Beware of Facebook's Beacon? – Fighting Back

I wrote this awhile ago but to some degree it still does apply today. My last section on protecting yourselves maybe useful to some. The CBC has an interesting article regarding Facebook in its Technology column called Beware of Facebook’s Beacon? by Jesse Hirsh. Hirsh talks about how Facebook’s data collection strategy could lead not only allowing Facebook to have complete authority over user information but also since anyone individual or company can make up a profile people can become “friends” or “fan” with brand names. This kind of re defines the meaning of the word “friend”. This data collection by Facebook is not only available by Facebook but also anyone who becomes a “friend” of the company putting up the profile. Hirsh explains the whole idea well and is well while to have a read for yourself. Wake up and take back your privacy people DO NOT let Facebook or any other organization infringe on your privacy read the article here.

What I often do every once and awhile and I often tell friends to do the same thing while, I am not so sure of the effectiveness of it – I delete my temporary internet folder and cookies. It is a rather simple and easy task that anyone can do. As far as I see it near every website uses cookies to record information that is stored on your computer to make it easier for you to log in to your email account. webmasters also use cookies to tell how often a user visits thier site as well as numerous other things. I have noticed an increasing number of websites that now use Google’s Analytics system where a webmaster is able to after entering a little bit of JAVA Script into thier web pages to gather information such as geographical data. While not as personal it is still a sort of spying. One way to avoid this is by adding an add-on called NoScript to your Firefox browser. NoScipt allows YOU to decide which websites you want to view. I have noticed some sites using so much JAVA Script that I cannot even view their site at all without first safe listing the website. You can get NoScript for free here. For those of you who still use MS Explorer I am not trying to force you to switch but Firefox is first of all opensource, non corporate (as compared to MicroSoft). Second Firefox offers the user control over their web browser by choosing which add-ons to add and which they do not want. As far as I know MS Explorer does not allow this.

Before I close I should post the instructions on how to delete your cookies and temporary internet folder here:

Firefox: in the top menu bar goto TOOL> Options> Here you can change the properties of your Firefox. The “general” tab allows you to ensure which homepage you see every time you start Firefox (sometimes cookies will change this automatically so beware), “tab” allows you to open pop up windows or tabs or multiples thereof. “contents” allows you to block certain things. “feed” allows you to read news feed. “privacy” you can delete your cookies by clicking on “view cookies” and then delete all, under privacy information you can delete all information. Under the “security” tab you can set security settings.

Now for MS Explorer users: Goto Tools> Options in the genernal tab you can delete the cookies and temporary internet files here as well as change your default homepage.

Since the internet is relatively new for most people and advertisers know this people tend to be in a dangerous situation. I just hope I am able to get the word out to perhaps help those be a little bit more “educated” about the internet. Yes the internet is very useful but it can be a very dangerous consumer weapon if not used correctly. Safe surfing!