Sandy Worries About Facebook’s Tracking Cookies

Sandy is concerned about Facebook’s tracking cookies
I read his article and want to know if these programs are something that I should be using and others should be made aware of. Is anyone better than another? Your recommendations please? As always, you are the best. Thank you for all your advice and help. My computer runs great because I listen to you! http://finance.yahoo.com/news/how-to-stop-facebook-from-tracking-you.html

Our answer
First, anyone who’s concerned with privacy shouldn’t be on Facebook, but it’s not because of the tracking cookies. The whole idea of social networking is, by its very nature not private. You can set your profile to “private” on Facebook — but anyone with the know-how and tools can view it. And every picture, every word, every post you or anyone else every puts up on Facebook is always saved somewhere. You may think what you’ve deleted is gone — but it’s not. So many people have posted photos or made a foolish statement and then removed it immediately — only to have it come back to haunt them. So worrying about tracking cookies on a social networking site, is like worrying about a cold when you have a terminal disease.

And what about those “do-not-track” add-ons, extensions, and programs? Almost always, people are tracked for two reasons:

1. To provide an accurate count of a site’s “unique visitors” (the more unique visitors the more a site can charge for advertising)
2. To show “targeted ads” to visitors

The words “Targeted ads” somehow engenders a creepy image of shysters sitting in a dark room observing people’s behavior. It’s not that way. I don’t use any “do-not-track” browser add-ons or any other type of “do-not-track” software. Why? Because I’d much rather see ads for things I’m interested in or thinks I might be interested in than ads for things I’m have no interest in whatsoever.

For example, I’d much rather see an ad for a new iPad or new laptop than an ad for eye makeup or ladies’ hair coloring. And that’s a benefit to me. I don’t like ads anymore than anyone else, but I’d rather see ads that may of interest to me than random ads for things I’d never be interested in. But that’s just me.

I wouldn’t install anything to keep my Facebook use private — because no matter what I used Facebook’s privacy isn’t very good. In fact, if I were very concerned about my privacy, I wouldn’t have a Facebook account at all. Facebook always seems to be in the middle of a privacy controversy — and social networking sites aren’t the place to be if your privacy is a top concern.