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Facebook tracking cookies again

Posted by VdoCity Tuesday, October 4, 2011

http://www.free-tricks.com/wp-content/PostImages/hack-facebook-account-online.jpgThe Datran cookie, which can be used for tracking users, is once again being put on websites of third parties with a social plugin Facebook - if you are connected or disconnected from the service.

The self-proclaimed hacker says Nik Cubrilovic has once again caught in the act Facebook. After being alerted by the Twitter user Jonathan Mayer, who has discovered Facebook redial your cookie Datran through buttons and other widgets as websites.

In May, The Wall Street Journal reported the following:

Until recently, some players also earned Facebook navigation data of Internet users had never been to Facebook.com, but Facebook does not know his identity. The company says it suspended the practice, which he described as a "mistake" earlier this year after it was revealed by the Dutch researcher Arnold Roosendaal Tilburg University.

The cookie was being prepared, even if you never been to the Facebook site, and even if he or she clicked on a particular widget in Facebook. Datran Cubrilovic cookie says now he's back and just before that, and is being "established by all third party sites that we tested." You can read below to track a user across different Web properties and back to the Facebook site.

Facebook's own description of the cookie Datran is as follows:

We created the "Datran cookie when a browser accesses facebook.com (except iframes social plugins), and the cookie helps us to identify the login activity of suspects and keep users safe. For example, we use it to point out questionable activities such as failed login attempts and attempts to create multiple accounts spam.

Cubrilovic said that despite this explanation, the cookie is now again being set. That is reportedly the first cookie that is on all third party web sites with a social plugin Facebook, and all social network users - if you are online or offline.

Ashkan Soltani independent researcher, who presented a Datran cookie error before, once again submitted a report of error of Facebook, according to Cubrilovic. It is currently unclear whether this cookie is turned back on accidentally or on purpose, but either way an explanation is in order.

Last week, Facebook Cubrilovic charged with monitoring their users, even if the social networking session. He explained that, even after logging out of the service, each time you visit a website that had a Facebook plugin, information, including identification of the account is still being sent to Palo Alto.

The company responded by denying the claims and an explanation of why their cookies behave the way they do. Palo Alto explained that tracks Web users and cookies are used to customize the content. As for those registered to cookies, Facebook, said he used for security and protection.

After a long technical discussion, confirmed Cubrilovic Facebook makes changes to the process of closing session and the cookies in question now behave as they should. Still exist, but do not send personally identifiable information after the session. The company also took the time to explain what each cookie is responsible.

After all this, 10 privacy groups and U.S. lawmakers sent letters asking the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate Facebook for these and other practices. Moreover, the Data Protection Commissioner of Ireland has committed to conduct a security audit on Facebook. Considering that the international headquarters of the social network in Dublin, the latter is the more serious because the biggest majority of site users may be affected. Facebook has even had to defend themselves in regard to a recent patent it filed, saying that it describes how to track registered users.

If Cubrilovic latest findings are accurate, governments around the world just got another reason to investigate the social networking giant. I have contacted Facebook to learn more about this topic.

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