Facebook, social media privacy and Cambridge Analytica

It would appear lots of people are now freaking out about the data they share. Whilst that’s a good thing that people are more privacy aware it’s also a bit late as you’ve been sharing everything for years and those third parties already have your data and revoking access is a bit closing the stable door after the horse has bolted.

Anyway if you are concerned there are a number of things you can do to reduce the data leakage if you don’t want to delete facebook entirely.

Ad preferences;
This is where you can opt-out of interest based advertising (you will still see ads just not using the data collected to profile you into target segments), you can usually see what segments the company has placed you (based on what you like, sites you visit, other adverts you interact with, location etc). Now you can limit them tracking across the web – however facebook if you want to be able to login with facebook etc you are still letting them track the sites you visit so that’s the convenience trade off. It’s a free service after all and that means you are the product.

Facebook Ad preferences
Google Ad preferences
Twitter Ad preferences
Instagram Ad preference (see Facebook advert preferences)

If you are in the EU you can also use Your Online Choices to opt-out of many advertising networks that track you in a similar way (usually pixels or code snippets on the sites you visit. In North America you have a similar option at Your Ad Choices.

http://www.youronlinechoices.eu
http://youradchoices.com

Sites you are logged in with using some connection (and sharing personal data with);
This is where you can see sites you’ve used the login with Facebook/Twitter/Google/etc. Usually you are sharing public profile information like name and image, other times you are also sharing email address and much more. Some sites ask for friends lists (See the Cambridge Analytica story for why this is bad) and relationship status etc etc. Why do they need this? They don’t. Usually they will suggest it’s so you can invite your friends easily or somethings. Seriously though you can type a name yourself though right?

Facebook login and app data
Google login and app data
Twitter login and app data
Instagram login and app data

Now one thing to consider here is you have already shared this information with the third party. So that quiz you took in 2013 may still have your data even if you remove the access here. When you use facebook or google etc to login always check what data you are sharing and set it to just the bare minimum.

Downloading your data;
In the EU you have a right to see the data a company has about you. Facebook have a tool to allow you to download everything and then browse it easily using your usual browser. It’s cool and worrying when you see all your likes etc in one place.

Facebook data download
Twitter Data
Google allow you to download your data but hey it’s a lot if like me you use photos and gmail.
Instagram I’m not sure if you can yet.

 

Mobile Ad Choices App Debuts | Adweek

The mobile counterpart to the ad industrys ad choices self-regulatory program that allows consumers to opt-out of online-targeted ads is finally here. And yes, theres an app for it.Called Ad Control, the app gives consumers a way to opt out of cross-app advertising. Developed by Evidon, the app is now available in the Apple App Store. An Android version will be available later this month.When the Digital Advertising Alliance announces in two weeks its mobile privacy standards, Evidons app will allow for compliance.The DAA rolled out its ad choices program two years ago in response to growing concerns at the Federal Trade Commission and in the government that consumers needed to be given a choice to opt out of behaviorally targeted ads. Though regulators seem satisfied that the industry is working to protect consumer privacy online through self-regulation, theyve been pressing for a mobile solution, which the industry has been promising to deliver for more than a year.

via Mobile Ad Choices App Debuts | Adweek.

Who is Grabbing Your Data from Websites?

So this post is entitled “Who’s Grabbing Consumer Data from Publishers?” by AdAge but let’s be clear here what they mean is your data from most websites.

Consumers may not know how the world of web advertising works but pretty soon thanks to concerted efforts by the IAB in the UK and advertising campaigns by EDAA due in the summer they should be a bit better informed. In the meantime information is out there but it is on trade and industry blogs and news sites like AdAge.

For most consumers it’s a confusing world that’s hard to understand with company names they have never heard of and know little about. It’s always been one of the challenges of the AdChoices initiative, consumer education is key but enabling opt-out of tracking only works when you know who is tracking you. As can be seen below many of the trackers drop additional trackers so there is a daisy chain of third parties involved and likely only one initial relationship with the website you are actually visiting.

I should disclose here that I work for AOL Advertising so many of the companies we own drop cookies for this kind of tracking, it’s nothing sinister and we don’t want to know you as an individual, we simply want to group people together to package up as an audience.

So as they say in the TV adverts here’s the science bit;

Tracking tags are bits of code that enable ad serving, site analytics, audience-segmentation, and social sharing tools on websites. In other words, tags are what make the web tick. By the end of last year there were nearly 1,000 different tracking tags floating around the top 500 websites. That was over 50% more than the 645 unique trackers found in the first quarter of 2012, according to Evidon.

Evidon’s analysis of tracking tags for FoxNews.com. See links below to launch an interactive version of this chart for one dozen popular websites.

Those tags are pretty active, too. In many cases, one tracking tag installed directly by a site publisher might spawn others, and those still additional tags, and so on. Publishers and other data providers don’t always know whether tag spawning leads to the dissemination of actual consumer data gathered on their sites, or if it is merely part of the cookie-syncing process performed to match a cookie ID in one system to an ID in another for ad targeting purposes.

via Who’s Grabbing Consumer Data from Publishers? | DataWorks – Advertising Age.

Facebook Challenges Google’s Tech Dominance by Partnering With AOL, Adobe | Adweek

Facebook and Google aren’t exactly besties, and the social giant’s latest move won’t help matters. In recent weeks Facebook has made two friends through moves that will simultaneously help its own advertising business and hurt Google’s.

Last month, Adobe and AOL joined Facebook Exchange, the social network’s display retargeting platform beloved by direct-response advertisers who are typically big-time Google buyers. Google was conspicuously not included.

via Facebook Challenges Google’s Tech Dominance by Partnering With AOL, Adobe | Adweek.

» The New Firefox Cookie Policy Web Policy

The key point here is most analytics are used by publishers to show readership numbers, most advertising networks are used as a revenue source and unclicked social widgets are used to promote content.

So is this the death of the web as we know it?

Beta versions of the Firefox browser will limit tracking by ad networks. Safari has long done the same, but Safari desktop market share is about 8%, Firefox has around 20% of the browser share, creating a serious dent in the ability of ad companies to track and therefore monetise consumers.

Without advertising revenues, accurate visitor numbers or promotional opportunities many website would struggle I feel. Anyway read more below and at the original article.

 

“If a user does not seem to have intentionally interacted with your content, or if you’re uncertain, you should ask for permission before setting cookies. Most analytics services, advertising networks, and unclicked social widgets would come within this category.

In sum, working around the policy’s technical limits may be reasonable in certain cases, but undermining the policy’s privacy purpose is never acceptable.”

via » The New Firefox Cookie Policy Web Policy. Also worth reading the Mozilla blog post.

Facebook to Make Targeted Ads More Transparent For Users | Digital – Advertising Age

Finally FB agrees to use the AdChoices icon.

Facebook is about to get more transparent in the way it targets advertising at its users.

The social network has agreed to start displaying the little blue “AdChoices” icon on its display ads served through its FBX ad exchange after months of public and private complaints from ad agencies and advertisers.Facebooks AdChoices icon

The icon — intended to provide enhanced notice of behavioral targeting and allow users to opt-out — will look the same as the one seen across the web, with one big caveat. Rather than appearing directly on FBX display ads, the symbol will show up only when users mouse over the gray “x” displayed above the ads shown on Facebooks right rail.

via Facebook to Make Targeted Ads More Transparent For Users | Digital – Advertising Age.

What will happen once the ASA starts to regulate Online Behavioural Advertising? « Privacy and information law blog

Early next year, the UK Advertising Standards Authority (“ASA“) will start regulating Online Behavioural Advertising (“OBA“) in the UK – meaning that online advertisers who serve targeted ads to website visitors will have to worry not only about the risk of cookie consent enforcement by the ICO, but also the risk of investigation and public admonishment by the ASA.  A regulatory double-jeopardy, if you will.

via What will happen once the ASA starts to regulate Online Behavioural Advertising? « Privacy and information law blog.

Amazon’s and Facebook’s Ad Privacy Practices Irk Ad Agencies | Digital – Advertising Age

Two of the biggest publishers on the web don’t use the advertising industry’s standardized ad-privacy program, and it’s a problem for even the largest digital-media buyers.

Facebook and Amazon both offer targeted display advertising that can sometimes incorporate behavioral data from third parties. However, while nearly every other relevant media firm, ad network and ad-data firm either uses the industry’s self-regulatory Ad Choices program or operates one that can be easily integrated with it, Facebook and Amazon do not.

via Amazon’s and Facebook’s Ad Privacy Practices Irk Ad Agencies | Digital – Advertising Age.

Privacy Icon in Facebook Apps as Facebook Itself Opts Out | Digital – Advertising Age

Facebook is not part of the ad industry’s self-regulatory program that notifies consumers about online data collection and ad targeting, but people can find the ubiquitous AdChoices icon on Facebook anyway: in third-party apps.

Facebook was among the top sites that displayed the small blue triangle-shape icon during the past week. But the symbol didn’t show up in display ads sold by Facebook or in the behaviorally-targeted ads served its Facebook Exchange — rather, the symbol appeared in ads served in Facebook apps.

via Privacy Icon in Facebook Apps as Facebook Itself Opts Out | Digital – Advertising Age.