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Another Reason to Hate Facebook

March 28, 2018

Unless you've been sleeping under a rock for the past several weeks, you are well aware of the huge outcry over the massive collection of user data by Cambridge Analytica for Facebook without the users' knowledge. The simple solution is not to be a Facebook user to begin with. Deleting your Facebook ID is not as easy as you think. There's a difference between deactivation and permanent deletion. Make sure you pick the right one. The Facebook app is particularly nasty in collecting data. Using a browser is better, but not ideal either. Mozilla has just released a Firefox extension that prevents Facebook from tracking your web activity. It works by creating a Facebook Container that isolates your Facebook identity in its own tab.

"It is important to know that this extension doesn't prevent Facebook from mishandling the data that it already has, or permitted others to obtain, about you," Mozilla warns. "Facebook still will have access to everything that you do while you are on facebook.com, including your Facebook comments, photo uploads, likes, any data you share with Facebook connected apps, etc."

The extension won't pull back any of the data that Cambridge Analytica has already slurped up, but it will help with future Facebook activity.

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