Disconnection

I was reading something the other day that really got my attention. The author talked about how Facebook can see your web activity on other sites, which helps it target ads that it thinks might be interesting.

I decided it was time to check up my Facebook activity. During the process I discovered just how much information they had stored. Every time I had clicked through to a website or article Facebook had a record of it. Eek! Time to take action.

 My first stop was https://www.facebook.com/off_facebook_activity. There, I clicked from one topic to another and learned that:

"Off-Facebook activity includes information that businesses and organizations share with us about your interactions with them. For example, your interactions could be visiting their website or using their app."

and

"When you visit a website or use an app, businesses or organizations can share information about your activity with us by using our business tools".

and

"We use your activity to show you things you might be interested in, like events you might want to go to. We also use your activity to show you relevant ads that introduce you to new products and services. If you haven't allowed ads based on data from partners, then this activity isn't currently being used to show you ads."

They also included a promise that the data is secure

"We don't sell your information to anyone.We prohibit businesses or organizations to share sensitive information with us, such as health and financial information, your date of birth and passwords."

Those words all sounded innocent enough, but I have no interested in targeted ads and don't trust their promises at all. I cleared the Activity History and Disconnected everything I could, then toggled off the button next to “Future Off-Facebook Activity” so nothing will be collected.

Until the next time they update the site and reset the settings. Then I'll have to go through the whole process again.

Five years ago today: Spring Is Here?