So my mom is a college prof. and teaches this internet security class, and one of the units of the program is learning about facebook. Facebook uses this application called "beacon" that, even when you're not logged into facebook, can track your movements on the internet. It will record what sites you're visiting and usue your personal information that they record, for advertising. Ever notice those stupid ads that come up on sidebars of websites that say "Meet local singles in _______" and itll say your town name? You can turn this off, you just have to go to settings>manage privacy>applications then the little tab at the top that says settings, then you have the check the box to turn it off. Quite the runaround to turn off this feature dont you think? Under the "learn more" thingy, facebook says "allowing affiliate websites to send stories about actions you take to Facebook." Talk about sugar coating! Sorry if this has already been posted somewhere - my mom just made me aware I thought you might be interested. Seeing as how we all access a marijuana forum frequently..haha
I know what you mean by all this... but I honestly think us stoners are too paranoid. The ads know where you live because of your IP address, which anyone can see. But the beacon has had a lot of controversy, just google it.
Sometimes it's based on your IP address like Evilpig said. Like, if I was in Dallas, on ATT's network my IP might resolve to something like: user420.dallas.tx.att.net That's just an example, I know ATT often hides your city into your hostname
Thanks... I've got to say, shit like this is really ridiculous. I went into Facebook's settings awhile ago, totally set all the options how I wanted them, privacy and all... and now they add more stuff and automatically put it on share? That's just lower than low. Facebook, get the dick!
Lol who cares really, as long as no one is turning on my webcam when I don't know, ever hear about people being able to do that shit?
A)if adblock stops this then im good and B)thanks for the heads up, its good to know who knows what you're doing online. A friend of mine was a victim of identity theft and it sucked balls.