One of Norway’s largest online pharmacies has shared information about what you look at, add to the shopping cart, and will buy with Facebook. This is shown by an analysis news has made of Farmasiet’s website. – Simply very disgusting, says specialist director Finn Myrstad at the Consumer Council. Because when a user looks at a product, say a chlamydia test, detailed information such as price and product name is sent to Facebook. In many cases, the technology giant also wants to know who the user is. – I think no one would like it if they were in the pharmacy, and lots of people stood and looked over their shoulders at them, says Myrstad. – In practice, this is what happens when the Pharmacy sends such sensitive health information to, among other things, Facebook. When this information leaves the Pharmacy and is shared with Facebook, you do not know how it can be used against you in the future, points out the specialist director. – Scandal after scandal has shown that Facebook itself has no control over this data, says Myrstad. Here you can see for yourself what type of data the pharmacy has shared about its customers: Pregnancy tests are added to shopping carts[content_name] – Clearblue Pregnancy Test Early Detection, 1 pc cd[content_category] – Self-test CD[value] – 119cd[currency] – NOKcd[content_type] – productev – AddToCartid – 1960657090882762Looking at chlamydiatestcd[content_name] – Dynamic Code Chlamydia woman, 1 pccd[content_category] – Self-test CD[value] – 348cd[currency] – NOKev – ViewContentdl – https://www.farmasiet.no/catalog/hjelpemidler-og-utsryt/selvtester/dynamic-code-klamydia-kvinne,5033309ts – 1699966505776Looking at viagra-tablettercd[content_name] – Viagra Prescription® 50 mg tablets, 8 pcs.cd[content_category] – The man’s abdomen[value] – 689cd[currency] – NOKev – ViewContentdl – https://www.farmasiet.no/catalog/intim-og-underliv/mannens-underliv/viagra-reseptfri-tab-50mg-8,5009375?searchQuery=ereksjonsNødprevensjon is added to the shopping basketcd[content_name] – Norlevo Tablet 1.5mg, 1 pc.cd[content_category] – Contraception and emergency contraception cd[value] – 200cd[currency] – NOKcd[content_type] – productev – AddToCartts – 1699966551249Looking at sperm quality self testcd[content_name] – SwimCount Semen quality test, 1 pc cd[content_type] – productcd[contents] – [“id”:”891456″]cd[value] – 419cd[currency] – NOKev – ViewContentts – 1699966447506fbp – fb.1.1698148282641.1181035640Buys three prescription drugscd[contents] – [“id”:”c7e3e5b8-FJERNET AV NRK”,”quantity”:1,”id”:”fdb350de-FJERNET AV NRK”,”quantity”:1,”id”:”86e5c831-FJERNET AV NRK”,”quantity”:1]cd[content_type] – productcd[value] – 238.3cd[currency] – NOKcd[num_items] – 3ev – InitiateCheckoutdl – https://www.farmasiet.no/checkoutWhat do the fields mean? id – Facebook’s ID for website nfpb – Facebook’s ID on user ents – Date and time of the eventenv – The type of event Facebook is informed about cd[content_name] – What is the name of the product – The web address the user is onNB! news has only attached selected fields for all examples May be illegal – I have problems seeing that this is legal, says Naomi Lintvedt about the data sharing. Lintvedt is a research fellow at UiO’s Center for Forensic Informatics and former data protection representative for the Norwegian Tax Agency. news’s analyzes show that Farmasiet has not shared with Facebook which prescription drugs a customer has viewed or placed in the shopping cart. But the online pharmacy has nevertheless shared information that users are looking at several types of intimate and over-the-counter products, such as chlamydia tests, Viagra and emergency contraception. Lindtvedt therefore believes that this also counts as health information, even if it is not prescribed. EXPECT DISCRETION: – When you go to a pharmacy, whether physical or online, you expect discretion and confidentiality, says Naomi Lintvedt. Photo: Martin Gundersen / news – Regardless of whether it’s a chlamydia test or something more common like a pack of Paracet, it’s about medicines. They say something about my state of health and health information is particularly protected personal information because it is so intimate and so personal. Sharing this type of information is also serious because employees in pharmacies actually have a duty of confidentiality, Lintvedt points out. The Personal Data Act requires the user to give “express consent” if there is a question of sharing health information. Lintvedt believes that the consent Farmasiet has obtained is not good enough to share health information. CONSENT BOX: If you press “Allow all cookies”, the Pharmacy will have the option of sending data to companies such as Facebook. Graphics: Martin Gundersen / news – Here, not enough information has been given and actual consent has not been requested. They set up as standard that you say yes to all tracking and sharing, preferably in small print, which makes it difficult to see which information is actually shared. Removed tracking On the same day that news made contact, Farmasiet chose to remove tracking technology from Facebook, Pinterest, TikTok and Snapchat. According to news’s analyses, Pinterest also received detailed information about the user’s behaviour, while TikTok and Snapchat only learned that the user visited the website itself. – I understand that customers place higher demands on us as a pharmacy than they have on other players, says marketing manager Hanne Kjærnes in Farmasiet. TAKES SELF-CRITICISM: – I understand that customers probably do not feel that this meets their need for discretion, says communications manager Hanne Kjærnes. Photo: Martin Gundersen / news Kjærnes is careful to emphasize that the Pharmacy has the law on its side because they have not shared information about prescription products with Facebook or other third parties. Therefore, the information that is shared cannot be defined as health information either, she believes. – It is important to point out that this has not been about the sharing of health information in the sense of the law. The sharing has been linked to products such as shampoo, skin cream and other over-the-counter medicines. So there has never been any sharing of prescription drugs at all, says Kjærnes. – But you have also shared information about intimate products such as Viagra, Vaginal Mousse and chlamydia tests. Do you think this is not health information? – The assessments from our lawyers are that the consents obtained have been legal. But regardless of what the law says, we understand that many may react to the information that has been shared. Everything you buy at a pharmacy is about health. We will therefore be making changes to our practice going forward. PHYSICALLY PRESENT: Here, in a huge warehouse building in Vestby, Farmasiet employees pack the products, before they are sent by post to customers across the country. Photo: Martin Gundersen Did not react earlier In the spring, the online pharmacy informed Shifter that they would look into the use of Facebook’s tracking technology. It came after Sveriges Radio mentioned that over 100 online pharmacies shared their customers’ purchases with the company. Nevertheless, Farmasiet made no changes before news contacted in November. – We have followed industry standards. We were clear that the data was shared in this way because when we set it up we followed industry standards, says Kjærnes. – You have known about this for seven months. Why don’t you make changes until now? – Meta is a platform we use less and less, and therefore we should have just done what we have done now, which is to turn off the sharing with Meta, says Kjærnes. PINNED: Pinterest also received detailed information about users from Farmasiet. Photo: Screen dump / Pinterest Although Farmasiet switched off data sharing with several social media, they will still continue to share which products customers put in the shopping cart with Google. – There is a big difference between the actors we share data with. When we work with Google, very strict guidelines have already been set for data that is shared when you are a pharmacy. This means that we apply quite different guidelines, says Kjærnes. Nevertheless, the pharmacy does not rule out that they may stop sharing with Google or other actors in the long term: – We will make an assessment of sharing with all platforms. Meta does not respond Since Sunday 26 November, news has been trying to get Facebook owner Meta to speak. The company has not responded to any of news’s repeated inquiries. Meta’s own guidelines prohibit marketers from sharing sensitive data “about a person’s physical or mental health.” There, the company gives examples such as “medicines and dietary supplements (non-prescription and prescription)” and medical disorders. SHARED DATA: Nettapoteket Farmasiet shared detailed information about its users with Facebook. Photo: Martin Gundersen / news In the guidelines, Meta states that: “Sharing this type of information is a violation of the terms of Meta business tools and may result in actions, including but not limited to data restrictions and suspension of your account.” Meta has a system for capturing and deleting information that may be sensitive. But it is not known how well the system works in the Nordic region. In a report from US regulatory authorities from 2021, it appears that Meta’s system only looked for English words, but that Facebook has indicated that it plans to facilitate other languages. When Sveriges Radio created a fictitious online pharmacy in 2022, they discovered that Meta had stored information about, among other things, prescription medicines. news has not received an answer to what Meta is doing to enforce its guidelines or how well the system for discovering sensitive information works in Norwegian. This is how you can protect yourself in the browser Whether your online activity is shared with Facebook or other social media is affected by several factors. One of the most important is whether your browser blocks communication with third parties. Several browsers, such as Safari and Firefox, do this by default. The most popular browser Chrome requires you to change the “third party cookies” setting to “third party cookies” under “Privacy and security”. Swipe to see how to change the settings yourself in the browser: 1. Press the three dots in the top right corner. 2. Then press “settings”. 3. Tap on “Privacy and security” in the tab on the left. You we saw few more choice options in the main menu. 4. Select “Third-party cookies”.5. In the main menu, select the option “Block cookies from third parties”. This is how you can protect yourself on Facebook You can change a setting at Facebook about the use of information they have collected about you outside of Meta’s platforms. The company will then not connect information they receive from, among other things, the Facebook Pixel with your profile. Here’s how to change this setting:
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Nettapotek shared with Facebook that you watched chlamydia tests – news Culture and entertainment
