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"Is it true facebook can track user browsers even after they are logged out of facebook?" Zuck: "I need to get back to you on that"
by misiti3780 9y ago
"Is it true facebook can track user browsers even after they are logged out of facebook?"
Zuck: "I need to get back to you on that"
- ryaneager 9y agoTimestamp? Edit: Found it, Question from Mr. Wicker ~1:36 in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAZiDRonYZI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAZiDRonYZI
- mortdeus 9y agoI think the issue they are talking about is called fingerprinting.
- baalimago 9y agoThere's so many "I need to get back to you on that".
- oh_sigh 9y agoIt's a good strategy, all the media coverage is about his actual testimony today, whereas when he sends an update to the committee next week, it will not make as big of a splash as this one.
- refurb 9y agoExactly. Far better to admit to something in a follow-up letter to Congress than admit to it on live TV.
- 18pfsmt 9y agoDoes anybody know if any of these folow-ups make it into the Congressional Record at a later time?
- Slansitartop 9y agoEven if it is, most of the media bang would be him admitting to it on video.
- jlgaddis 9y agoEspecially since you can be sure that update will be reviewed and probably reworded by legal first.
- btown 9y agoFacebook doesn't delete all cookies (for instance, there's an `sb` cookie still set) in their logout response. They may choose not to do anything with the cookies that remain, but the technical answer to the question is yes. And even if they currently did delete all cookies, there's nothing from preventing them from introducing cookies that do remain. Zuck knows this is generally feasible - he's a talented software engineer. The question was ambiguously worded, and Zuck could have clarified or answered that it's generally feasible but that Facebook has tight controls around the usage of that information. It's the panel's responsibility to not let him get away with that type of maneuver, and they don't have the type of real-time support that, say, a news anchor has (with earpiece and live research staff) to handle interviewing domain experts in an optimal way.
- oconnor663 9y ago> They may choose not to do anything with the cookies that remain, but the technical answer to the question is yes. I think you could say the same thing about IP addresses. A website might log the IP addresses of people who visit them, or they might not, but quite a lot of tracking is feasible. The problem with focusing on feasibility there, is that you end up with an answer like "yes, just like every other website in the world, Facebook can track you when you're logged out." Assuming Zuckerberg has been coached to High Heaven not to gives answers like that, it seems fair to respond to the question as though it was asking about the internal details of what Facebook does with cookies / IP addresses / browser fingerprints.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- vlovich123 9y agoWhile a website may be able to track you via IP address within itself, it can't track you across websites like FB can since their code gets injected to a lot of websites (which they do use to track you when you're signed in - my guess would be the same holds for when you're logged out).
- 9y ago
- AndrewKemendo 9y agoHonestly is there anyway that he could explain the Facebook Pixel/ad network that wouldn't just be describing any ad network? By definition, ad tracking (cookies etc...) is opaque to most people and explaining it publicly would make it seem like FB is doing something more nefarious than others. It's an important discussion but his response would just make FB seem way worse on that specific issue than highlighting how the entire ad network ecosystem works.
- 18pfsmt 9y agoThis is a good point, but FB brings the "real name policy" to the data broker's world. Being able to link real people with real credit profiles, and real web browsing habits is a game changer. Many of us were ranting and raving all of over HN ~2010/2011 about the issues FB represented, but we were tinfoilers and haters. Even those of us without FB accounts (with forgone networking opportunities) are at risk because we all have friends without the same cynicism.
- Slansitartop 9y ago> It's an important discussion but his response would just make FB seem way worse on that specific issue than highlighting how the entire ad network ecosystem works. Any legislation that comes out of this hearing wouldn't apply only to Facebook. Facebook admitting the extent of its tracking could help clean up the "entire ad network ecosystem."
- decebalus1 9y ago
- 0x00000000 9y agoI do not have the facebook app on my phone. I downloaded Instagram and it magically knew one of my email addresses (not the one used with my facebook account). I deleted it, mashed the keyboard for the new email address, declined syncing contacts, blocked the permission as well as every other permission, and lo and behold it still shows all of my facebook friends on instagram as suggestions. Fucking creepy.
- forgot-my-pw 9y agoEven if Facebook doesn't get the data through you, it still gets your data from people you know.
- 0x00000000 9y agoIt was people who don't have my phone number or any other information including people who I am not friends with and only messaged once from a buy/sell group. I am guessing because I used the app at some point on my phone it fingerprinted it, then Instagram goes and fingerprints it when you install and links your account even when you decline to do so.
- nashashmi 9y agoSpammers get your email address the same way by hackers who hack your friends.
- cdlvan 9y agoIf you previously had Facebook or Messenger installed on the phone it's possible they saved some user info on the device or in the cloud linked to your device ID.
- Im_Mr_Manager 9y agoAFAIK device uuid has been unique to device+app for at least 2 years now (iOS).
- Panjam 9y agoI get the distinct impression that Zuckerberg has been briefed to say "I'll get back to you on that", on anything that might be controversial. Probably some wisdom in that as it defuses a lot of emotion that could arise if certain information comes out in this setting. But it's also disingenuous, even if it avoids a lynchmob for now.
- tenpies 9y ago"I'll get back to you" was essentially "On the advice of council, I would like to exercise my fifth amendment right". It was like a Chapelle skit at times.
- alchemism 9y agoAlso coached well on “That is a very interesting question, Senator.”
- 908087 9y agoEvery time he said that or "This is a very important question", the honest way to finish the sentence would have been "..which I'm not going to provide an answer to".
- INTPenis 9y agoI'm surprised he didn't plead the fif.
- sneak 9y ago“No, not wittingly”