Tracking cookies collect data even if you don’t have a Facebook account, says Belgian universities
Facebook can track your online activity even if you don’t have a Facebook account, and that may breach European privacy laws, according to a report by two Belgian universities.
According to the report, first reported by the Guardian, Facebook uses cookies to track people’s online activity without their consent – even if they have logged out of Facebook, deactivated their account, or specifically opted out of online advertising in Europe.
‘Facebook is subject to and complies with EU data protection law.’
– Facebook statement
The report was ordered by the Belgian Privacy Commission, with research conducted at the University of Leuven and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, after the commission determined that Facebook’s privacy policies, which were updated in January, violated European customer privacy laws.
It says that Facebook’s revised data use policy has enabled the social media giant “to create a vast advertising network which uses data from inside and outside Facebook to target both users and non-users of Facebook.”
Tracking cookies
Facebook can track users who have an account, says the report, with multiple cookies that identify them. Even non-users are tracked, with a cookie called “datr,” which has an expiration date of two years.
The tracking cookie can be placed on a user’s computer when he or she visits a website that includes a Facebook plug-in, not just Facebook.com itself, regardless of whether you clicked “like” or “share” on the social media toolbar.
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