CIA's "Facebook" Program Dramatically Cut Agency's Costs

[yeti]

(11-19-2011 04:02 AM)psilocybin Wrote:  Not to pop anyone's bubble, but facebook is about as damming as checking your email.

Not in my case. I run my own email server and only connect to it via TLS. In fact it's not even possible to connect to my email server without encryption.

Anyway Facebook is far worse than regular email because it forces you to agree to giving up your privacy before you can even use it. AFAIK not even google or hotmail make you do that.

[psilocybin]

I was more trying to say if the CIA wanted to fly up your ass, they could just do it through your isp.

[Dunamis]

(11-18-2011 09:36 PM)SiLVa Wrote:  I just dont think there is enough man power at the moment to manage tracking everything or everyone on the internet just yet.
I mean of course, if your targeted specifically, then its totally possible that they will be able to track and cache everything you post or say online or on your phone, whether iPhone, Droid or not. I believe that. I just dont think its at the level just yet where they are doing that to all of us. I could be wrong, and I might be.

Ah, well therein lies the trick. "They" do not need to store all the information, your ISP is doing so, your phone company, Apple via the iPhone, your movements, data and communications are all being tracked, logged and accounted for. Governments are simply moving to ensure these companies are legally obliged to, not only store the data from anywhere from 6 months to indefinitely, but to also give open access to such databases to government security agencies, rather than waiting for a specific crime or reasonable cause...the same story for the real world really, but just a "virtual" adaptation of the grip they have.

[FastTadpole]

Most phone companies keep your data for 30 to 90 days. Federal laws are in the mix to upgrade that to higher compliance and standards for storage (to catch terrorists and pedos of course).

This ACLU article breaks down cell phone data storage.

How Long Is Your Cell Phone Company Hanging On To Your Data?
http://www.aclu.org/blog/technology-and-...-your-data

.. and here's another article on that very from ComputerWorld

How long does your mobile phone provider store data for law enforcement access?
http://blogs.computerworld.com/19016/how...ent_access

How long does your mobile phone provider store data for law enforcement access?

as far as ISPs go it likely along the same lines but the sheer size of things such as Google's data centres (this is a video tour of just one of them) beg to differ citing reason.

[FastTadpole]

While my previous comments elude to the fact that if someone wants to track you they will, Facebook does take this to a whole new level and is super invasive in tracking your activity not only on their own site but on other sites as well. In addition to the tips posted upthread, like blocking their DNS etc. there may be a few more tips to garner out of this comprehensive article written by a computer geek.

Quote:Facebook Is Tracking Your Every Move on the Web; Here’s How to Stop It
By Alan Henry
Sep 26, 2011 2:15 PM

Over the weekend, Dave Winer wrote an article at Scripting.com explaining how Facebook keeps track of where you are on the web after logging in, without your consent. Nik Cubrilovic dug a little deeper, and discovered that Facebook can still track where you are, even if you log out. Facebook, for its part, has denied the claims. Regardless of who you believe, here's how to protect yourself, and keep your browsing habits to yourself.

The whole issue has stirred up a lot of debate in privacy circles over the past few days. Here's what the fuss is about, and what you can do to protect your privacy if you're worried.

The Issue: Facebook's Social Apps are Always Watching

For quite some time now, Facebook's user tracking hasn't been limited to your time on the site: any third-party web site or service that's connected to Facebook or that uses a Like button is sending over your information, without your explicit permission. However, Winer noticed something mostly overlooked in last week's Facebook changes: Facebook's new Open Graph-enabled social web apps all send information to Facebook and can post to your profile or share with your friends whether you want them to or not.

Essentially, by using these apps, just reading an article, listening to a song, or watching a video, you're sending information to Facebook which can then be automatically shared with your friends or added to your profile, and Facebook doesn't ask for your permission to do it. Winer's solution is to simply log out of Facebook when you're not using it, and avoid clicking Like buttons and tying other services on the web to your Facebook account if you can help it, and he urges Facebook to make its cookies expire, which they currently do not.

Digging Deeper: Logging Out Isn't Enough

Nik Cubrilovic looked over Winer's piece, and discovered that logging out of Facebook, as Winer suggests, may deauthorize your browser from Facebook and its web applications, but it doesn't stop Facebook's cookies from sending information to Facebook about where you are and what you're doing there.

Writing at AppSpot, he discovered that Facebook's tracking cookies-which never expire, are only altered instead of deleted when a user logs out. This means that the tracking cookies still have your account number embedded in them and still know which user you are after you've logged out.

That also means that when you visit another site with Facebook-enabled social applications, from Like buttons to Open Graph apps, even though you're a logged out user, Facebook still knows you're there, and by "you," we mean specifically your account, not an anonymous Facebook user. Cubrilovic notes that the only way to really stop Facebook from knowing every site you visit and social application you use is to log out and summarily delete all Facebook cookies from your system.

Why You Should Care

If you're the type of person who doesn't really use Facebook for anything you wouldn't normally consider public anyway, you should take note: everything you do on the web is fair game. If what Cubrilovic and Winer are saying is true, Facebook considers visiting a web site or service that's connected to Facebook the same thing as broadcasting it to your friends at worst, and permission for them to know you're there at best.

Facebook says that this has nothing to do with tracking movements, and that they have no desire to collect information about where you are on the web and what you're doing. They want to make sure that you can seamlessly log in at any time to Facebook and to sites and services that connect with it and share what you're doing.

In fact, a number of Facebook engineers have posted comments to Winer's original post and Cubrilovic's analysis pointing this out. There's also some excellent discussion in this comment thread at Hacker News about the issue as well. Essentially, they say this is a feature, not a problem, so if you have an issue with it, it's up to you to do something about it.

What Can I Do About It?

Whether or not Facebook is tracking your browsing even when you're logged out, if you don't want third-party sites to send data to Facebook, you have some options. You could scrub your system clean of all Facebook.com cookies every time you use Facebook, but a number of developers have already stepped up with browser extensions to block Facebook services on third-party sites. Here are a few:

* Facebook Privacy List for Adblock Plus is perfect for those of you who already have AdBlock Plus installed (get ABP for Chrome or Firefox). Just download the subscription and add it to AdBlock Plus to specifically block Facebook plugins and scripts all over the web—including the Like button-whenever you're not visiting Facebook directly.
* Facebook Disconnect for Chrome keeps Facebook from dropping those tracking cookies on your system in the first place, and disables them when you're finished using Facebook-enabled services. It's essentially an on/off switch for third-party access to Facebook servers, meaning you'll still be able to log in to Facebook and use the site normally, but when you're visiting another site or using another application, that site or service won't be able to use your information to communicate with Facebook.
* Disconnect for Chrome and Firefox is a new plugin from the developer behind Facebook Disconnect, but it doesn't stop with Facebook. Disconnect takes protection to a another level and blocks tracking cookies from Facebook, Google, Twitter, Digg, and Yahoo, and prevents all of those services from obtaining your browsing or search history from third party sites that you may visit. The app doesn't stop any of those services from working when you're visiting the specific sites, for you can still search at Google and use Google+, but Google's +1 button likely won't work on third party sites, for example. The extension also lets you see how many requests are blocked, in real time as they come in, and unblock select services if, for example, you really want to Like or +1 an article you read, or share it with friends.

Ultimately, the goal of all of these tools is to give you control over what you share with Facebook or any other social service, and what you post to your profile, as opposed to taking a backseat and allowing the service you're using to govern it for you. What's really at issue is exactly how deep Facebook has its fingers into your data, and how difficult they-and other social services-make it to opt out or control what's sent or transmitted. That's where extensions like these come in.

However you feel about it, Facebook likely won't change it in the near future. If you're concerned, you should to take steps to protect your privacy. As a number of commenters at Hacker News point out, it's not that there's anything inherently "good" or "evil" about what Facebook is doing-that would be oversimplifying an already complex topic. It's really an opt-in/opt-out issue.

What do you think of the assertions? Do you think Facebook has a vested interest in knowing as much about you and your browsing habits as possible, or is this much ado about nothing? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Update: Nic Cubrilovic has posted an update to his story after discussing the matter with Facebook engineers. They have agreed to make changes to the way their cookies are stored and handled so your account information is not present when you log out of Facebook.

However, while Facebook has changed its cookie-handling process, the cookies are still retained and not deleted after logout, and do not expire. They remove your account information when you log out, but they still contain some non-personal data about your browser and the system you're using. Nic still recommends you clear your Facebook cookies after every session, and we still suggest that if you're concerned, that you do the same, and try one of the extensions above, or Priv3 for Firefox to protect yourself.
You can reach Alan Henry, the author of this post, at alan@lifehacker.com, or better yet, follow him on Twitter or Google+.

Related Stories

* Mark Zuckerberg Wants to Control Your Phone Gawker
* Facebook Is Badware (and Why Google Should Warn Its Users)
* The Real Facebook Phone Is Finally Coming? Gizmodo

http://lifehacker.com/5843969/facebook-i...to-stop-it

In addition I would and do disable all apps and disable apps outright. I do anther no-brainer and disable Location tracking outright.

I also use the lists feature and create my own lists (not the defaults) since "Friends" are ambiguously defined. I then selectively adjust the security settings for each aspect of Facebook (Photos, Posts, Comments etc..), and set them to custom privacy and limit it to that custom group. With "friends" it's not unlikely that they include pages, groups and/or apps. Also turning off tagging may be a good move. Also doing the https move for privacy can fend off some low level packet sniffers.

Facebook does change their privacy settings and their privacy agreement very often so once I am done typing this post up it may be outdated.

As for the apps and plugins they are recommending, I'd be careful about anything not open source so you can see exactly what it is doing; and Google Chrome is owned by Google (owned by the same people at Facebook) and Firefox -- well that's another story.

But if you are really concerned about not being on Facebook don't go there and block the IP. I prefer to use it as a medium of exchange, at least for now as it remains fairly unfiltered minus the millions of trolls and group/page curators that just love to delete your comments on their pet causes - like Thrive fans have done do my analysis of the film at an unprecedented ban ratio and speed.



One final rule to employ for the internet in general. Exercise discretion when creating new web content. If you don't want it on the front of the newspaper don't put it on the interwebs.

Related:

Social Media, Forums Overrun with AI Algorithms Bots to Discuss and Interact?
http://concen.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=40509

For those who are on Facebook may as well come join our unofficial ConCen.org Group. :D

[TriWooOx]

Quote:Facebook has reportedly admitted tracking which sites its users visit even after they log off, thanks to plug-ins and cookies.

Facebook, which has more than 800 million active users, also keeps close track of where millions of non-members of the social networking site go on the web, even after they visit a webpage for any reason only once, USA Today reported.

To do this, it relies on tracking cookie technologies similar to the controversial systems used by Google, Adobe, Microsoft, Yahoo and others in the online advertising industry, Arturo Bejar, Facebook's engineering director , was quoted as saying.

Here's how it works: Every time one logs onto Facebook it inserts a " session cookie" and a "browser cookie" into one's browser. If one visits the site without signing up on the browser, cookie is inserted. From that point on, each time you visit a site which uses Facebook technology, the cookie alerts Facebook to the date, time and URL of the page you are viewing . The unique characteristics like one's IP address, screen resolution, operating system and browser version, are also recorded by the social networking site, it said.

Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes said tracking systems are used to personalise content and help boost security. However, industry critics expressed concern. "Tracking data can be used to figure out your political bent, religious beliefs, sexuality preferences ," Peter Eckersley of Electronic Frontier Foundation said.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/...810818.cms

[Easy Skanking]

I have the best solution to Facebook...
Don't use the fucking thing.
Problem solved.
Next...

[thokling]

I still don't get what I could possibly use Internet social media systems for. I've got email to connect with people, a blog and two Web sites for posting things, and plenty of forums on other sites. I tried an account on Multiply, and, aside from meeting a few cool people (including a Quaker), it held no particular interest.

If I wanted to increase the visibility of any of my brands, then I would use social media. Other than that, they hold no use for me.

Now, I'm not saying they're completely useless. In fact, I was reading a post a while back that suggested, for those seeking work, using sites like Twitter (and Farcebook). For instance, some companies will post newly available positions to Twitter before anywhere else.

Are there any other practical uses for these systems beyond email surrogation and gaming platforms?

[Dunamis]

A good solution to that tracking crap is:

http://www.ghostery.com/

[FastTadpole]

Quote:I still don't get what I could possibly use Internet social media systems for.

Extending your true reach (as a megaphone).