This is the question that faces every single Facebook user today...

It was Australian hacker and blogger Nik Cubrilovic who came up with the claim that Facebook keeps tracking its users after they have logged out from the site.Won't this prove a real hassle for individuals and for companies like Appco Group that depend a lot on the social networking site to promote themselves.

Cubrilovic kept tabs on the HTTP headers on the requests sent by browsers to facebook.com and then only came up with the claim. He has explained that the social networking site uses cookies, which are not deleted when users sign off. Instead these cookies are modified to send information about users visiting sites that have a Facebook "Like" button, "Share" button or any other widget or plugin.

For over one year,  Cubrilovic has been raising this issue and claims and counter claims have been made, denials followed by admittance have made people think. Users now seem to be coming up against the most popular social networking platform.

10 public-interest groups have asked the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to investigate Facebook’s tracking of Internet users after they log off. The Electronic Privacy Information Center and nine other groups urged the FTC to examine whether Facebook’s new Ticker and Timeline features increase privacy risks for users.

Meanwhile Perrin Aikens Davis of Illinois has filed a suit against Facebook and seeks class, or group, status on behalf of other Facebook users living in the U.S.