article_snippet: Facebook is 'illegally' tracking people’s internet searches across the web, even if people do not have an account with the social network.
article_snippet: and with 1.3bn users, is placing tracking cookies on computers without the user's consent .
article_snippet: A new report from the University of Leuven and a Brussels university claims that Facebook is tracking internet users in Europe for two years even if Facebook have expressly opted out.
article_snippet: A new report from the University of Leuven and a Brussels university say Facebook is putting tracking cookies on internet users' laptops, PCs and phones when the visit facebook.com - so
article_snippet: This includes anyone clicking on a fan page or other pages still available without a login, or even when Facebook visit some of the 13million pages with a Facebook module on it and do not click on it.
article_snippet: And the problem only becomes worse if Facebook try to protect Facebook privacy online, by ‘opting out’ of allowing web companies to track web companies.
article_snippet: However, researchers said today that Facebook takes the request to ‘opt out’ of online tracking as a cue to plant an extra cookie on people
article_snippet: People who visit Facebook without signing in or one of 13million external pages with a 'like' module are allegedly automatically tracked - even if People who visit Facebook without signing in or one of 13million external pages with a 'like' module expressly opt-out .
article_snippet: Facebook cannot rely on users' inaction - not opting out -  to infer consent.
article_snippet: As far as non-users are concerned, Facebook really has no legal basis whatsoever to justify Facebook current tracking practices.'
article_snippet: Co-author Günes Acar said: 'If people who are not being tracked by Facebook use the 'opt out' mechanism proposed for the EU, Facebook places a long-term, uniquely identifying cookie, which can be used to track Facebook for the next two years.'
article_snippet: ‘If you take measures to protect your privacy from Facebook, you are actually going to be followed more on the internet,’ said Rob Heyman, another of the authors of The report.
article_snippet: It is both staggering and disappointing that Facebook feels the need to track non-Facebook users, people who don’t want to interact with the social platform,’ said Renate Samson, chief executive of the lobby group Big Brother Watch.
article_snippet: If a Facebook user opts out, Facebook promises to stop collecting or using browsing information for the purpose of showing ads.
highlights_snippet: Claims users who visit facebook.com, even without signing in, are tracked .
  
highlights_snippet: Others who opt-out in Facebook's privacy settings traced for next 2 years .
  