Yes, LinkedIn is another offender that I'm sure also does this, even more aggressively than Facebook. They blatantly try to download your contact list by directly asking your email password to build shadow profiles and propose new contacts.
And I guess WhatsApp probably also used the same practice to grow their network, using contact lists extracted from phones.
As I understand it, these practices are simply illegal in the EU and always were. Regrettably, the billions that were made this way (mostly by US companies) will probably never be returned.
I think the idea of a shadow account is that you build the information on the person (from disparate data points, like phone contacts) and their connections. Then when they sign up they are presented with a list of people that have them in their contacts. From a UX perspective it can be nice but I can definitely see the privacy concerns.
No, in the "share on Google+" buttons and in "login with Google" buttons, and with captchas, and who knows what else. There are dozens of companies tracking your every move, Google is just one example.
Adsense "users" (website visitors), Google Analytics "users" (website visitors), etc, etc. Its a deep rabbit hole. Imagine a world where Google can't store all of this data.
I was referring to Google collecting non-user data as a practice and strategy. What would it mean to them if they were blocked (legislatively) from doing so?
Are you concerned that they are being unfairly partial by not charging at all the actors at once, or do you feel that addressing Facebook separately is futile for pragmatic reasons?
And I guess WhatsApp probably also used the same practice to grow their network, using contact lists extracted from phones.
As I understand it, these practices are simply illegal in the EU and always were. Regrettably, the billions that were made this way (mostly by US companies) will probably never be returned.