Logging in with Facebook may just be another way to harvest your data. Elizabeth Keatinge has more.
Here’s another example of companies hijacking Facebook to harvest your data.
Many people use the “login with Facebook” feature to sign in to some websites. It simplifies logging in and means you don’t have to remember a whole bunch of new usernames and passwords.
But according to security researchers at Freedom to Tinker, the shortcut may mean users are handing over considerably more information than intended. We first saw the news via TechCrunch.
Trackers embedded on a site’s pages can hijack the “login with Facebook” feature to harvest data you probably didn’t intend to give away, including your email address and public profile details such as name, age range, gender, location, and profile photo.
It isn’t clear what these trackers do with the information, but the researchers noted that the firms behind the trackers — Lytics and ProPS — all provide audience-monetization services to publishers. In other words, sites are able to charge advertisers more money because they know more about you.
Video by Veuer/Elizabeth Keatinge[/vc_message]
