{"id":26762,"date":"2019-04-09T13:45:02","date_gmt":"2019-04-09T13:45:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/packetstormsecurity.com\/news\/view\/30014\/Facebook-Still-Tracks-You-After-You-Deactivate-Your-Account.html"},"modified":"2019-04-09T13:45:02","modified_gmt":"2019-04-09T13:45:02","slug":"facebook-still-tracks-you-after-you-deactivate-your-account","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/facebook-still-tracks-you-after-you-deactivate-your-account\/","title":{"rendered":"Facebook Still Tracks You After You Deactivate Your Account"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"img-2296\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

A sign from Facebook’s privacy pop-up in New York.<\/span><\/p>\n

Alfred Ng \/ CNET<\/span><\/p>\n

I thought deactivating my Facebook<\/a> account would stop the social network from tracking me online. But Facebook kept tabs on me anyway.<\/p>\n

Over the past year, I’ve tried to minimize my presence on Facebook. I deleted a 10-year-old account and replaced it with a dummy account<\/a> that I use as little as possible. I deleted the app<\/a> from my phone.<\/p>\n

As of January, I started deactivating my dummy account every time I used it, rather than just log out. I couldn’t break up completely with Facebook because I needed it to sign up twice a week for a workshop.<\/p>\n

I thought the precautions would reduce how much data Facebook gathered about me. Turns out, I was wasting my time.<\/p>\n

Even when your account is deactivated, the social network continues collecting data about your online activities. All that data gets sent back to Facebook and is tied to your account while it’s in this state of limbo. It’s as if you’d changed nothing.<\/p>\n

Facebook says it only removes all of your data if you permanently delete your account. Deactivating isn’t as extreme, the company says, and the social network continues collecting your data in case you change your mind and want to return to your profile. Facebook expects deactivated users to return and wants to continue serving them ads relevant to their new interests.<\/p>\n

Read more:<\/strong> How to delete yourself from the Internet<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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Now playing:<\/span> Watch this:<\/span><\/span> Deactivating your Facebook account doesn’t stop data…<\/p>\n

2:15<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

‘A deceptive practice’<\/h2>\n

On the site, Facebook explains that deactivating is a half-step to complete deletion. But it says little about how data collection works during the period. In its data policy<\/a>, Facebook suggests deactivation to manage your privacy<\/a> but doesn’t mention that it still collects data during that period.<\/p>\n

The ongoing collection of data from deactivated accounts could be considered misleading, privacy experts warn.<\/p>\n

“Most people would expect less or no data collection during a deactivated period,” said Gabriel Weinberg, CEO and founder of private search engine DuckDuckGo. “Deactivated means cease to operate, and you wouldn’t expect all the wheels to be turning.”<\/p>\n