A few weeks back, Facebook was in the news for having “shadow profiles” of users who had never even signed up for the service. And now it seems they are tracking users who leave. No escape?
Via: Bloomberg
Facebook Inc. may be tracking users’ Internet activity even after they cancel their accounts with the social-networking site, a German privacy watchdog said.
An in-depth probe of the way cookies are installed after a user opens and then closes their Facebook account has made the Hamburg Data Protection agency “suspicious” the company is unlawfully tracking users, the watchdog said on its website today. While rejecting Facebook’s justifications for the use of cookies, the agency welcomed the company’s offer to explain the technical processes.
“Arguments that all users have to remain recognizable after they leave Facebook to guarantee the service’s security can’t stand up,” Johannes Caspar, the Hamburg data protection representative, said on his agency’s website. “The probe raises the suspicion that Facebook is creating user tracking profiles,” which would be unlawful if users aren’t alerted.
