Hacker News Reader

i have an account from when i was a teenager that i sometimes use to talk to family. why do you ask? based on my anecdote we are all tracked by facebook, whether or not we are on facebook.

View on HN

It was confusing hearing that Facebook was recommending people to you when you made it sound like you were choosing to opt out of those things.

I am not sure how your anecdote would show you are all tracked by Facebook even if you aren't on facebook; you only received recommendations for people to friend on facebook because you are on facebook. I am not on facebook, so i have never had facebook recommend anyone to me.

my phone cant run facebook. by choosing this phone i am opting not to have facebook track me on a constant basis. however, based on whatever signals are available to everyone elses phones, facebook still tracks me. and facebook is doing the same to everybody including you - not sure if youre aware of the concept of shadow profiles?

well you were asking how to get out of the game. leaving facebook is one of the necessary steps. it may not be enough, and some things from you may still be tracked by meta, but less is better. it's as simple as that. i do have sympathy with the fact that sometimes you just can't avoid it though. if you have family members that absolutely refuse to talk to you in any other way for example. so i ask to reflect if you really need it, or if you can find other ways to stay in touch with your family. (but the key point is the reflection, i am not expecting you to find a solution right away. the point is: always be aware why you are making that tradeoff. i would be on facebook too if i had people there that are important to me and that i could not reach any other way. i do know some people that are on facebook that i would like to be in contact with, so i can sympathize.)

Reply on news.ycombinator.com