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Scam alert: Use a dating app? It’s probably selling your personal info.

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Do you use a dating app on your phone or tablet?

If so, it’s probably selling or otherwise sharing your personal info with dozens of other companies.

According to this ABC News report from 2020, the Norwegian Consumer Council has discovered that “serious privacy infringements” are being perpetrated by the companies behind several of the world’s most popular dating apps.

And guess what? Many dating apps are still doing it.

In short, the apps are selling or otherwise sharing the personal info from user accounts with at least 135 other third-party companies and services.

[Read more…]

How to disable ‘Face Recognition’ on Facebook (and why you might want to)

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Facebook now has a feature called Face Recognition, and some folks aren’t all that fond of it due to the privacy implications.

In a nutshell, Facebook’s new Face Recognition feature works something like this:

When another user uploads a new photo or video to his/her account Facebook will compare it to YOUR profile picture and any photos you’re tagged in to see if you’re in that new photo.

If Facebook’s scan determines that your face is indeed included in that photo or video you’ll be sent a notification that someone has posted a picture/video that has you in it. [Read more…]

Did you know other companies share info about you with Facebook?

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You might no be aware of this, but many of the companies you do business with and websites you visit share information about your activities with Facebook.

While most of the info they share about you is fairly generic and non-user specific, some of the info shared by less reputable companies can be quite detailed.

This data sharing scheme is called Off-Facebook Activity and this page discusses which types of data most of Facebook’s partner companies share with them.

[Read more…]

Q&A: Will someone I unblock on Facebook be able to see my posts?

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Question from Callie:  I had a casual friend on Facebook who started leaving hateful comments on my posts after he found out that my politics are different than his.

It got so bad that I eventually got mad enough to block him.

But now I’m having second thoughts about blocking him because I recently found out that his daughter and my daughter are great friends in real life.

The reason I blocked him instead of just unfriending him was to make sure he wouldn’t be able to see my posts.

My question is will he be able to see my posts if I unblock him? [Read more…]

Q&A: How can I find out which websites have access to my Facebook data?

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Question from Mark:  I read your blog post explaining why it’s a bad idea to log into third-party websites with Facebook.

That’s some pretty scary stuff.

My question is how can I see which websites have access to my information right now?

The reason I’m asking is because I’ve used Facebook to log into lots of websites in the past, and I’ve forgotten what most of them were.

Rick’s answer:  [Read more…]

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