No Facebook! That's a bad Facebook!
May 30, 2011 10:54 PM Subscribe
Why/how did Facebook track what I searched on Google? And how do I stop it from happening again?
So in the course of regular interneting this weekend I searched for something on Google and it turned up an image from Google Images that matched what I was trying to find (totally innocent...a random storefront in my neighborhood). That's all well and good, but later that evening I start to look up something (completely unrelated) through Facebook's search box and after typing in a single letter, the first thing to pop up in the results is the website that hosted the image I found on Google. Needless to say, I was pretty freaked out and closed the tab in shock. But I still don't know how it happened. I have pretty secure privacy settings on Facebook/have the Facebook Disconnect Chrome extension (which apparently doesn't work...)/I don't click random "like"/"share on Facebook" links around the web. So how is it tracking me and how do I prevent it in the future?
So in the course of regular interneting this weekend I searched for something on Google and it turned up an image from Google Images that matched what I was trying to find (totally innocent...a random storefront in my neighborhood). That's all well and good, but later that evening I start to look up something (completely unrelated) through Facebook's search box and after typing in a single letter, the first thing to pop up in the results is the website that hosted the image I found on Google. Needless to say, I was pretty freaked out and closed the tab in shock. But I still don't know how it happened. I have pretty secure privacy settings on Facebook/have the Facebook Disconnect Chrome extension (which apparently doesn't work...)/I don't click random "like"/"share on Facebook" links around the web. So how is it tracking me and how do I prevent it in the future?
Are you sure this wasn't caused by your web browser's form autocompletion feature?
posted by RichardP at 11:58 PM on May 30, 2011 [8 favorites]
posted by RichardP at 11:58 PM on May 30, 2011 [8 favorites]
Autocomplete in your browser is my guess.
posted by dougrayrankin at 12:44 AM on May 31, 2011
posted by dougrayrankin at 12:44 AM on May 31, 2011
Ooookay, JSL.
OP: It's almost certainly, as others have said, your browser auto-completing the search form and not anything Facebook remembered or did. Are you using Firefox? You should be able to turn off autocomplete if you don't like it.
posted by Justinian at 1:58 AM on May 31, 2011
OP: It's almost certainly, as others have said, your browser auto-completing the search form and not anything Facebook remembered or did. Are you using Firefox? You should be able to turn off autocomplete if you don't like it.
posted by Justinian at 1:58 AM on May 31, 2011
Justinian, the OP seems to be using Chrome.
But yeah, this sounds like autocomplete. I have it happen in the weirdest places as well (no, thepiratebay, I would not like to use any of the searches I made on epicurious. Unless you have an amazing new feature?), so don't worry too much.
One possible way to test it, I think, is to try the same scenario on fbook while unplugged from the internet. Same thing should happen.
posted by Lemurrhea at 3:38 AM on May 31, 2011 [1 favorite]
But yeah, this sounds like autocomplete. I have it happen in the weirdest places as well (no, thepiratebay, I would not like to use any of the searches I made on epicurious. Unless you have an amazing new feature?), so don't worry too much.
One possible way to test it, I think, is to try the same scenario on fbook while unplugged from the internet. Same thing should happen.
posted by Lemurrhea at 3:38 AM on May 31, 2011 [1 favorite]
Going to agree with folks that it's an autocomplete thing. Sometimes those search fields save weird things. (Like that one that saved my frigging credit card number. Yeah, no.)
Make sure you clear your form/search history on a regular basis, is all I can think to suggest.
posted by Heretical at 4:39 AM on May 31, 2011
Make sure you clear your form/search history on a regular basis, is all I can think to suggest.
posted by Heretical at 4:39 AM on May 31, 2011
If you really hate this stuff, turn on Chrome's Incognito Mode. It won't save history, forms, or passwords.
posted by LogicalDash at 4:41 AM on May 31, 2011
posted by LogicalDash at 4:41 AM on May 31, 2011
this 'feature' is theoretically useful- lots of places call the field 'email' and being able to use autocomplete saves a lot of time.
'search' is probably another common name of a field. Betcha it works for other websites also.
If you got the exact same results actually following through with the search, I'd be mildly concerned. But yeah, most likely the autocomplete!
(what if you're logged into a different computer- betcha it isn't there.)
posted by titanium_geek at 5:01 AM on May 31, 2011
'search' is probably another common name of a field. Betcha it works for other websites also.
If you got the exact same results actually following through with the search, I'd be mildly concerned. But yeah, most likely the autocomplete!
(what if you're logged into a different computer- betcha it isn't there.)
posted by titanium_geek at 5:01 AM on May 31, 2011
no, thepiratebay, I would not like to use any of the searches I made on epicurious
You can't really blame the browser here. It's only going by what the sites choose to name the field. If two sites both happen to have name="q" on that field then the browser is going to attempt to autocomplete across them because that's all it's got to go on. This usually works out, as people tend to name fields common words relating to their function, like name="email" for a field where you're to enter an email address. But "search query" is very commonly shortened to just "q" or "search" or "query" and becomes quite generic.
posted by Rhomboid at 6:33 AM on May 31, 2011 [2 favorites]
You can't really blame the browser here. It's only going by what the sites choose to name the field. If two sites both happen to have name="q" on that field then the browser is going to attempt to autocomplete across them because that's all it's got to go on. This usually works out, as people tend to name fields common words relating to their function, like name="email" for a field where you're to enter an email address. But "search query" is very commonly shortened to just "q" or "search" or "query" and becomes quite generic.
posted by Rhomboid at 6:33 AM on May 31, 2011 [2 favorites]
I don't think this is browser autocomplete -- if I understand the question, this is Facebook pre-fetching search results as you type. Definitely not the same thing.
posted by statolith at 11:07 AM on May 31, 2011
posted by statolith at 11:07 AM on May 31, 2011
I was going to say autocomplete, too, but went to Facebook to check it out. My Facebook search box (in the blue bar at the top, to the right of the Facebook logo) only returns Facebook-specific results. They are sorted by categories like "People" "Pages" and "Places". Did your results show up under a similar heading? Can you replicate the issue? If it only happened once, I might be inclined to think you typed in your browser's search box instead, by accident. Happens to me all the time.
posted by donnagirl at 2:24 PM on May 31, 2011
posted by donnagirl at 2:24 PM on May 31, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by phunniemee at 11:02 PM on May 30, 2011