Facebook is tracking your every move, even when you are logged out

by Swati on September 26th, 2011

There’s no doubt that Facebook keeps track of everything users do on the social networking site and on other sites, while they logged into their Facebook account. But, Entrepreneur and hacker Nik Cubrilovic reports on his blog that Facebook tracks our activities, even when we are logged out of the site.

According to Cubrilovic’s tests, Facebook only alters its tracking cookies when you are logged out, rather than deleting them. Your account information is still present in these cookies. So, whenever you visit a website with the Facebook button, the browser sends your info back to Facebook. Cubrilovic’s claims are based on his analysis of HTTP headers sent by browsers to Facebook.com.

“Logging out of Facebook only de-authorizes your browser from the web application, a number of cookies (including your account number) are still sent along to all requests to facebook.com. Even if you are logged out, Facebook still knows and can track every page you visit. The only solution is to delete every Facebook cookie in your browser, or to use a separate browser for Facebook interactions,” Cubrilovic writes.

“With my browser logged out of Facebook, whenever I visit any page with a Facebook like button, or share button, or any other widget, the information, including my account ID, is still being sent to Facebook. You can test this for yourself using any browser with developer tools installed. It is all hidden in plain sight,” he adds.

Some people are already shocked at the speed at which Facebook is rolling out new features on the site, forcing users to over-share info with their friends. The ‘Ticker’ is one such feature that has enraged Facebook users. Even the new media platform that Facebook is planning to launch will gather info on all the things that users consume online, thereby raising privacy concerns.

Facebook has over 800 million users. People have got used to the platform and despite its privacy issues and  constantly-changing features, Facebook users would continue to use the site. What do you think?

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