Wednesday 7 March 2018

The information Facebook has about you and every user and sells on to others

An experiment
Facebook’s ‘Secret’ File on You Is Bigger Than You Think


Facebook’s user data gathering prowess has been common knowledge for some time now, but one journalist’s impromptu experiment suggests it is even more ubiquitous and pervasive than previously believed. Nick Whigham,a reporter for the New Zealand Herald, decided to test out a feature on Facebook that allows users to download a ‘secret’ file showing how much personal history the company has gathered about them. What he discovered is that Facebook not only has disturbingly vast consumer profiles on all 1.4 billion daily users but also tracks the internet movement and personalities of people who don’t even log into the website

A large part of Facebook’s business model is selling the information it collects about users to advertisers. It’s free to us because we’re the product. Its algorithms track your posts, likes, shares, and preferences, of course, but they also track your overall Internet activity — the websites you go to, your operating system, your IP address, and comments you happen to leave on random forums — via social media plugins and cookies on third-party websites. Even if you’re not logged into Facebook, your browsing behavior is tracked by secret trackers called Pixels, which are embedded on over 10,000 websites. Sorry, social media Luddites — even if you’ve never used Facebook, your online activity is tracked everytime you merely visit a website that contains Facebook ads and trackers.


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I decided to do this experiment for myself and went through these instructions and within a short period of time I was able to peruse all the information that Facebook  has on me and is sold on to 3rd parties.

"To download your ‘secret’ Facebook file, click at the top right of Facebook’s navigation bar and select Settings. Then click “Download a copy of your Facebook data” beneath General Account Settings and click the green button. Then wait ten minutes and you should receive an email letting you know that “surveillance capitalism” is alive and well."

If you are a friend on Facebook you're right there!

All the apps I have installed on my computers are there - even the ones I've forgotten about

All the phone details of everyone I know (and also don't know) is available

Robin Westenra


Name
Contacts
Karina Ewert
  • contact: +64274179875
Gerald Westenra
  • contact: +64211687727
Nikki Wright
  • contact: +64272263517
Carole Christensen
  • contact: +64273233136
Rebecca Wilson
  • contact: +64274252494
Geoff Burns
  • contact: +642041205649
Angelique Carline
  • contact: +64273908838
Kathy Jack
  • contact: +64272435864
Peet Hoeksma
  • contact: +64275457489
Robert
  • contact: +64274301574

I don't use a smartphone but have been using Skype to make calls. All the details of every call I have made is there.

We all know that the police or security agents can go to our providers to get details of our cellphone and landline calls.

But here we are - this information is available, not just to police, but to anyone who pays for it.

Call History

Number:+6421878711
Call TypeStart timeDurationNameNumber LabelNumber Type
OUTGOING2017-02-15 19:46:4700
Number:+64275027519
Call TypeStart timeDurationNameNumber LabelNumber Type
MISSED2017-02-09 17:54:1600
Number:+64274838303
Call TypeStart timeDurationNameNumber LabelNumber Type
INCOMING2016-11-18 16:34:36740
Number:+64211687727
Call TypeStart timeDurationNameNumber LabelNumber Type
OUTGOING2010-01-06 01:44:0000

SMS History

Number:7246
SMS TypeTime
INBOX2016-12-03 15:04:53
INBOX2016-12-18 12:40:47
Number:+64211466421
SMS TypeTime
INBOX2016-12-06 20:35:26
SENT2016-12-06 20:36:59
Number:+64210381977
SMS TypeTime
INBOX2016-11-14 20:25:34
Number:+64211687727
SMS TypeTime
SENT2010-01-06 01:55:21
SENT2010-01-05 21:02:58
SENT2010-01-05 21:02:30
INBOX2010-01-06 01:52:16
Number:+64274406999


The details of every message sent or received on Messenger (that we might have naively thought was private - except to the NSA et.al) is logged.

An example....
Here are "active sessions", along with ISP addresses
CONCLUSION

This is information that I can get about myself by applying to Facebook - with minimum security by the way.

Put this information into the hands of others and they can put together a personal profile and know more about me than I know about myself!

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