Backblaze on the back foot after 'inadvertently' beaming customer data to Facebook
- Reference: 1616503883
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/03/23/backblaze_facebook_tracker/
- Source link:
The problem was spotted by Blackblaze customer Ben Cox who [1]protested on Twitter: "WTF? @backblaze's B2 web UI seems to submit all of the names and sizes of my files in my B2 bucket to facebook. I noticed because I saw 'waiting for facebook.com' at the bottom while trying to download a backup."
[2]
B2 is the Backblaze cloud storage service.
The company responded with a [3]blog post that stated: "On March 8, 2021 at 8:39pm Pacific time, a new Facebook campaign was created that started firing a Facebook advertising pixel, intended to only run on marketing web pages. However, it was inadvertently configured to run on signed-in pages."
[4]
The company added that it uses Google Tag Manager to "help deploy key third-party code in a streamlined fashion." According to the post, "we removed the offending code from the signed-in pages on March 21, 2021 at 11:19pm Pacific time."
But what did you send them?
The Backblaze explanation does not fully address user concerns. A key question is exactly what data was transmitted to Facebook. The term "advertising pixel" suggests a simple request to insert an invisible graphic file on a web page, for the purpose of tracking the page view, but the amount of data sent in such a request can be extensive, since the script has access to the entire contents of the page.
A Facebook [5]developer page explains that by default "the Facebook pixel will send button click and page metadata (such as data structured according to Opengraph or Schema.org formats) from your website to improve your ads delivery and measurement and automate your pixel setup."
Cox originally stated that "all the names and sizes of my files" were included in the data sent to Facebook by its script. The Backblaze post made no mention of this, but presuming the names of files were included, this is a more serious breach of privacy than simply tracking use of the service.
There was also an expectation on the part of users that when signed into a paid-for backup service that their interaction with the application would be private. The presence of Google Tag Manager code, which injects third-party code into a web page, potentially undermines that hope even if configured to do nothing. It is not clear from the Backblaze post whether Google Tag Manager has been removed from signed-in pages, or merely reconfigured.
This kind of problem may be more hidden in future. From the user's perspective, an advantage of client-side tracking is that it can be blocked. Google notes in its [6]developer guidance for Tag Manager that "server-side tagging allows you to move tag instrumentation off of your website or app and into the cloud." Server side tracking, whether or not "inadvertent", is invisible to users and therefore less likely to be spotted.
[7]
We have asked Backblaze for more details of exactly what kind of data was inadvertently transmitted to Facebook. ®
Get our [8]Tech Resources
[1] https://twitter.com/Benjojo12/status/1373707799054712836
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/storage&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YFoeqrZcX40yMqrqCRB4DwAAAEs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://www.backblaze.com/blog/privacy-update-third-party-tracking/
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/storage&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YFoeqrZcX40yMqrqCRB4DwAAAEs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://developers.facebook.com/docs/facebook-pixel/advanced#automatic-configuration
[6] https://developers.google.com/tag-manager/
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/storage&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YFoeqrZcX40yMqrqCRB4DwAAAEs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: No customer dashboard should ever fire off a connection to Facebook, Google, or any 3rd party
But, you have to understand... Facebook, Google and any 3rd party need to make money too. The customer is here to provide for Facebook, Google and any 3rd party. How else can we redistribute wealth properly? Facebook, Google and any 3rd party are here to pay taxes for our communities and strengthen the local bonds in our social environment. Please do not forget that.
/s
Re: No customer dashboard should ever fire off a connection to Facebook, Google, or any 3rd party
Patient Access is another culprit that invites the likes of Google somewhere it really shouldn't be. I haven't spent any time seeing how intrusive it is but the frequent appearance of the "select all crosswalks" menace is enough of a worry IMHO.
Well, that and having to add so much of it's annoying spam to uBlock. Patient Access a dreadful, shoddy piece of crap even without all the intrusive annoyances and I wish I had the option to use something else. :|
Such an overzealous web team
"However, it was inadvertently configured to run detected while running on signed-in pages"
Here, fixed it for you.
There is no small profit, and no matter if you pay or not, you're the product.
So tiered
Of these shits getting away with this crap.
Re: So tiered
Preach brother
Blocked
At least you know now why Google tag manager and Facebook scripts should always be blocked.
Re: Blocked
Facebook domains, meet hosts file. Hosts file, meet Facebook domains.
These BS practices are more common than you think, and its not just the search engines and social media companies, pretty much all software houses are doing this BS
What is it with these creepy tech companies, always wanting to fucking spy on you, its just creepy AF
STOP IT!
It's because they are not really Tech companies. They are Marketing companies.
Marketing people think they have a right to extract all and any information about you.
"it was inadvertently configured to run on signed-in pages."
Inadvertently? How does anyone who's paying any attention at all include a tracker on a web page "inadvertently"?
Either there's some flummery here or, more likely, they're employing utter morons as web developers.
Re: "it was inadvertently configured to run on signed-in pages."
... perhaps, at best, and with more "benefit of the doubt" than they deserve: s/inadvertently/unthinkingly/
Keep the bastards out
Paid for services should run from a domain that is entirely separate from the company's main marketing site, and should not include anything from other domains.
"what kind of data was inadvertently transmitted to Facebook."
Inadvertently? Negligently might be closer.
No customer dashboard should ever fire off a connection to Facebook, Google, or any 3rd party
And that goes especially for banks which seem not to understand this simple concept.