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Facebook Is Using Your Phone's Location To Suggest New Friends (fusion.net)

Posted by msmash on from the privacy-woes dept.

Fusion's Kashmir Hill is reporting that Facebook is using your phone's location to suggest new friends. It's unclear exactly when the social juggernaut began doing this, but a number of instances suggest it only started recently. From the report:Last week, I met a man who suspected Facebook had tracked his location to figure out who he was meeting with. He was a dad who had recently attended a gathering for suicidal teens. The next morning, he told me, he opened Facebook to find that one of the anonymous parents at the gathering popped up as a "person you may know." [...] "People You May Know are people on Facebook that you might know," a Facebook spokesperson said. "We show you people based on mutual friends, work and education information, networks you're part of, contacts you've imported and many other factors." One of those factors is smartphone location. A Facebook spokesperson said though that shared location alone would not result in a friend suggestion, saying that the two parents must have had something else in common, such as overlapping networks.While this feature could be useful in some cases, many may -- and they should -- see it as a big invasion of their privacy -- Hill has succinctly explained a number of them.

8 of 140 comments (clear)

  1. That's amazing! by msauve · · Score: 1, Insightful

    "Facebook is using your phone's location to suggest new friends."

    How does it do that? I don't have a Facebook account, nor a Facebook app on my phone.

    Just say "no" to the Bookface.

    --
    "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
    1. Re:That's amazing! by Fly+Swatter · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The story is addressing the sheep.

      There, FTFY.

    2. Re:That's amazing! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Your comment says a lot about your age. Fact is most people are not on Facebook. Facebook membership has levelled off. Young people don't feel the need to have Facebook account as the 25-45 age group. There are much better way of staying in contact with your friends. Sharing through Facebook is actually dropping. They've already acknowledge it. That's why they're getting desperate with those friends add hoping people start sharing again.

    3. Re:That's amazing! by cayenne8 · · Score: 3, Insightful
      I'm not on Facebook.

      Never have been, no intention of joining that or any other social media at this point.

      i"m thinking of perhaps doing twitter or something for a business venture I'm thinking of, but ONLY if I can create a business only account and now have to have a personal account.

      This article is yet ANOTHER reason NOT to be on Facebook.

      :)

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
  2. uninstall the facebook app by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    uninstall the facebook app and use the browser instead

  3. Who could object to this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This would be a great way to get to know the full identities of the other fun members of your AA group.

  4. Abandon Facebook by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    Abandon Facebook or be revealed as an idiot.
    Facebook does not care about your privacy, they only care about making money off of YOU and your very personal information.
    Now that you know this, you must choose: Are you stupid, or are you smart? Smart people have already left Facebook behind. Don't you want to be smart?
    Tell your freinds: Be smart, abandon Facebook TODAY.

  5. Being on Facebook... by iCEBaLM · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ... and bitching about invasion of privacy is a little hypocritical.