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Hi Mark,

We’re improving ads based on apps and sites you use, and giving you more control. Learn more.

Thanks,

The Facebook Team

Hi Facebook Team,

Thanks for the heads up. I understand people tell you the one thing they want from Facebook is more personalized advertising. Really? No longer offering advertisers what I do in the Facebook universe (like the pages I “like”),  you plan to track the full range of my banal surfing and open its treasures to the eyes of commercial algorithms.

At the same time, you are giving me more control over the ads I see on Facebook, right?

And I can also opt out.

But you refuse to honor the “do not track” setting on browsers.

On a personal level, I confess it does not feel like I have more control. I feel like you are collecting, analyzing, slicing, dicing and otherwise selling more of me and my data than ever. Am I wrong?

Please note the irony Mr. Z.  At the same time you are putting up new walls around your new home (to protect your privacy I assume), while your company mines deeper into me (and a billion or so more data farms like me), selling off what it finds.

(I would analogize your activities to previous eras of grave robbing in Northern California, but my Editor does not approve of taking cheap shots.)

Just so you know, I’ve already opted out, and in doing so I found other ways to limit my exposure to being targeted and tracked by Facebook. Oh happy day!

Thanks,

Mark

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Mark Rabine has lived in the Mission for over 40 years. "What a long strange trip it's been." He has maintained our Covid tracker through most of the pandemic, taking some breaks with his search for the Mission's best fried-chicken sandwich and now its best noodles. When the Warriors make the playoffs, he writes up his take on the games.

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2 Comments

  1. It still cracks me up that people are astounded to find out social media is using their data for marketing purposes. (It’s even funnier when they take to social media to complain.)
    Mission Resident is right, if you think $9 is too much for a sandwich then don’t buy it, but don’t haggle in the line at Bi Rite. If you don’t want to give up your privacy online, don’t use Facebook, but you just look silly when you complain about how they earn their money.

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  2. If you are paying to use a website, you are purchasing the products being sold. If you are using a website for free, you are the one being sold.

    By using Facebook, you are choosing to give up your personal information. The great thing is that it is a choice. You can always cancel your account if you don’t like what they are doing.

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