How to Keep Facebook From Oversharing Your Information

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If you’re concerned about FB or the creator of one of the zillions of Facebook Apps using too much of Facebook’s information about you, following is the best summary PG has found about various Facebook settings you can use to limit access to your personal information.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-to-keep-facebook-from-oversharing-your-info-1521668940

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15 thoughts on “How to Keep Facebook From Oversharing Your Information”

  1. It was tricky following instructions.

    The main problem is if you EVER allow other apps to be accessed by FB. I only had two (WordPress – which I need for the cross-posting of blog posts; and Change.org). I removed the Change.org one – and will create an account if I need one there.

  2. “Yes, just click these settings, and we’ll totally not keep on marketing your private information behind your back. We pinky-promise!”

  3. I don’t use fb nearly as much as I used to, but one of the most offensive things fb does, IMHO, is track me across the web. So I have several browsers on my laptop and one is used for fb only. That seems to stop this nasty habit of theirs.

    • I’ve been researching MTA – multiple touch attribution. This is where they analyse all the places you’ve been tracked to create a predictive profile of ‘what’ who you are and how you’re likely to react. This can be used for manipulation as well as advertising.

      The more ‘touch points’ there are the more reliable the profile. To ensure as broad a coverage as possible, companies using MTA often share data.

      For example, I play an online MMO [game] called Elder Scrolls Online [ESO for short]. Just two days ago I discovered that ESO shares my data with Facebook and Google. I also discovered that many of these companies blatantly ignore the ‘Do Not Track’ settings on our browsers.

      Nowhere is completely safe.

      • Do I really need to say that I don’t use my fb account (or google either) to log into ANY other websites? I actually have 4 browsers on my laptop. I use Firefox more than the others and I have it set to NOT accept cookies except for the sites I specifically designate as exceptions. (It’s not nearly as annoying to do as I expected it to be.)

        In short, they’re going to have to work if they want to track me.

        • I use Firefox too and tried turning cookies off completely today. Couldn’t log into anything at all. I’m a bit lazier than you though and gave up after the third exception. I have all third party cookies off and the ones I do pick up are deleted at the end of every session.

          One thing you might be interested in with Firefox is Site Data. It’s supposed to be data that remains on your pc to make it easier to return to a site after you’ve visited it. Before I cleared mine today, I had a quick look and found sites I’d never heard of much less visited. Unfortunately, the Site Data can only be cleared manually, but I’ll certainly be keeping an eye on it from now on.

          I’m glad I’m not the only one with steam coming out of my ears about this loss of privacy.

          • Oh, I’m far too lazy to have my cookies set to delete at every session. TPV, frex, is on my exceptions list. I put it there once, after which the site behaves like it always did.

            If a site insist on sending multiple cookies and it’s a site I really want to visit and I can see a reason for their cookies, I’ll turn on accept cookies, leave the setting screen open, then turn off cookies when I’m done, but I’m through looking at the cookies on my machine and finding a cookie for every site I ever visited. In short, if I don’t have an account with them, they don’t get to leave cookies. After all, they’re not Hansel and Gretel. They don’t need a cookie trail.

            • lol – I guess I’m just lazy in a different way. The more I learn though, the more angry I get. This whole tracking thing is only legal because no one has challenged it yet. At the very least, tracking should be opt-in, not opt-out, but of course they know no one would opt-in so… 🙁

  4. 6. Repeater this daily as FB has been know to change your settings for whatever reason – and they won’t bother telling you that they’ve done so.

  6. The Readers’ Digest Condensed version:
    1. On your Facebook page, click the down arrow (at the top to the right of the ?);
    2. Click ‘Settings’;
    3. Click ‘Privacy’ (in the scroll bar on the far left);
    4. Edit each setting to your satisfaction; and
    5. Close.

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