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Suicide Hotlines Promise Anonymity. Dozens of Their Websites Send Sensitive Data to Facebook (themarkup.org)

submitted 2 years ago by alyaza to c/technology

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[–] ryan@the.coolest.zone 68 points 2 years ago (2 children)

It looks like the important part is here:

After publication, Maca Ferguson, a spokesperson for Volunteers of America Western Washington, said the pixel was used for fundraising efforts and “not intended to collect personally identifiable information for purposes of tracking or transmitting this data back to Meta, its subsidiaries, or any third party for any reason” and that any data was sent “without our knowledge or consent.” Ferguson told The Markup the organization has since removed the pixel.

It's possible these crisis websites were using Facebook for fundraising efforts without reading the fine print of what adding a "click here to go to Facebook and donate" actually captures. It's part of what makes these integrations with large social media corporations so insidious.

[–] StrayCatFrump 37 points 2 years ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Out of 33 of these crisis center websites they looked at:

In follow-up tests, four organizations appeared to have completely removed the code. The majority of the centers we contacted did not respond to requests for comment.

Ignorance may have been an excuse prior to this investigation, but it's not an excuse now.

[–] interolivary 8 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

Sure it is; an investigation doesn't really mean anything to them, they can just go on as they have before. Not sure if there'll be any legal repercussions?

[–] StrayCatFrump 14 points 2 years ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

All right. Well, let me rephrase: it's not a meaningful excuse which we should buy as justification for gross undermining of our privacy and our trust in organizations which allegedly exist to help us when we are in crisis.

[–] melmi@lemmy.blahaj.zone 10 points 2 years ago

"Whoops!"