Facebook Can Track Users' Browsing History

Social media giant Facebook can track users' web browsing history after they have logged off their accounts, the Guardian reports.

The information was made public after plaintiffs sued Facebook for allegedly using the "like" button found on other websites to track the sites they visited by installing cookies on users' browsers. A district judge in California tossed out the case because the plaintiffs failed to show they had a reasonable expectation of privacy, or that they suffered any "realistic" economic harm or loss.

"The fact that a user's web browser automatically sends the same information to both parties," meaning Facebook and an outside website, "does not establish that one party intercepted the user's communication with the other," U.S. District Judge Edward Davila Davila wrote.

Internet privacy has been a much-discussed issue since President Donald Trump signed a bill in April repealing rules passed last year under former President Barack Obama that would have given internet users greater control over what internet service providers can do with their data.

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