How Can Internet Sites Snoop On My FB Friends and Tie Us In

[Rick]

If anyone can tell me what is happening here... It seems obvious but I'd like to hear someone state it...

Months ago I was on Wimp.com and saw a neat anti-theft bike rack that hoisted the bikes up out of harms way. I clicked "share" to see what would happen and it put it on FaceBook. I was not thrilled. I deleted it, logged out of FB, went back on Wimp and Shared again. It put the video on FB in my name. I left it on this time, but did not understand.

FF to today.... I was on Rotten Tomatoes looking for movie suggestions. I see my FB Profile pic and click on Profile and see all of my friends that have used RT site, even what movies they have rated and want to see.

Is this automatic, or are there privacy settings I could change. If there are, it seems like what I share on FB with my friends might be affected/ restricted.

Any thoughts will be greatly appreciated. I don't have anything to hide, but was astonished to realize the extent of the socialization of my internet.

[Darren]

The internet has made data warehousing much simpler. In some cases companies have subbed some of the work out to state prisons. If anyone knows anything about you it can end up with someone else. That applies to the really private stuff like medical records that are subject to hacking and now with Obamacare more digitization.

Even the data from the grocery discount card that records your purchases can end up someplace you don't expect. Are any of your grocery store purchases indicative of a medical condition or an unhealthy life style? Does your insurance company know about it. Or will it be accessible by your insurance company in the future? Think about any application you sign where it states by signing you have made a complete disclosure.

If social security workers have been caught selling data, what do you really think your chances are in a digital world of maintaining your privacy?

[Rick]

Originally Posted by Darren

The internet has made data warehousing much simpler. In some cases companies have subbed some of the work out to state prisons. If anyone knows anything about you it can end up with someone else. That applies to the really private stuff like medical records that are subject to hacking and now with Obamacare more digitization.

Even the data from the grocery discount card that records your purchases can end up someplace you don't expect. Are any of your grocery store purchases indicative of a medical condition or an unhealthy life style? Does your insurance company know about it. Or will it be accessible by your insurance company in the future? Think about any application you sign where it states by signing you have made a complete disclosure.

If social security workers have been caught selling data, what do you really think your chances are in a digital world of maintaining your privacy?

Thanks so much Darren. Sounds like the tip of an icebrerg.

Is it that I have a FB account, Rotten Tomatoes has a relationship with FB, and they share everything they each know about me?

[How Do I]

Sounds like it could be Facebook Instant Personalization. From Rotten Tomatoes privacy policy:

Instant Personalization on Rotten Tomatoes. At some of our Services, we enable a feature that allows you to instantly personalize your experience using Facebook's Instant Personalization. Instant Personalization lets you bring your friends and movie interests with you as you explore our Services where we have this feature enabled. To use this feature, you must have a Facebook account, be signed in, and ensure Instant Personalization is turned on in your Facebook privacy settings. Once enabled, Instant Personalization will provide the Service using this feature with the public information you make available from your Facebook account. For example, you may see your first name, profile picture, and your friends' reviews the next time you access Rotten Tomatoes.

You can turn off Instant Personalization at any time by going to the privacy settings of your Facebook account and disabling the feature or by logging out on the Rotten Tomatoes site. To learn more about Facebook's Instant Personalization, click here..

[Rick]

Thanks How do I

AS SOON AS I READ INSTANT PERSONALIZATION IS TURNED ON ... I had actually figured out this part:

"You can turn off Instant Personalization at any time by going to the privacy settings of your Facebook account and disabling the feature or by logging out on the Rotten Tomatoes site. To learn more about Facebook's Instant Personalization, click here.."


but I generally need spoon feeding!

[millipede]

I always change my settings to be more private when I hear something "new and improved" has come out. ugh...

For the record though... those websites do not actually have access to your facebook account or info from it.
What happens is websites can put in FACEBOOK code on their sites. When you interact with that, as in clicking the "share" button that shows up there, you are essentially still interacting with facebook.
It's not really harmful to you or your computer, or your facebook profile. The only real concern is whether you want that info being out there, that you interacted with the site, etc... like, do you want friends that visit that site to see that you visited that site... that sort of thing.
The sites aren't doing any snooping, it's just facebook widgets working with the information you allow them to see.
Again, I personally have things as zipped up tight as possible simply because I'm a private(and possibly paranoid) person.
My biggest frustration is how everything facebook changes as far as security, you're often already opted in without even knowing the change happened. :/