Facebook Will Track What Physical Stores You Go Into

[DamianTV]

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/16/0...es-you-go-into

Facebook will soon roll out a feature that will allow advertisers to see which brick and mortar stores you've physically walked into. These details are collected from anyone who has the location services feature turned on, Facebook says. The will allow advertisers to see in real time which Facebook ads are turning into actual sales. Popular Science reports:

Using the location services on your phone, Facebook will keep a tally of who goes to what stores, and show the anonymized numbers to advertisers, as evidence that buying ads on Facebook is getting people to visit brick-and-mortar businesses. It's a great thing for Facebook, which will now have excellent data to prove (or disprove) on a user-to-user basis what a store is getting for its advertising dollar. But it's a pretty frightening idea that a company will have information not unlike your credit card statement all from location services data.

Oh? Did you stop at a red light where there is a hobo known to ask for money? You must be guilty of giving hobos money and or food, and we all know that food given to hobos is heavily regulated by the FDA or whoever and is subject to a fine. Oh? Did you drive close to your ex girlfriends house? You must be a cheater.

Without Privacy, everything you do becomes a crime. It just has yet to be criminalized.

[Ronin Truth]

I don't very often take my desktop PC with me when I shop.

[squarepusher]

I don't run the Facebook app, its a battery hog anyways

[jllundqu]

I don't use facebook, instagram, or any other social media. I am only 36 yrs old, but I feel like a geezer with all the young whipper snappers on their gizmos running into walls while they post about the fake life they want others to believe they are living....

[Anti Federalist]

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/16/0...es-you-go-into

Without Privacy, everything you do becomes a crime. It just has yet to be criminalized.

Oh, trust me, it is already criminalized.

Just waiting for the proper level of surveillance to catch you.

[Bryan]

evidence that buying ads on Facebook is getting people to visit brick-and-mortar businesses

What a joke, and another grand play by fb.
Does anyone think this is only going to be used as "evidence"? No, you can bet this will be used to better target ads at users. Go to a Home Depot and you'll instantly get ads for Lowes, etc.

[Bryan]

I don't run the Facebook app, its a battery hog anyways

All of that tracking of the users takes lots of processing and data bandwidth.

[Intoxiklown]

What a joke, and another grand play by fb.
Does anyone think this is only going to be used as "evidence"? No, you can bet this will be used to better target ads at users. Go to a Home Depot and you'll instantly get ads for Lowes, etc.

You'd be surprised at how effective you can use FB and advertisement to make money, and generate sales (if I'm understanding you correctly). I have a friend whom I won't name, and will explain why shortly) who makes HIGH 6 figures yearly with a FB page and a U-Store-It building. That money doesn't include what he makes charging companies to promote traffic to their websites and FB pages, which is a good amount as well, because he produces results.

The reason I won't get into who he is, is due to love of getting over on people. He likes to travel, but hates having to pay for something he can get for free with. He runs a missionary outreach. And don't get me wrong, he does do mission stuff, his "calling" always winds up being to somewhere he wants to go to. And while technically he's not defrauding anyone, he's not exactly on a holy mission either.

[CPUd]

You'd be surprised at how effective you can use FB and advertisement to make money, and generate sales (if I'm understanding you correctly). I have a friend whom I won't name, and will explain why shortly) who makes HIGH 6 figures yearly with a FB page and a U-Store-It building. That money doesn't include what he makes charging companies to promote traffic to their websites and FB pages, which is a good amount as well, because he produces results.

The reason I won't get into who he is, is due to love of getting over on people. He likes to travel, but hates having to pay for something he can get for free with. He runs a missionary outreach. And don't get me wrong, he does do mission stuff, his "calling" always winds up being to somewhere he wants to go to. And while technically he's not defrauding anyone, he's not exactly on a holy mission either.

I still know some dudes making money there selling MREs and slop buckets to the infowars crowd, but they have someone working there who approves their ads. Usually those ads get rejected since they started cracking down on supplements.

[Natural Citizen]

Hm. I wonder if Google does anything like this. I don't have any social media accounts at all but I do have a Google+ just by the fact that I have an Android device.

I'm also wondering if I should switch out my battery to a non NFC one and do away with the NFC capability on my phone all together. Dang. It's always something. I don't even look at ads is the worst part of it. You know? I'm freakin spontaneous when I shop. But that goes back to targeted advertising. Just by virtue of walking by a store, they're burglarizing my trinket. And essentially me.

[TheTexan]

What a joke, and another grand play by fb.
Does anyone think this is only going to be used as "evidence"? No, you can bet this will be used to better target ads at users. Go to a Home Depot and you'll instantly get ads for Lowes, etc.

Just think about how much better targeted their ads will be, its gonna be great.

What's gonna be really great is what the FBI will do with this data, after they demand Facebook turn it over. That's just gonna be awesome!

[oyarde]

Facebook cannot track me .

[Danke]

Facebook cannot track me .

FB...no, just add an I.

[oyarde]

FB...no, just add an I.

Those guys cannot bother me , I am not interested in being a paid informant . It is against my religion.

[Danke]

Those guys cannot bother me , I am not interested in being a paid informant . It is against my religion.

Your religion deals with illegal substances. FBI sent.

[oyarde]

Your religion deals with illegal substances. FBI sent.

According to my newspaper those guys are busy giving ordnance to muslims

[TheTexan]

Facebook cannot track me .

They can track your friends, and therefore you.

Unless of course your friends are as embittered and cynical as you are.

[KCIndy]

Hm. I wonder if Google does anything like this. I don't have any social media accounts at all but I do have a Google+ just by the fact that I have an Android device.

Google does EXACTLY this... maybe even worse.

I don't have a Facebook account, and I've never signed up for Google+ (although as you mentioned, Google+ is on the phone by default, and I can't delete it).

Just a few days ago, I parked overnight in a truck stop parking lot. I was within a stone's throw of a motel. The following day, I got a "push" message through Google maps, asking "How did you like your stay at the Econolodge? Would you like to rate your stay? Would you consider this motel a good place for a weekend getaway?"

I hadn't even stayed at the motel But I was parked my truck close to it. Even more interesting? I had specifically turned off "tracking history" in Google's location services.

[Natural Citizen]

Google does EXACTLY this... maybe even worse.

I don't have a Facebook account, and I've never signed up for Google+ (although as you mentioned, Google+ is on the phone by default, and I can't delete it).

Just a few days ago, I parked overnight in a truck stop parking lot. I was within a stone's throw of a motel. The following day, I got a "push" message through Google maps, asking "How did you like your stay at the Econolodge? Would you like to rate your stay? Would you consider this motel a good place for a weekend getaway?"

I hadn't even stayed at the motel But I was parked my truck close to it. Even more interesting? I had specifically turned off "tracking history" in Google's location services.

That "Google Maps" app has a crapload of settings in it. You should definitely check those and turn certain ones off. One of their recent updates specifically does do what you mention here but you can turn that off in the Google Maps app settings. Tracking history itself is irrelevant of those functions/settings within the app itself.

[oyarde]

They can track your friends, and therefore you.

Unless of course your friends are as embittered and cynical as you are.

I like to think of it more as enlightened than bitter.