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Facebook Backtracks, Now Says It Is Not Using Your Phone's Location To Suggest Friends
A report on Fusion on Monday, which cited a number of people, claimed that Facebook was using its users' phone location to suggest people to them. The publication also noted the privacy implications of this supposed feature. At the time of publishing, Facebook had noted that location was indeed one of the signals it looks into when suggesting new friends. But the social juggernaut has since backtracked on its statement with new assurances that it is not using anyone's location. In a statement to Slashdot, the company said:We're not using location data, such as device location and location information you add to your profile, to suggest people you may know. We may show you people based on mutual friends, work and education information, networks you are part of, contacts you've imported and other factors.
Zuck: Yeah so if you ever need info about anyone at Harvard
Zuck: Just ask
Zuck: I have over 4,000 emails, pictures, addresses, SNS
[Redacted Friend's Name]: What? How'd you manage that one?
Zuck: People just submitted it.
Zuck: I don't know why.
Zuck: They "trust me"
Zuck: Dumb fucks
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/well-these-new-zuckerberg-ims-wont-help-facebooks-privacy-problems-2010-5
But the social juggernaut has since backtracked on its statement with new assurances that it is not using anyone's location.
That's not what they said.
They don't state they're not using your location, although they're probably hoping people will read that into it. They merely made the very narrow statement that they're not using your location to suggest people you may know.
Even if that is what they said I am 100% certain that they are lying. And how can I be certain? Because it keeps asking me to send friend requests to two different neighbors that I know by name and by sight but have absolutely no electronic contact with whatsoever. I don't have their phone number, they don't have mine. I don't email them, they don't email me, I don't even have their names in any electronic form. I've never typed their names into the computer - how could I? I only know their first names. But Facebook proudly presents them to me.
My wife and I moved a few towns over 2 months ago; neither of us have updated out address info on Facebook since before out last move. Within a week of the move, she had Facebook suggest that she might know each and every one of our neighbors, while I've still not had a single such suggestion in two months. The difference? She has the Facebook app on her phone and I do not.
APK quotes people (including myself) without context and should not be trusted. Just thought you should know.
This. We moved 2 months ago and, within a week, Facebook started suggesting neighbors as people my wife may know, while I've still not gotten a single such suggestion. She has the FB app on her phone, I use it only via the website. Coincidence? Nah.
And I'll just head off the "she does 'know' those guys" jokers by pointing out that I work from home and know that to not be the case; also, half the suggestions are women and, well, I'd just find that hot if it were true.
APK quotes people (including myself) without context and should not be trusted. Just thought you should know.
In case anybody is trying to figure out what the "other factors" are, here is a few additional data points:
1. Facebook suggested my next-door neighbor to me as a potential friend.
2. I have fewer than 20 Facebook friends, and none of them are my neighbors, most are family and relatives in other cities.
3. My Facebook account is linked to a unique email address which I created only for Facebook, and which has not been revealed to any other person or website.
4. I have never imported any contacts into Facebook from any other source.
5. I do not have the Facebook app installed on my phone, and I have never connected to Facebook from my phone using the browser.
6. I have virtually no other apps installed on my phone except for Google Mail, Google Calendar, and Google Maps.
7. No other apps on my phone have been given access to location data, and the GPS is always disabled (to save battery) except when I am actively using Google Maps somewhere I am unfamiliar, (so never anywhere near my own neighborhood).
8. I provide an open wi-fi access point (no password), which is easily accessible from my next-door neighbor's house.
9. I have logged into Facebook using a computer connected to that open wi-fi network.
Could the "other factors" be as simple as IP address?