having entirely new hardware, not engaging any FB content (hence there are no tracking cookies from FB on my machines), and not using any affiliated FB products (eg: Whatsapp), I struggle to see how FB is capturing any useful data SPECIFIC to me. I realize that if I "deleted" my FB account last year, was still using the same hardware, same browsers (with cookies) and used the same web "mannerisms" that I previously used when I had FB, then yes, even after "deleting" FB, they would still be tracking all of my web activity within the browser where FB has cookies. (Meaning, once you let FB in, it requires MANY changes to get them back out, MANY!). I think maybe this is your larger point here....that the deleteFB campaign is going to result in a cluster of people who clicked "delete" and they think the problem of FB is over and that is just not reality. However, if all-of-sudden everyone (or most) people did stop using FB, this would certainly crush FBs ability to operate as a social network (hence get investment capital, generate revenues, etc...) and would require them to revamp or pivot into another business model (or just be subsumed into the NSA or some other alphabet org)
Now, I've worked for a software company that developed a small client that injects into the operating system level of the PC monitoring literally everything a user does (far beyond web traffic, I'm talking keystrokes, mouse moves, time and activity in each window and then heuristics that bring all the activity together) so I perfectly aware of this type of capability and I know FB is capable of this. Whether or not FB does this (and btw, you have to gain admin access to a PC to inject the client....NSA-level criminal breach of private property), I'm a little skeptical, however, if presented with a decent argument/proof I will gladly eliminate all of my skepticism. Bear in mind, nothing I'm saying here should be confused with support for FB, I'm just a little doubtful (naive maybe?) that FB is full-on NSA-level tracking at THIS point in the game.
For me, Google is a much bigger problem, because I still have many connections into the (or rather, they have many connections into me). I'm slowly working to eliminate these (hence, providing them will steadily less and less data about me). Specifically, I use an android device, so the actual hardware I'm using is tailored for a Google operating system which, to my mind, seems impossible to protect your privacy against Google. It would be nice if there were more options for mobile...best to limit activity on mobile as much as possible and use apps (signal, brave, orfox, duckduck etc) and habits that at least make it more difficult for accumulation, aggregation.
Agreed, budget at FB is insane and they house the type of information that governmental agencies just love, so obviously any collaboration between FB and Govt (which I assume happens, how deeply??? would love to know) is detrimental to the shred of privacy we have left in the USA (and around the world)
You indeed made the point more clear then I did.
Good to see that you jumped trough all the hoops to get away from it as good as you can.
And yes, it is all those people who are trapped in the net who still have every detail of their lives sitting in FB's cold storage.
Google is indeed a bigger issue. I bet they are now scrambling to get their shit together to try and get away with it.
Personal data should be on a personal offline storage in the basement or attic. And if anyone needs access to that data then they should as the owner for specific permission to access it.
The activity tracking that you wrote about. THAT sounds bad.
When bad guys get access to that, then you get all kinds of bullshit.
And the ones who should be protecting us, they are behaving bad enough already to demand for NOT having anything remotely like that in ANY type of hardware.
Thanks for including this information!