FACEBOOK KNOWS ALL ABOUT YOU

So, how are you and Facebook getting along? You still think it is a benign organization out to kumbaya the world?

Actually, it may be out to erode your privacy down to zilch, or maybe zilch minus.

You want evidence? On March 22 of this year--a little over two weeks ago--the obscure Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) of the U.S. Patent Office issued a decision regarding a patent application Facebook filed back in 2011. The application concerned a method "for tracking information about the activities of users of a social networking system while on another domain."

Ponder that: Facebook wanted a patent for tracking your activities WHILE YOU WERE ELSEWHERE ON THE INTERNET. Big Brother going exponential is another way of describing it.

The good news is that the patent application was denied by the Patent Examiner, and the denial was affirmed (in part) by the PTAB. The bad news is that Facebook does not need a patent to track your activities elsewhere on the Internet. A patent would have been nice, but not necessary.

Incidentally, the PTAB decision was Ex Parte Schoen, issued on March 22, 2018.

Congressional Committees, when you meet with Mark Z. this week, you might want to bring this up.