Facebook admits it tracks anyone who visits its website even if you're not a member.
Facebook officials are now acknowledging that the social media giant has been able to create a running log of the web pages that each of its 800 million or so members has visited during the previous 90 days. Facebook also keeps close track of where millions more non-members of the social network go on the Web, after they visit a Facebook web page for any reason.
To do this, the company relies on tracking cookie technologies similar to the controversial systems used by Google, Adobe, Microsoft, Yahoo and others in the online advertising industry, says Arturo Bejar, Facebook's engineering director.
Facebook's efforts to track the browsing habits of visitors to its site have made the company a player in the "Do Not Track" debate, which focuses on whether consumers should be able to prevent websites from tracking the consumers' online activity.
Rather than appease its critics, Facebook's public explanations of how it tracks and how it uses tracking data have touched off a barrage of questions from technologists, privacy advocates, regulators and lawmakers around the world.
"Facebook could be tracking users without knowledge or permission, which could be an unfair or deceptive business practice," says Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., co-sponsor with Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, of a bill aimed at limiting online tracking of children.
The company "should be covered by strong privacy safeguards," Markey says. "The massive trove of personal information that Facebook accumulates about its users can have a significant impact on them — now and into the future."http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/story/2011-11-15/facebook-privacy-tracking-data/51225112/1?loc=interstitialskip