to be horrified that people may know I've viewed their Facebook page?

[icouldjusteatacroissant]

Facebook deny it, but there's massive talk on the net that if you look at someone's page, you pop up on their suggested list or people you may know list. Maybe not straight away, but you do appear at some point

Am I the only one who looks at their ex's or whoevers pages, photos, etc?

I am horrified they may know I've been snooping

It's not an invasion of privacy though is it? You've agreed that Google can use or share your information with "selected partners".

I may have agreed for it to share information I have voluntarily given when signing up (although I wouldn't do that if I had a choice). However, I don't think anyone would expect that to mean that it could use cookies from my computer to collect e mail addresses of everyone I know so that it could contact them. I'm sceptical that it does do that though as it hasn't even suggested DH as a potential friend despite the fact that I e mail him a lot (although only occasionally via googlemail).

So it's the pixies then,

Or a massive conspiracy,

People aren't suggesting pixies are involved or that it is a massive consipiracy. They are suggesting that facebook is doing what the OP has suggested (or at least they have done it in the past). To me, this seems far more likely and actually less dodgy than tracking people's private emails via cookies so that is can contact that person etc as some people have suggested.

Fine.

But those of us who know it's not the FB conspiracy do little things like clean cookies, use VPN's, use "incognito" browsing etc. to reduce the tracking (slightly).

I've never had someone that I've randomly looked at on FB come up in my suggested list. Only people that I've had a prior link to via email, Friends, LinkedIn, or who either has my phone number/is in my contacts.

Yes, you all keep suggesting that FB are doing something that would cost them money, give them no advantage at all, and that they have always denied.
Because the biggest richest companies in the world get that way by wasting their time and money on things that don't benefit them in any way .

The only "proof" given throughout the thread, repeatedly, is that people can't understand any other possible way it can occur, so it must be this way. Disregarding the fact that they don't actually understand how it works, which is why they are confused.
Post hoc ergo propter hoc, you've fallen into a questionable cause fallacy.

Post hoc ergo propter hoc, you've fallen into a questionable cause fallacy.

Well that clears it all up then.

Do you and I actually speak the same language?

The second part is in English, and the latin phrase is a pretty common one. And you know there is always google for things one doesn't understand....

"post hoc ergo propter hoc" means after it therefore because of it, an assumption of causality that seems logical but is without any proof, and therefore easily wrong.
Like if you see a cat run past you, followed by a dog right after it. You might well conclude that obviously, the cat is being chased by the dog, when in fact unbeknownst to you they were both being chased by a goat, whom you did not see.

But those of us who know it's not the FB conspiracy do little things like clean cookies, use VPN's, use "incognito" browsing etc. to reduce the tracking (slightly).

I actually don't see how my cleaning cookies (which I do incidentally) would have prevented the DH of a friend appearing on the "people who you might know" list. As I have explained many times ago we had no connection other than the fact that my friend had searched for me on his computer using his face book account.

The only "proof" given throughout the thread, repeatedly, is that people can't understand any other possible way it can occur, so it must be this way. Disregarding the fact that they don't actually understand how it works, which is why they are confused.

I think that you are the one who doesn't understand. I appreciate that nowadays, facebook track people to target advertising but as far as I know they didn't do that in 2006/07 and even if they did I wouldn't explain how the DH of a friend appeared in the "people you might know list" shortly after she had searched for me using his account. If it happened the way you and other people who think they are so clever suggest, you would have thought facebook would have been connected me with my DH, parents and siblings etc by now. I think I have a lot more in common with them than the DH of someone I have seen about twice in the last 30 years who lives in a different county (and always has done)

A man popped up in my list of 'people I might know' that I only ever spoke to on my mobile phone. He lived 200 miles away and rang me when I advertised my car for sale. So unless he was trying to look at my profile, which I do keep private, Facebook must have got the link from my mobile phone records.

OK, Mary, whatever you say, you're absolutely right. It's all a big conspiracy to link people who look at pictures of other people together in the hope that one of them will buy shares in Facebook.

I'll leave you to it now, say "Hi" to Elvis, Lord Lucan & Shergar when you see them.........

OK, Mary, whatever you say, you're absolutely right. It's all a big conspiracy to link people who look at pictures of other people together in the hope that one of them will buy shares in Facebook.

I have never said anything about a conspiracy. Only you and others who can't believe this happens talk about "conspiracy". It is hardly on a par with thinking that Elvis, Lord Lucan or Shergar are still alive. I find it quite interesting that you and others seem to think that anyone who believes that facebook do as suggested in OP is a paranoid conspiracy theorist but at the same time you think (and apparently think it is okay), that facebook accesses people's phone records or e mail addresses via cookies so that it can contact anyone you have phoned/emailed.

I NEED to post these links and ask anyone who's going "Whut? Eh? Surely they wouldn't/can't?" to read the data sharing policies they have contractually agreed.

Fortunately, legal cases have ensured we now have options to alter these terms. But read carefully; those options are restricted.

www.google.com/policies/privacy/

www.facebook.com/about/privacy

www.apple.com/uk/privacy/privacy-policy/

www.microsoft.com/en-us/privacystatement/

Were you to turn off every scrap of electronic data, you wouldn't be able to do anything online or by phone. Much networked sharing is functionally necessary. More of it enhances your experience. And then there's the rest of the iceberg - some of which is helping techs improve the products you use, and most of which feeds into massive commercial databases.

Garrick I think that most people know that facebook are collecting information on people. However, I don't see where it states that it will obtain e mail addresses via cookies or phone numbers via phone records and use that information so that it can contact anyone (even if you have e mailed them via another email address) to suggest they might know you.... If it does do that, I don't know why anyone would think it also wouldn't do what is suggested in the OP.

Mary

"Your networks and connections.
We collect information about the people and groups you are connected to and how you interact with them, such as the people you communicate with the most or the groups you like to share with. We also collect contact information you provide if you upload, sync or import this information (such as an address book) from a device."

"We collect information from or about the computers, phones, or other devices where you install or access our Services, depending on the permissions you’ve granted. We may associate the information we collect from your different devices, which helps us provide consistent Services across your devices. Here are some examples of the device information we collect:

Attributes such as the operating system, hardware version, device settings, file and software names and types, battery and signal strength, and device identifiers.
Device locations, including specific geographic locations, such as through GPS, Bluetooth, or WiFi signals.
Connection information such as the name of your mobile operator or ISP, browser type, language and time zone, mobile phone number and IP address."

"Information from websites and apps that use our Services.
We collect information when you visit or use third-party websites and apps that use our Services (like when they offer our Like button or Facebook Log In or use our measurement and advertising services). This includes information about the websites and apps you visit, your use of our Services on those websites and apps, as well as information the developer or publisher of the app or website provides to you or us."

"We are able to deliver our Services, personalize content, and make suggestions for you by using this information to understand how you use and interact with our Services and the people or things you’re connected to and interested in on and off our Services. "

(my emphasis)

TennesseeMountainPointOfView Again, I don't interpret that to mean that if I contact someone by e mail, that facebook will obtain their email address (via a cookie) and use that to suggest to the person that I might know them, particularly when the email address I use to interact with people is different to the one I have given to facebook. If they do do that, then there is no reason why they wouldn't also do what is suggested in the OP!

I'm kind of losing the will to live on this, but here's an explanation of how the services you interact with can find out who you've sent emails to.

I don't interpret that to mean that if I contact someone by e mail, that facebook will use that to suggest to the person that I might know them

Why not? You know them well enough to write to them.

particularly when the email address I use to interact with people is different to the one I have given to facebook.

That's irrelevant. Your computer knows you emailed them; so does their computer and all the servers your mail passed through. About 1Mb of information about you is created every second. A large part of this feeds into massive databases, which can be analysed and cross-referenced. There's so much data on file now that only about 5% of it is ever analysed - but the point here is the cross-referencing.

On the OP's issue, I've said I wouldn't be surprised if a person's visits to your profile upweighted their potential as a 'friend' if there are already many other connections with them. But FB would be insane to suggest a person on that basis alone.

Garrick I didn't say that they can't get e mail addresses. I said that I don't think that they are doing it and then contacting the person that has been e mailed to see if they are someone I know. Firstly because that is something that really would put people off facebook (easy to never do a search for someone on facebook but much harder to never send an e mail), and secondly because if they did do that they would have asked my DH, parents and siblings if they know me by now. Thirdly, at the time the event happened to me (2006/07) I don't think that facebook were doing all the tracking that they currently do.

Why not? You know them well enough to write to them.

Not necessarily. For example, I might send someone an email using the work email address account and I wouldn't sign it with my name/ I wouldn't want facebook to pick up that email address and then ask the person if they know me.

That's irrelevant. Your computer knows you emailed them; so does their computer and all the servers your mail passed through. About 1Mb of information about you is created every second. A large part of this feeds into massive databases, which can be analysed and cross-referenced. There's so much data on file now that only about 5% of it is ever analysed - but the point here is the cross-referencing.

I appreciate that it is irrelevant to whether they pick up the e mail address. However it shouldn't be irrelevant as to whether they use the email address to contact the person and ask them if they know me.

On the OP's issue, I've said I wouldn't be surprised if a person's visits to your profile upweighted their potential as a 'friend' if there are already many other connections with them. But FB would be insane to suggest a person on that basis alone.

Whether or not it would be insane now, I don't think that it would have been insane in 2006/07 when it was very new. It was before the days of g mail and smart phones. I doubt that I had even sent this friend an e mail for many years. I had only met her DH a couple of times and he had always lived in another country. We have nothing in common apart from the fact that my friend and I were at university together in the 80s. There were no other connections facebook to pick up other than the fact that my friend had used her DH's account to search for me.

It's nonsense. Even if you did show up as "people they might know", there will be others so how will they know you were noseying at their profile? Oh yeah we all have a look at the ex, the ex's new gf and the other women we hate.

I'm only nitpicking here, but Facebook launched in 2004 and went universally available in 2006. Before that, people were using MySpace so the phenomenon is not new. I certainly had smartphones before then - I remember using one in hospital in 2003. They didn't do full internet browsing, but there was a thing called the mobile web that worked pretty well and all my phones did email (with cookies, I'm sure.)

Anyway: we've all shared the info about privacy & data collection that we feel is important; what various people choose to think of or do with that info's up to them.

I'm only nitpicking here, but Facebook launched in 2004 and went universally available in 2006.

I had certainly had access to facebook in 2006 (university) as did most of my friends. The vast majority of people I knew (probably all them) didn't have a smart phone until quite a bit later. I and my friend who lived abroad certainly didn't.
I agree what people choose to believe is up to them. If you are the sort of person who was using smart phones, e mailing people from your phone,surfing the web etc in 2006, you will probably never get the fact that some us didn't give facebook enough information to make connections to people on the other side of the world who we had very little contact with.

Except you clearly did give them enough information to link you, because they did link you.