With the MyFaceSpaceBook [1] “Like” button [2] appearing all over the web, I realized that the intent wasn't just to indicate that I liked a page, but to track my web browsing habits. And it didn't matter if I was logged in or not, because any reference to MyFaceSpaceBook involved browser cookies [3] and the sites I viewed when logged out of MyFaceSpaceBook could be reconciled with me when I logged back in.
So I started deleting any cookies dealing anything with MySpaceFaceBook before logging into the site, and again deleting them after logging out and closing the tab (that last step was important because I found out that MySpaceFaceBook captured the “tab-close” event and set a cookie).
It suddenly struck me the other day though, that I have a static IP (Internet Protocol) address and that it doesn't matter if I delete the cookies or not, because MySpaceFaceBook could still reconcile any cookies sent to my IP address since it never changes.
Sigh.
No, not only do they know I visit Cracked (I never did care for Cracked the magazine, preferring Mad the magazine [4], but Cracked [5] the website is miles ahead of Mad [6] the website) but also Justin Bieber [7] (not to be confused with Justin Beaver [8]).
Um … that last site … with Justin Bieber … that's just to throw the MySpaceFaceBook tracking off.
No, really!
Ahem.
Anyway …
So, what's the point in trying to scrub cookies with MyFaceSpaceBook had me pretty much pegged by my IP anyway? Even if I didn't have a static IP address, it still wouldn't be that much of a shield, given that The Monopolistic Phone Company™ probably uses a small pool of addresses for my area anyway, and what with IP address geolocation [9], that would still give marketers valuable demographic information about my web viewing habits [10].
[2] http://developers.facebook.com/docs/plugins/
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_cookie
[4] http://www.magmagazine.com/
[6] http://www.madmagazine.com/
[7] http://www.justinbiebermusic.com/
[8] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justin_Bieber
[9] http://www.ip2location.com/
[10] http://www.ehow.com/how_2070267_paint-velvet-elvis.html