zlacker

> How would they do this if you never visit the site or download the app?

Your friends install the app on their device. They provide access to their contacts. FB slurps in all of that data. For every person in the user's contacts, FB compares that info to their records. They update connections where found, and start new records when not found. So they now know your name/email/phone number/physical address info depending on how detailed your friend's contact was about you. I haven't read anything if the user has added your picture in their contacts if that's something FB can read as well, so they could know what your face looks like. They are now tracking you, and you've at this point never joined FB. One day, you decide to join FB, and you're presented an option to connect with people FB thinks/knows you know. Oh, and now that you're a user, you don't get to see that info that they had been making on you before you signed up either.

To me, this is the most evil part of the scheme.

>>dylan6+(OP)
That’s not tracking web activity though. Also, why is google given a pass here? They use info gathered from my emails all over the place and that surely has more sensitive data than my Facebook account. What about amazon who has been reported to sell your purchasing data without your explicit consent to advertisers?

>>dkrich+F
Granted, they aren't tracking your browser history, yet, in the manner I described. However, have you ever been to FB from a link? If so, you now have an FB cookie. Ever been to a website that has the FB like button, same thing. It's kind of like an STD. You don't know you have it, but it will follow everywhere. You can find out you have it, and try to take the appropriate actions, it'll just keep popping back up later in life. Now, they can track you anonymously. Whether they know it is you and link it to the shadow account they have or not, they still have data from a real person they can monetize. All without you having an account.

I'm definitely not giving Google a pass. I just didn't mention them ;-) Google Analytics, Fonts, whatever are just as bad, to me. I as an unsuspecting web user have my browser tracked from web developers using some free tools. I have no idea that it is occurring as a viewer. If a website puts in FB's like buttons, it is visible to me, and being in the know, I understand the repercussions of that site's decision. GA, Fonts, etc, are completely hidden from view. This is why I've used NoScript/Ghostery/etc throughout the years. It started with ads, but now I'm more concerned about these types of scripts.