6 ms·

Facebook Disconnect - chrome extension to disable Facebook tracking

99 points by squarepeg 16y ago

charlief 16y ago
Related post from a few months ago http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1810644 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1810644
thirsteh 16y ago
There's a more general addon which detects and disables tracking called Ghostery: http://www.ghostery.com/ http://www.ghostery.com/
- JonnieCache 16y ago
  I'm a fan of WidgetBlock, a chrome extension that simply blocks all major offsite social networking widgets, whether its facebook like buttons, tweet this buttons, the facebook connect thing, etc. It's stated reason for doing this is to improve page load times, which it certainly does, but it does just as well to protect your privacy. https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/hgiihiookhijpbhaflohognbhmamdnol https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/hgiihiookhijpbha... EDIT: It appears to work nicely in tandem with this ghostery thing.
  - greyman 16y ago
    But wouldn't it also remove Facebook commenting system from the page? Because that's usually what I don't want.
- izendejas 16y ago
  And another one: http://bynamite.com/ http://bynamite.com/ I'm all for a transparency and control, but this has to be more effortless--a side-effect of something users would be happy to do anyway--especially for the average user if it is to be successful. I believe a social media aggregator can position themselves to do this. Facebook knows certain things about me, Twitter others, Google others, etc. What I surf online isn't always indicative of my true interests.
- mrspeaker 16y ago
  Hmmm... it would be good to know how all these compare - I'm running disconnect: http://www.disconnectere.com/ http://www.disconnectere.com/ and ghostery. Now someone is suggesting WidgetBlock. To me Ghostery seems to block more than disconnect - but I don't know how they work "under the hood". It seems silly to run 3 or 4 separate plugins for the same purpose!
- maigret 16y ago
  Right, and Ghostery detects and blocks FB connect, as well as Google Analytics, AdSense and many other services. Very useful extension. Could be more intuitive though, it took me a few minutes to get the blocking right.
- slvrspoon 16y ago
  to make a bigger comparison table: http://abine.com/apps.php http://abine.com/apps.php https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/11073/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/11073/
tuhin 16y ago
The fact that one needs a plugin to do this says a lot about the "Facebook" way of social networking. Why not put it as an option in my maze on the settings page?
- squarepeg 16y ago
  I agree, though to be fair, facebook isn't the only site where third parties have tried to fix privacy issues. I read once that you know you've really made it when an eco-system grows around your product or service. The same can be said here: you know your product or service sucks if unpaid developers feel compelled to try and fix it.
drtse4 16y ago
From the same author (@byoogle) there is also a more generic Disconnect, that blocks Google,Twitter,Digg,Yahoo! too. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/jeoacafpbcihiomhlakheieifhpjdfeo https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/jeoacafpbcihiomhla... A bit aggressive imho, with the google block enabled you can't even login to google.
- mckoss 16y ago
  Be careful. Disconnect also ends up blocking core services, like Google Channel API, used by some App Engine apps (this took me hours to figure out why my site was broken in Chrome).
pestaa 16y ago
There's a lot going on to block Facebook these days. I'm not happy with it either, but can somebody please give me an insight why so many people are pissed of it right now?
- tallanvor 16y ago
  http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2299975 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2299975 That says a lot right away.
- electromagnetic 16y ago
  I have an online and an offline life. FB is associated with my offline life, my real life. I don't want what I do online associated with my real life, and being forced to sign up through facebook before I've even tested what you're trying to sell me is a real no-no. As I said elsewhere. The day I'm forced to authenticate through Facebook is the day there'll be a pseudonym account set up for me.
- pilif 16y ago
  right now it's the commenting system. Before that it was general backlash and before that it was the like-button-everywhere shitstorm that also spawned diaspora. Don't worry. In at most one month's time nobody will remember this and Facebook will be awesome again. Until it's time again to fish for pageviews at which point another flaming article will be published somewhere and everyone will repost it in their own words in order to get pageviews. You can't expect consistency in a society with a cumulative attention span of about a week.
  - squarepeg 16y ago
    > Don't worry. In at most one month's time nobody will remember this and Facebook will be awesome again. Facebook stopped being awesome a long time ago. I doubt it ever will be again. You're making it out to be a victim of some kind and it's not. If facebook didn't repeatedly abuse its users' trust and privacy, there'd be no backlash. There'd be no 'flaming' articles and no shitstorms. > Until it's time again to fish for pageviews at which point another flaming article will be published somewhere and everyone will repost it in their own words in order to get pageviews. Perhaps so, but the extension isn't a result of a flaming article. It has over 100,000 users and 4000+ weekly installs.
pieter 16y ago
Anyone know of these kind of extensions for Safari?
- bl4k 16y ago
  http://www.disconnectere.com/ http://www.disconnectere.com/
msy 16y ago
For those on OSX Glimmer Blocker ( http://glimmerblocker.org/ http://glimmerblocker.org/ ) provides really nice OS-wide ad blocking and there's a custom ruleset that blocks all the facebook widgets with click-to-enable at http://visuao.net/facebook/glimmer.xml http://visuao.net/facebook/glimmer.xml
- mwg66 16y ago
  Great recommendation.
- karteek 16y ago
  I use to use Proxomitron (http://www.proxomitron.info/ http://www.proxomitron.info/) on windows. Thanks for this.
dc2k08 16y ago
So this is just a version of Disconnect that only blocks facebook? Does Disconnet do all this anyway? I discovered at the weekend that Disconnect blocks results on a Google custom search I made where analytics is running also. Seems a little overzealous.
- bl4k 16y ago
  this is what he wrote prior to Disconnect. if you have the later, it does Facebook and other sites
pointillistic 16y ago
'Keep My Opt-Outs' is the same one by Google, no? https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/hhnjdplhmcnkiecampfdgfjilccfpfoe# https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/hhnjdplhmcnkieca...
rahooligan 16y ago
I came. I saw. I installed.
- shimi 16y ago
  Amen Brother!
madelfio 16y ago
Can someone compare this to the "disable 3rd-party cookies" approach?
goombastic 16y ago
So much of public messaging around privacy seems to make light of people's concerns around it. I believe this is deliberate social conditioning. Some of your friends end up picking up on the verbiage and soon you are surrounded. "Awww come on, it's harmless." Never give out enough information for someone to clone you online.
lean 16y ago
Word to the wise, this was preventing any ReCaptcha's from appearing (for me). Great ext otherwise.
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
unicornporn 16y ago
I just run Facebook in a separate browser (Opera) to isolate the session. Yes, I'm that crazy. I tried Multifox ( http://br.mozdev.org/multifox/ http://br.mozdev.org/multifox/ ), but for some reason I concluded it wasn't a good solution. Can't remember why though.
- gigawatt 16y ago
  I do the same thing for bank accounts and such — I only use a clean install of opera, and that's all I use it for.
u48998 16y ago
Just keep yourself logged-off when not using Facebook, or use Facebook when not using any other website.
kmfrk 16y ago
This only pertains to ads and malware, but I use Ad Muncher on Windows, which is a paid program (with a month-long trial). I use it, because I can't be bothered to set up countermeasures, every time I use a new installation. And it works in all browsers (obviously) - and outside browsers. Cons: * Whitelisting is a hassle: I still haven't figured it out, which means that good ad networks like Yoggrt, Fusion Ads, and Deck Network are blocked. * Blacklisting is also a hassle. You'd think they would support a widget filter - or a good import feature, but alas. It's the best desktop client I know, though. http://admuncher.com http://admuncher.com.
jjossarin 16y ago
For Firefox users: Similar functionality can be achieved in Firefox using one of its settings. From the privacy tab of the Preferences Dialog (Options in Windows), choose "custom setting for History" and disable third-party cookies. Another method is to use an addon called Facebook Blocker: http://webgraph.com/resources/facebookblocker/ http://webgraph.com/resources/facebookblocker/ (haven't tested). Some other methods are suggested here: http://superuser.com/questions/220696/how-can-i-block-all-facebook-elements-content http://superuser.com/questions/220696/how-can-i-block-all-fa...

99 points by squarepeg 16y ago

Related post from a few months ago http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1810644 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1810644

thirsteh 16y ago

There's a more general addon which detects and disables tracking called Ghostery: http://www.ghostery.com/ http://www.ghostery.com/

JonnieCache 16y ago
I'm a fan of WidgetBlock, a chrome extension that simply blocks all major offsite social networking widgets, whether its facebook like buttons, tweet this buttons, the facebook connect thing, etc. It's stated reason for doing this is to improve page load times, which it certainly does, but it does just as well to protect your privacy. https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/hgiihiookhijpbhaflohognbhmamdnol https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/hgiihiookhijpbha... EDIT: It appears to work nicely in tandem with this ghostery thing.
- greyman 16y ago
  But wouldn't it also remove Facebook commenting system from the page? Because that's usually what I don't want.
izendejas 16y ago
And another one: http://bynamite.com/ http://bynamite.com/ I'm all for a transparency and control, but this has to be more effortless--a side-effect of something users would be happy to do anyway--especially for the average user if it is to be successful. I believe a social media aggregator can position themselves to do this. Facebook knows certain things about me, Twitter others, Google others, etc. What I surf online isn't always indicative of my true interests.
mrspeaker 16y ago
Hmmm... it would be good to know how all these compare - I'm running disconnect: http://www.disconnectere.com/ http://www.disconnectere.com/ and ghostery. Now someone is suggesting WidgetBlock. To me Ghostery seems to block more than disconnect - but I don't know how they work "under the hood". It seems silly to run 3 or 4 separate plugins for the same purpose!
maigret 16y ago
Right, and Ghostery detects and blocks FB connect, as well as Google Analytics, AdSense and many other services. Very useful extension. Could be more intuitive though, it took me a few minutes to get the blocking right.
slvrspoon 16y ago
to make a bigger comparison table: http://abine.com/apps.php http://abine.com/apps.php https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/11073/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/11073/

tuhin 16y ago

The fact that one needs a plugin to do this says a lot about the "Facebook" way of social networking. Why not put it as an option in my maze on the settings page?

squarepeg 16y ago
I agree, though to be fair, facebook isn't the only site where third parties have tried to fix privacy issues. I read once that you know you've really made it when an eco-system grows around your product or service. The same can be said here: you know your product or service sucks if unpaid developers feel compelled to try and fix it.

drtse4 16y ago

From the same author (@byoogle) there is also a more generic Disconnect, that blocks Google,Twitter,Digg,Yahoo! too. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/jeoacafpbcihiomhlakheieifhpjdfeo https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/jeoacafpbcihiomhla... A bit aggressive imho, with the google block enabled you can't even login to google.

mckoss 16y ago
Be careful. Disconnect also ends up blocking core services, like Google Channel API, used by some App Engine apps (this took me hours to figure out why my site was broken in Chrome).

pestaa 16y ago

There's a lot going on to block Facebook these days. I'm not happy with it either, but can somebody please give me an insight why so many people are pissed of it right now?

tallanvor 16y ago
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2299975 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2299975 That says a lot right away.
electromagnetic 16y ago
I have an online and an offline life. FB is associated with my offline life, my real life. I don't want what I do online associated with my real life, and being forced to sign up through facebook before I've even tested what you're trying to sell me is a real no-no. As I said elsewhere. The day I'm forced to authenticate through Facebook is the day there'll be a pseudonym account set up for me.
pilif 16y ago
right now it's the commenting system. Before that it was general backlash and before that it was the like-button-everywhere shitstorm that also spawned diaspora. Don't worry. In at most one month's time nobody will remember this and Facebook will be awesome again. Until it's time again to fish for pageviews at which point another flaming article will be published somewhere and everyone will repost it in their own words in order to get pageviews. You can't expect consistency in a society with a cumulative attention span of about a week.
- squarepeg 16y ago
  > Don't worry. In at most one month's time nobody will remember this and Facebook will be awesome again. Facebook stopped being awesome a long time ago. I doubt it ever will be again. You're making it out to be a victim of some kind and it's not. If facebook didn't repeatedly abuse its users' trust and privacy, there'd be no backlash. There'd be no 'flaming' articles and no shitstorms. > Until it's time again to fish for pageviews at which point another flaming article will be published somewhere and everyone will repost it in their own words in order to get pageviews. Perhaps so, but the extension isn't a result of a flaming article. It has over 100,000 users and 4000+ weekly installs.

pieter 16y ago

Anyone know of these kind of extensions for Safari?

bl4k 16y ago
http://www.disconnectere.com/ http://www.disconnectere.com/

msy 16y ago

For those on OSX Glimmer Blocker ( http://glimmerblocker.org/ http://glimmerblocker.org/ ) provides really nice OS-wide ad blocking and there's a custom ruleset that blocks all the facebook widgets with click-to-enable at http://visuao.net/facebook/glimmer.xml http://visuao.net/facebook/glimmer.xml

mwg66 16y ago
Great recommendation.
karteek 16y ago
I use to use Proxomitron (http://www.proxomitron.info/ http://www.proxomitron.info/) on windows. Thanks for this.

dc2k08 16y ago

So this is just a version of Disconnect that only blocks facebook? Does Disconnet do all this anyway? I discovered at the weekend that Disconnect blocks results on a Google custom search I made where analytics is running also. Seems a little overzealous.

bl4k 16y ago
this is what he wrote prior to Disconnect. if you have the later, it does Facebook and other sites

pointillistic 16y ago

'Keep My Opt-Outs' is the same one by Google, no? https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/hhnjdplhmcnkiecampfdgfjilccfpfoe# https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/hhnjdplhmcnkieca...

rahooligan 16y ago

I came. I saw. I installed.

shimi 16y ago
Amen Brother!

madelfio 16y ago

Can someone compare this to the "disable 3rd-party cookies" approach?

goombastic 16y ago

So much of public messaging around privacy seems to make light of people's concerns around it. I believe this is deliberate social conditioning. Some of your friends end up picking up on the verbiage and soon you are surrounded. "Awww come on, it's harmless." Never give out enough information for someone to clone you online.

lean 16y ago

Word to the wise, this was preventing any ReCaptcha's from appearing (for me). Great ext otherwise.

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

unicornporn 16y ago

I just run Facebook in a separate browser (Opera) to isolate the session. Yes, I'm that crazy. I tried Multifox ( http://br.mozdev.org/multifox/ http://br.mozdev.org/multifox/ ), but for some reason I concluded it wasn't a good solution. Can't remember why though.

gigawatt 16y ago
I do the same thing for bank accounts and such — I only use a clean install of opera, and that's all I use it for.

u48998 16y ago

Just keep yourself logged-off when not using Facebook, or use Facebook when not using any other website.

kmfrk 16y ago

This only pertains to ads and malware, but I use Ad Muncher on Windows, which is a paid program (with a month-long trial). I use it, because I can't be bothered to set up countermeasures, every time I use a new installation. And it works in all browsers (obviously) - and outside browsers. Cons: * Whitelisting is a hassle: I still haven't figured it out, which means that good ad networks like Yoggrt, Fusion Ads, and Deck Network are blocked. * Blacklisting is also a hassle. You'd think they would support a widget filter - or a good import feature, but alas. It's the best desktop client I know, though. http://admuncher.com http://admuncher.com.

jjossarin 16y ago

For Firefox users: Similar functionality can be achieved in Firefox using one of its settings. From the privacy tab of the Preferences Dialog (Options in Windows), choose "custom setting for History" and disable third-party cookies. Another method is to use an addon called Facebook Blocker: http://webgraph.com/resources/facebookblocker/ http://webgraph.com/resources/facebookblocker/ (haven't tested). Some other methods are suggested here: http://superuser.com/questions/220696/how-can-i-block-all-facebook-elements-content http://superuser.com/questions/220696/how-can-i-block-all-fa...