Suicide Hotlines Promise Anonymity. Dozens of Their Websites Send Sensitive Data to Facebook – The Markup
themarkup.org
The Markup found many sites tied to the national mental health crisis hotline transmitted information on visitors through the Meta Pixel
  • ryan@the.coolest.zone
    68·
    2 years ago

    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@beehaw.org
      36·
      2 years ago

      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@beehaw.org
        8·
        2 years ago

        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@beehaw.org
          14·
          2 years 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.

  • argv_minus_one@beehaw.orgEnglish
    59·
    2 years ago

    They also promise to help you, then send a squad of goons to your house to kidnap you and confine you indefinitely in a mental institution (read: torture chamber).

    Suicide prevention organizations have been inhumanly cruel for many years, so there’s nothing surprising about their cooperation with Facebook.

    • potpie@beehaw.orgEnglish
      19·
      2 years ago

      Given how modern suggestion algorithms seem to be poorly moderated, unregulated black boxes aimed at keeping users engaged on site above all else… I won’t be surprised if/when we learn that this has literally happened.

      • bagfatnick@kulupu.duckdns.orgEnglish
        15·
        2 years ago

        This reminds me on why I turned off personalised ads on Google many years ago.

        I work as a psychiatrist, and regularly have to search for literature surrounding the medications I prescribe (like antidepressants). After a few months of practice, Google started having ads that start with “if you’re depressed, have you tried… ?” Or the more click-baity “so-and-so have tried … and you won’t believe what happens next! ”

        It was funny the first few times, thinking that Google must have profiled me as depressed.

  • Storksforlegs@beehaw.orgEnglish
    30·
    2 years ago

    It sounds like the organization might not have been aware that this fundraising tool was doing this, that’s even worse. They think they’re providing a service to people and raising money meanwhile the people they’re helping are unwittingly being tracked - who knows how this information could be misused by insurers/employers/etc etc.

    I wonder what recourse the organizations could take? A lawsuit? Going to the media?

    • alyaza [they/she]@beehaw.orgOPMEnglish
      15·
      2 years ago

      I wonder what recourse the organizations could take? A lawsuit? Going to the media?

      it seems very unlikely, at face, that they’d have legal standing to sue here (for a variety of reasons but the biggest one is probably lack of a law being violated due to US privacy law being so poor) so probably bad PR at most to be honest

  • StrayCatFrump@beehaw.orgEnglish
    17·
    2 years ago

    I appreciate that the only JS scripts Beehaw seems to load are from beehaw.org. Usually NoScript shows like two full pages of domains, and (at least—you know, the obvious ones like xyzads4you.com) half of them are for ads and “analytics”.

    • brie@beehaw.orgEnglish
      22·
      2 years ago

      JS is first-party only, but as a PSA, Lemmy does not proxy images, so for someone could use ![](https://example.com/tracker.png), and loading the comment will contact example.com.

  • RiikkaTheIcePrincess@kbin.social
    15·
    2 years ago

    Oh, I read that headline and growled out loud. Yet another reason not to trust those places nor expect anything good out of them. Maybe they’ll call the cops, maybe they’ll just call Facebook. Maybe they didn’t mean to, maybe it doesn’t matter. sigh

  • webghost0101@lemmy.fmhy.mlEnglish
    9·
    2 years ago

    Wauw seemed like they really looking out for their users from the bottom of their hearth. Did they use that info to provide daily motivational messages or changed the personal algorithm to push less content that causes negative emptions… Or did they figure out its yet another demographic that can get triggered into an action/purchase from a wel designed ad?

    • GraceGH@beehaw.orgEnglish
      11·
      2 years ago

      In some of my worse moments, Amazon has genuinely recommended me a “these things bought together” purchase of a tank of helium, a plastic tube, and a tank regulator. Corporations will do literally anything for money.