Isolating Facebook from other web activity

If you are a loyal Facebook user, but concerned about the sharing of your data, you might find this FireFox extension (Facebook Container). It works only with FireFox so it will not be helpful with Chrome, Safari, etc.

you will continue to be able to use Facebook normally. Facebook can continue to deliver their service to you and send you advertising. The difference is that it will be much harder for Facebook to use your activity collected off Facebook to send you ads and other targeted messages.

So, this addition will fix only some of the identity issues with Facebook. I understand the targeted ad business model. The idea is that you will find targeted ads more helpful than random ads. This makes sense, but it also means you are vulnerable to “being played” based on your values and circumstances. I am accepting of ads because I recognize that ads pay the bills and I am getting access to a free tech service for viewing ads (same as television, radio, etc.). I find the cross-site collection of my data a greater concern. Other activities I engage in are within Facebook’s need to know.

Installing this tool on FireFox will not provide complete protection, but I have always used multiple browsers in an effort to make tracking my behavior a little more challenging. This may seem naive, but I think it provides service providers an incomplete picture of my activity.

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