When you log out of Facebook, you might think that your web surfing
activities are now a private affair between you and your browser, but
Australian entrepreneur and hacker Nik Cubrilovic has discovered that
Facebook’s cookies continue to send data about users’ web surfing habits back to Facebook after logging out:
Facebook engineers have denied these allegations. Although Facebook’s spokesperson refused to provide an official statement, he endorsed a ZDNet comment by Facebook engineer Arturo Bejar.
Bejar said that the cookies still active after logging out are only
used for identifying spammers and phishers, detecting unauthorised
account access and other security features. He also said:
Cubrilovic describes how he discovered the problem in November 2010 when he was creating some fake Facebook accounts for testing purposes:
For the average user, this is a bit of a he said/she said situation. Most of us lack the technical skills to evaluate both parties’ claims, but it’s hard to take Facebook’s engineers at face value. Facebook has a history of eroding users’ privacy, and Zuckerberg has stated repeatedly that he believes the age of privacy is over.
Such a stance benefits Facebook enormously, of course. Without publicly shared information on the site, it’s hard to persuade new users that it’s worth signing up. It isn’t at all surprising that Facebook might nibble away at the edges of what is acceptable for a cookie to do, on the basis that they can say one thing, do another, and most users won’t know the difference.
But what can you do if you are — and you really should be — concerned about cookies from sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google? Here are some tactics that should slow down the leak of data:
• Use a different browser just for social networking
There are lots of browsers around now, so in theory you could delete all your social network cookies from your main browser, then use a second one just for those sites. In practice, segregating your web usage by website type is not all that easy.
• Use private browsing when using social networks
Chrome has Incognito windows which automatically delete your web history and cookies when you close all open Incognito windows. Firefox has Private Browsing which will delete your browser, search, download and web form histories, as well as cookies and temporary internet files. Safari also has Private Browsing but it is not as private as it should be and will not automatically clear cookies.
• Use privacy plug-ins like Priv3, Ghostery or Adblock Plus
Researchers from Berkeley and Rutgers Universities have created a plug-in for Firefox called Priv3 which blocks web tracking by “Facebook, Twitter, Google +1 and LinkedIn”, but allows you to interact with their social features if you want to.
Ghostery alerts you to all the invisible trackers hidden in the websites you visit, and allows you to control which scripts can run. It’s available for all the major browsers.
AdBlock Plus was initially written to block intrusive ads, but also allows you to add rules for specific sites. (ZDNet provides such rules for Facebook’s cookies.) Similar software is available for Chrome, FireFox, Safari and Internet Explorer.
Whatever you do, do something. Facebook is hard to escape these days, but that doesn’t mean you need to let your data escape too.
[L]ogging 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 [with a ‘Like’ button] you visit.Cubrilovic backs up his claims with code from Facebook’s cookies and the data, called HTTP headers, sent to Facebook from his browser. Says Cubrilovic:
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.
AFP
Also please know that also when you’re logged in (or out) we don’t use our cookies to track you on social plugins to target ads or sell your information to third parties. I’ve heard from so many that what we do is to share or sell your data, and that is just not true. We use your logged in cookies to personalize (show you what your friends liked), to help maintain and improve what we do, or for safety and protection.Bejar’s explanation is echoed by Facebook engineer Gregg Stefancik on Cubrilovic’s blog, but comprehensively challenged by another commenter.
Cubrilovic describes how he discovered the problem in November 2010 when he was creating some fake Facebook accounts for testing purposes:
After using the fake accounts for some time, I found that they were suggesting my real account to me as a friend. Somehow Facebook knew that we were all coming from the same browser, even though I had logged out.Another commenter on Cubrilovic’s blog had a similar experience:
I also created a “new” facebook page that I didn’t want linked to anyone to test something with a friend and freaked out when it suggested my REAL account to my NEW account. And I knew that if I accepted, it would then suggest my NEW account to all of my REAL friends, so I promptly deleted the account (which only means I deactivated it :/)Cubrilovic says he contacted Facebook to no avail, and that he has gone public with the information a year later because of the “renewed discussion about Facebook and privacy this weekend.”
For the average user, this is a bit of a he said/she said situation. Most of us lack the technical skills to evaluate both parties’ claims, but it’s hard to take Facebook’s engineers at face value. Facebook has a history of eroding users’ privacy, and Zuckerberg has stated repeatedly that he believes the age of privacy is over.
Such a stance benefits Facebook enormously, of course. Without publicly shared information on the site, it’s hard to persuade new users that it’s worth signing up. It isn’t at all surprising that Facebook might nibble away at the edges of what is acceptable for a cookie to do, on the basis that they can say one thing, do another, and most users won’t know the difference.
But what can you do if you are — and you really should be — concerned about cookies from sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google? Here are some tactics that should slow down the leak of data:
• Use a different browser just for social networking
There are lots of browsers around now, so in theory you could delete all your social network cookies from your main browser, then use a second one just for those sites. In practice, segregating your web usage by website type is not all that easy.
• Use private browsing when using social networks
Chrome has Incognito windows which automatically delete your web history and cookies when you close all open Incognito windows. Firefox has Private Browsing which will delete your browser, search, download and web form histories, as well as cookies and temporary internet files. Safari also has Private Browsing but it is not as private as it should be and will not automatically clear cookies.
• Use privacy plug-ins like Priv3, Ghostery or Adblock Plus
Researchers from Berkeley and Rutgers Universities have created a plug-in for Firefox called Priv3 which blocks web tracking by “Facebook, Twitter, Google +1 and LinkedIn”, but allows you to interact with their social features if you want to.
Ghostery alerts you to all the invisible trackers hidden in the websites you visit, and allows you to control which scripts can run. It’s available for all the major browsers.
AdBlock Plus was initially written to block intrusive ads, but also allows you to add rules for specific sites. (ZDNet provides such rules for Facebook’s cookies.) Similar software is available for Chrome, FireFox, Safari and Internet Explorer.
Whatever you do, do something. Facebook is hard to escape these days, but that doesn’t mean you need to let your data escape too.
బతుకమ్మ..
కోటి రతనాల వీణలో అపురూపమైన రత్నం! పసుపు పచ్చని తంగేడులు.. ఎర్రని
బంతిపూలు.. గుమ్మడిపువ్వు.. తీగ మల్లె.. గులాబి.. ఉప్పు పువ్వు, 
హైదరాబాద్,
సెప్టెంబర్ 26 (టీ న్యూస్):సకల జనుల సమ్మెను మరింత ఉధృతం చేస్తూ తాజా
పోరాట షెడ్యూల్ విడుదలైంది. ప్రత్యేక రాష్ట్ర ఆకాంక్షను మరింత బలంగా
చాటేందుకు యావత్ తెలంగాణను పోరుబాటలో నడిపేందుకు చుక్కాని రాజకీయ జేఏసీ
సమాయత్తమైంది. సెప్టెంబర్ 27 నుంచి వచ్చే నెల 11 వరకు పోరుబాట వేసింది.
ఇందులో భాగంగా 30న హైదరాబాద్ బంద్కు పిలుపునిచ్చిన జేఏసీ.. వచ్చే నెల 9,
10,11 తేదీల్లో నిరవధిక రైల్రోకోలు చేపట్టనుంది. వాటి వివరాలను రాజకీయ
జేఏసీ చైర్మన్ ప్రొఫెసర్ కోదండరాం సోమవారం ఇక్కడ ప్రకటించారు. బంజారాహిల్స్
లోటస్పాండ్లోని ప్రైవేట్ ఫాంహౌజ్లో జరిగిన టీ జేఏసీ ముఖ్యనాయకుల
సమావేశంలో ఈ షెడ్యూల్ ఖరారు చేశారు. ఈ సమావేశానికి టీఆర్ఎస్ అధ్యక్షుడు
కల్వకుంట్ల చంద్రశేఖర్రావు, బీజేపీ జాతీయ కార్యవర్గ సభ్యుడు సీహెచ్
విద్యాసాగర్రావు, న్యూడెమొక్షికసీ రాష్ట్ర నాయకులు పీ సూర్యం, కే
గోవర్ధన్, టీ ఉద్యోగ సంఘాల జేఏసీ చైర్మన్ కే స్వామిగౌడ్, సెక్రటరీ జనరల్ వీ
శ్రీనివాస్గౌడ్, కో-చైర్మన్లు జీ దేవీవూపసాద్రావు, సీ విఠల్,
అడ్వొకేట్స్ జేఏసీ చైర్మన్ రాజేందర్డ్డి, ఆర్టీసీ జేఏసీ చైర్మన్ ఆనందం,
ఎన్ఎంయు టీ ఫోరం చైర్మన్ థామస్డ్డి, కన్వీనర్ అశ్వత్థామడ్డి, కో-కన్వీనర్
హన్మంతు, రాజడ్డి, ఇతర నాయకులు పాల్గొన్నారు. 
3న
బతుకమ్మ పండుగను తెలంగాణ ఉత్సవాలుగా జరుపుకోవాలని, 4న బతుకమ్మ
నిమజ్జనాన్ని తెలంగాణ స్ఫూర్తితో నిర్వహించాలని కోదండరాం కోరారు. 6న దసరా
పండుగ సందర్భంగా దశకంఠ కాంగ్రెస్ దిష్టిబొమ్మలను దగ్దం చేయాలని, దసరా రోజు
రావణాసురుడి దిష్టిబొమ్మకు బదులుగా కాంగ్రెస్ నాయకుల దిష్టిబొమ్మలను దహనం
చేయాలని కోదండరాం పిలుపునిచ్చారు. 9,10,11 తేదీల్లో నిరవధికంగా రైల్రోకో
కార్యక్షికమాన్ని నిర్వహించాలని ఆయన కోరారు. ఆర్టీసీ కార్మికుల సమ్మె
ఉధృతంగా సాగుతుండగా సీమాంవూధకు చెందిన ప్రైవేట్ బస్సులు నడవనీయవద్దని,
సీమాంధ్ర బస్సులను ఎక్కడికక్కడ అడ్డుకోవాలని ఆయన పిలుపునిచ్చారు. సీమాంధ్ర
ట్రావెల్స్ తమ బస్సులను తిప్పితే ఆ తరువాత జరిగే పరిణామాలకు వారే బాధ్యత
వహించాల్సి ఉంటుందని ఆయన స్పష్టం చేశారు. పవిత్ర హజ్ యాత్రకు వెళ్లే
ముస్లింలకు స్వాగతం పలికి అదే గౌరవంతో ఘనంగా వీడ్కోలు పలుకుతామని ఆయన
తెలిపారు. ఈ ఉద్యమ షెడ్యూల్ను పక్కాగా, విజయవంతంగా అమలు చేయాలని, తెలంగాణ
రాష్ట్ర సాధన అకాంక్షలను మరోమారు కేంద్రానికి సెగ తగిలే విధంగా చూపాలని
కోదండరాం విజ్ఞప్తి చేశారు.