Abstract
Numerous websites have implemented the Facebook “Like” button to let Facebook members share their interests, thus promoting websites or news items. It is, thus, an important business tool for content providers. However, the tool is also used to place cookies on the user’s computer, regardless of whether a user actually uses the button when visiting a website. This allows Facebook to track and trace users and to process their data. It appears that non-Facebook members can also be traced via the Like button. This means that Facebook’s data collection practices reach far beyond their own platform and membership. Owing to the proliferation of Like buttons, Facebook has a potential connection with all web users. Web activity can be linked to individual accounts, or a separate data set can be created for individuals who are not (yet) Facebook members. The hidden collection of data on browsing behavior and the creation of individual data sets has ramifications for the privacy of individuals. Privacy issues arising from thirdparty cookie use and connectivity of web activity and devices will be discussed, using the technical process behind the Facebook Like button as an example.
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- 1.
Ung vs. Facebook, Class action complaint, Superior Court of the State of California, County of Santa Clara, Case No. 111CV200467, filed 05/09/2011.
- 2.
“Like Button—Facebook Developers,” accessed 22 March 2011, http://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/plugins/like.
- 3.
“The Value of a Liker—Facebook,” accessed 22 March 2011, http://www.facebook.com/notes/facebook-media/value-of-a-liker/150630338305797.
- 4.
“Facebook Like Box Usage Statistics,” accessed 22 March 2011, http://trends.builtwith.com/widgets/Facebook-Like-Box.
- 5.
“Facebook Stats Likers,” accessed 29 Sept. 2010, http://www.insidefacebook.com/2010/09/29/facebook-stats-likers/.
- 6.
“Facebook Like Usage Statistics,” accessed 22 March 2011, http://trends.builtwith.com/widgets/Facebook-Like.
- 7.
There are, however, more privacy friendly initiatives which focus on audience segregation and controlled disclosure of personal information. For instance, Clique allows users to have several ‘faces’ in one account. See http://clique.primelife.eu/. This social networking site is one of the results of the EU FP7 PrimeLife project.
- 8.
HTTP stands for Hyper Text Transfer Protocol, the programming language used for internet traffic. An HTTP request is a request for a specific piece of content sent from the user’s computer to a web server. The web server replies by sending the requested content. If the content is not available, the reply includes an error code.
- 9.
This scenario does not apply anymore since Facebook changed its systems after the publication of my initial research findings (Roosendaal 2010). In a communication to the Hamburg Data Protection Authority (Germany) Facebook stated that the tracking of nonusers was the result of a ‘bug’ in their software development kit.
- 10.
For instance: www.slideshare.net .
- 11.
Another reason to take the individual perspective is that privacy and data protection legislation is based on the privacy interest of individuals. Taking the perspective of a commercial company would come to a weighing of interests (conform Article 7(f) of the Data Protection Directive (Directive 95/46/EC)) and, thus, legally imply an assumption that the commercial business interest is a valid interest. At least, this assumption cannot be made in general.
- 12.
There have been several efforts define the concept of privacy clearly and concisely. The definition will not be discussed here. For those interested in the discussion and efforts, see, for instance, the valuable work done by Parent (1983), who approaches the concept from different views and disciplines, and the extensive work by Solove (2002, 2006, 2008).
- 13.
This distinction between active and passive components is inspired by Isaiah Berlin’s theory on positive and negative freedoms:(Berlin 1958).
- 14.
In this respect, the public outcry on the Like button being available at the website of the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK is a case in point (see, Kirk 2010).
- 15.
Compare the famous quote by Skyler, 18: “If you’re not on MySpace, you don’t exist!” (Quote posted by her mother Kathy Sierra at http://headrush.typepad.com/creating passionate users/2006/03/ultrafast relea.html , no longer available (cf. boyd 2008).
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Roosendaal, A. (2012). We Are All Connected to Facebook … by Facebook!. In: Gutwirth, S., Leenes, R., De Hert, P., Poullet, Y. (eds) European Data Protection: In Good Health?. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-2903-2_1
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