[sportsfroma2]

I searched and didn't find anything related to this, sorry if it's a repost...

Then on Friday, just hours after Facebook had scored some points with its modifications to Beacon, Stefan Berteau, senior research engineer at CA's Threat Research Group, wrote in a note about Beacon's until-then unknown ability to monitor logged-off users' activities and send the data back to Facebook.

Users aren't informed that data on their activities at these sites is flowing back to Facebook, nor given the option to block that information from being transmitted, according to Berteau.

If users have ever checked the option for Facebook to "remember me"-- which saves users from having to log on to the site upon every return to it-- Facebook can tie their activities on third-party Beacon sites directly to them, even if they're logged off and have opted out of the broadcast. If they have never chosen this option, the information still flows back to Facebook, although without it being tied to their Facebook ID, according to Berteau.

Facebook Admits Ad Service Tracks Logged-Off Users - Yahoo! News

Turns out that Facebook is tracking user activity on the internets without the user even having to be logged in to Facebook. Sites that use Facebook's advertising platform, Beacon, will transmit data back to Facebook even when the user isn't logged in.

Facebook was supposed to allow users to limit the amount of data they collect and track, but it still doesn't change the fact that they are transmitting information when they absolutely should not be.

They still claim that the information is anonymous, but you just went on notice, Facebook. You've done almost no wrong up until now, but this takes the e-cake.

G4 - The Feed - Facebook Violates Privacy Like Whoa

If you’ve never signed up for Facebook and believe it therefore can’t track you to collect data on what you’ve been doing online, think again.

Because, “Facebook’s controversial Beacon ad system tracks the activities of all users of its third-party partner sites, including people who have never signed up with Facebook or who have deactivated their accounts, “says CA (Computer Associates), according to the IDG News Service

Quoting the company’s Stefan Berteau, the story says Beacon captures detailed data on what users do on the external partner sites and sends it back to Facebook along with users’ IP addresses.

And it happens even if you delete the Facebook cookie, the story declares.

Says Berteau, “The Facebook JavaScript [code] is still called by the affiliate site, and the information is passed in.”

In the case of users without accounts, or with deactivated accounts, the data isn’t tied to a Facebook ID, IDG has him stating, continuing IP addresses, however, “are well known to provide a variety of information about users, and they have in some cases been used to identify individuals.”

And, “The information that Beacon captures includes the addresses of Web pages the user visits, and a string with the action taken in the partner site, Berteau says.

The revelations, “build on Berteau’s report last week that Beacon stealthily tracks the activities of users on affiliate Beacon sites even if they are logged off from Facebook and previously declined having their activities reported back to their Facebook friends,” says the story, adding:

“Over the weekend, Facebook confirmed that Berteau’s report on Friday was accurate, but said that it deletes the data it receives under these circumstances.”

Stay tuned.

http://www.p2pnet.net/story/14228