Thames Water Website keeps trying to connect to Facebook!

[Zak33]

Every button I click on https://my.thameswater.co.uk now that I'm logged in... the site tried to connect to Facebook before sending me to the place I want to go

Water Meter Reading "Sending Request to Facebook.com"
Update my phone number "Sending Request to Facebook.com"

I don't use Facebook so the page takes an eternity to loadwhile it polls Facebook try to connect.

What on EARTH have FB got to do with my water bill?

Sod all... thats what

If any one you have a Thames Water account, try it.. watch the bottom left of your screen.. see if you get the same

I detest this.

[Saracen999]

Makes you wonder what might have happened if you did have an FB account, doesn't it?

Or what other information might be passed to other companies/organisations, without your approval .... or knowledge?

Maybe this is just a coding cockup. Maybe.

Or maybe not.

I have an excellent design for a tinfoil hat if you're interested.

[blueball]

Have a wade through this, doesn't seem to offer any option to opt out. GDPR Compliant?

https://www.thameswater.co.uk/legal/privacy

[Zak33]

I've fired them an online question.

Auto reply say I may have to wait 10 days for a reply.

I understood the Google Analytics message.. I dislike it but I grap that.

But Facebook....one of the worst online experiences in the world... bar none... why on earth would a wather company want to share any traffic?

[spacein_vader]

Have a wade through this, doesn't seem to offer any option to opt out. GDPR Compliant?

https://www.thameswater.co.uk/legal/privacy

Depending on what they're using Facebook for they might not need one. If it's ad targeting for example it's already opt in as Zak hasn't got a Facebook account it can't give him ads related to it.

I've fired them an online question.

Auto reply say I may have to wait 10 days for a reply.

I understood the Google Analytics message.. I dislike it but I grap that.

But Facebook....one of the worst online experiences in the world... bar none... why on earth would a wather company want to share any traffic?

I'd be interested to see their response. It could be lazy ads or telemetry or something more nefarious.

[g8ina]

I dislike it but I grap that

Grap ?? Wassat mean ? Or did you mean grok ?

[peterb]

Grasp?

[ik9000]

Grasp?

it's what you get when you combine grass with a wasp to form a super-camouflaged foot stinger.

[Zak33]

ok..I'm sorry.. was typing like a total noob

[scaryjim]

You're worried about the facebook one, but not the twitter, google, decibelinsights, wisepops, alexametrics etc... ones?

It looks like they load a couple of plugins that connect back to their own facebook account. It's not unusual - a lot of places will have social media feeds on their front page so they can make announcements in one place and have them replicate across multiple platforms. So if there's a supply problem, you post about it on facebook and it automatically pops up on your website.

I mean, sure, it could be doing something nefarious there. So could every web page in existence. Or it could just be using a convenient plug in. it could even literally just be directing your web browser to facebook for a logo* - lord know I have pages that hot link the facebook logo from an official source.

Not everything online is out to get you, you know



* EDIT: it's not, incidentally. It's pulling a couple of short javascripts to load some plugins. But it could...

[Ttaskmaster]

Every button I click on https://my.thameswater.co.uk now that I'm logged in... the site tried to connect to Facebook before sending me to the place I want to go

Mine doesn't, regardless of whether I'm logged in or not...

I do know Thames and other water companies have started using social media in a big way, as it's easier to make announcements, hear of problems, profile the data and count of problems to facilitate better tracing, and stuff like that. It works far faster than most in-house data-call-centre type programs and is automatically centralised.

All about embracing the future, and so on....

[AGTDenton]

My advice, use an ad blocker addon or browser that also blocks social media nonsense.
Secondly in your router and hosts file (windows), block facebook.com/.net etc (and any others you despise).

Ironically this has just hit the news:

Zuckerberg outlines plan for 'privacy-focused' Facebook
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-47477677
Facebook: What's in Mark Zuckerberg's privacy plan?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-47482137

[spacein_vader]

My advice, use an ad blocker addon or browser that also blocks social media nonsense.
Secondly in your router and hosts file (windows), block facebook.com/.net etc (and any others you despise).

Ironically this has just hit the news:

Pihole is your friend.

[Saracen999]

Well, if Zuck is sincere and puts his money and platfirm where his mouth is, then even I could concievably end up using it. But it will have to be utterly and demonstrably the case that he luves up to the hype, and the cynic in me says "Yeah, right. I'll believe it when I see it".

Frankly we don't currently have a strong reputation for building privacy protective services".

No sh ... erm, kidding, Sherlock.

Understatement of the century. That that they don't use for profiling and advertising they seem to have a proclivity for losing or getting hacked. They are, IMHO, the social media privacy equivalent of keeping your savings in a paper bag, hanging from the outside of your front door with a neon "do not steal this" sign pointing to it. Turn yourself into the privacy equivalent of Fort Knox and we'll talk.

[Foulard]

I have never connected any of my social accounts to any website, forum, ... Like I am sharing my information to others I don't know. I think you should consider it, disconnect everything related to your social account. Only use the free platform without requiring an account like FB2Mate, DDownr, ...