Facebook can see what users type even if status is not posted
Facebook can see what users type even if status is not
posted
Facebook said tracking users' activity even if they decide
not to post a status or comment falls within the company's terms of service.
By Salvador Rodriguez
December 17, 2013, 12:23 p.m.
Facebook has said that it is within its terms of service
to see what users are typing even when the status or comment is never posted on
the social network.
The Menlo Park, Calif., company confirmed that it can
track users' unpublished posts after two Facebook researchers disclosed that
they had tracked the activity of about 5 million random Facebook users in the
U.S. and England.
The researchers' study looked at how often these users
censored themselves while typing posts and comments on Facebook. If users typed
more than five characters, the content was tracked. It was considered to be
self-censored if it was not published within 10 minutes of being typed.
Facebook said the study did not track the exact words and
letters that users typed, but whether or not they typed something. The
methodology for the study also kept the tracked users anonymous, Facebook said.
“This is something we looked at to understand to what
extent people self censor,” Facebook spokesman Matt Steinfeld told The Times.
Facebook said it was no longer tracking any users when it
comes to unpublished posts. It also has no plans to track the unpublished words
and letters that users type.
But Facebook said the study was conducted in accordance
to the terms of service that every user agrees to when they sign up for the
social network.
So where in Facebook's terms of service is this
justified? The company said this is covered in its Data Use Policy.
"We receive data about you whenever you use or are
running Facebook, such as when you look at another person's timeline, send or
receive a message, search for a friend or a Page, click on, view or otherwise
interact with things .... ," the Data Use Policy says in the section
titled "Information we receive and how it is used."
Concerned users can do two things to protect themselves.
They can stop using the service, or they can browse the website using a browser
with Javascript turned off.
Javascript is the browser software that allowed the
Facebook researchers to track whether users typed something or not during the
study this summer. It's the same kind of software that allows Gmail to save
users' email drafts.
Users can search for instructions for how to turn off
Javascript for their browser, which would prevent Facebook from being able to
track whether a user has a typed a post or comment, should the company decide
to do that again.
But Javascript is an important part of many websites, so
users who do turn it off should not be surprised if some of their favorite
sites don't function properly.
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