Facebook's Android App Can Now Retrieve Data About What Apps You Use

An anonymous reader writes "Facebook on Friday released its Android launcher called Home. The company also updated its Facebook app, adding in new permissions to allow it to collect data about the apps you are running. Facebook has set up Home to interface with the main Facebook app on Android to do all the work. In fact, the main Facebook app features all the required permissions letting the Home app meekly state: 'THIS APPLICATION REQUIRES NO SPECIAL PERMISSIONS TO RUN.' As such, it’s the Facebook app that’s doing all the information collecting. It’s unclear, however, if it will do so even if Facebook Home is not installed. Facebook may simply be declaring all the permissions the Home launcher requires, meaning the app only starts collecting data if Home asks it to."

Comments

Big Android Problem

[Richy_T]

It was a mistake to allow apps to declare which access rights they want and then present users with a take-it-or-leave-it choice. While this part in itself is not a bad thing, it should be possible for users to fine-tune the settings once an app is installed and the apps then cope with that. I know there are apps out there that let you do this or similar but it should have been built in from the start. This is the activeX of the 2010s

Re:Big Android Problem

[Fuzzums]

And, obviously, some scheme in the Play Store to flag apps which get too greedy, or which require classes of permissions which few should really need.

Obviously definitely not that. It's a developer-first market. Developers are expensive and they do all the work for Google. For free. So Google is the last one that is going to limit them.

Re:Big Android Problem

[Anonymous Coward]

A cool feature would be the ability to provide selected apps with spoofed data.

Why are you still surprised by this?

[moderators_are_w*nke]

You buy a device to store your personal data on from a company that collects personal data for a living, and then run an app on it from another company that profits from collecting you data and then are confused when they collect your personal data?

Reposting as me

When you assume...

[93 Escort Wagon]

If an app states it needs permission to do X and Y, it would be rather naive to not assume it will do X and Y.

I'm a little surprised Android hasn't copied iOS's behavior, where it asks the user whether or not to grant permissions to a specific thing (e.g Contacts or Location) at the time the app tries to do so - it just makes sense, and it's not like both OSes haven't copied from each other before. But I suspect Google doesn't really want to remind you of what information each of its apps is accessing, or when.

Re:Pause while in call

[chihowa]

Because the permissions are too coarse grained. Weren't you paying attention? That's what this whole thread has been about!