HOUSTON — After much criticism of its privacy rules, Facebook rolled out a new feature that allows you to manage the way the company tracks you. But a local attorney is trying to block the feature from rolling out.
“Facebook is Big Brother on steroids. They are watching almost everything that we are doing,” The High Tech Texan Michael Garfield said.
Facebook caught some heat a few years ago. They were tracking your every move. They do it through websites, apps and even places you visit in the real world.
“Every time you open up certain apps. Let’s just say you have a Ring video doorbell. They have a partnership with Amazon which owns Ring, every time you open that Ring app, Facebook can get that information and know you opened that app,” Garfield said.
But a new feature rolled out yesterday called “Off Facebook activity” lets you see not only what they are tracking but also helps you stop it.
Here’s how it works:
You can visit this link. Under there you can see the sites tracking you and an option to clear your history you can use that feature to stop tracking you in the future.
But according to a local attorney, the new privacy feature might violate a judge’s ruling.
In August, Houston attorney Annie McAdams asked a judge to block Facebook from rolling out the feature. She requested to see the activity of an alleged pimp in a human trafficking case but Facebook refused to hand it over. The attorney claims the feature would allow the alleged pimp to clear his history, destroying evidence.
Despite the legal filing, Facebook rolled out the feature anyway. Now, a Harris County Judge has ordered Facebook to take it down. And they still haven’t.
McAdams will file a contempt order. A ruling is expected in February.
We have contacted Facebook attorneys and have not heard back from them.