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Internal Emails Show Facebook Weighing the Privacy Risks of Quietly Collecting Call and Text Records From Its Android Users -- Then Going Ahead Anyway (theverge.com)
Earlier this year, many Android users were shocked to discover that Facebook had been collecting a record of their call and SMS history, as revealed by the company's data download tool. Now, internal emails released by the UK Parliament show how the decision was made internally. From a report: According to the emails, developers knew the data was sensitive, but they still pushed to collect it as a way of expanding Facebook's reach. The emails show Facebook's growth team looking to call log data as a way to improve Facebook's algorithms as well as to locate new contacts through the "People You May Know" feature. Notably, the project manager recognized it as "a pretty high-risk thing to do from a PR perspective," but that risk seems to have been overwhelmed by the potential user growth.
Initially, the feature was intended to require users to opt in, typically through an in-app pop-up dialog box. But as developers looked for ways to get users signed up, it became clear that Android's data permissions could be manipulated to automatically enroll users if the new feature was deployed in a certain way.
Initially, the feature was intended to require users to opt in, typically through an in-app pop-up dialog box. But as developers looked for ways to get users signed up, it became clear that Android's data permissions could be manipulated to automatically enroll users if the new feature was deployed in a certain way.
Face it: you have to leave Facebook. You cannot un-know things like this. There's no rules anymore, they do whatever they want, and they're invading every last vestige of your personal lives now, whether you were asked or not. It's time to leave Facebook, do it NOW.
anyone else use this new exciting service called n1ggerface ?
This behavior is not surprising at all considering that the only reason that Facebook exists is to collect data to sell to advertisers. Everything that they do is to increase profits. They really don't care about people or privacy...its all about the money!!!
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Oh, right. iPhone data collection is much harder to do without the user knowing.
Welcome to the English language, Ivan.
Then means that the action is happening after the something else that was discussed immediately prior.
Going means to move.
Ahead is a direction, the meaning is similar to forwards.
Anyway means that the thing that happened was not prevented by some downside or problem that was already discussed.
So, "Then going ahead anyway" means that they knew there was something problematic with their actions, and they still tried to complete those actions.
Come back tomorrow and we can discuss There, Their, and They're. But only if you stop saying that rude thing at the end. Be nice, Ivan. And show up sober.
... the worse Facebook looks.
MSMASH thought about not gargling balls and flossing with pubes but decided to go aHEAD anyway
Web browser wrapper that pulls up the facebook website.
Are there still people surprised by this behaviour?
Facebook is since years known to invade users and non-users privacy.
I belong to the last group and have to install various add-ons to escape their vacuuming of personal data.
"The likes of Facebook and WhatsApp are free to those whose privacy is of zero value."
This isn't just Facebook's fault. It's Google's too. Note how they only did this on Android phones. Because Apple made their OS protect their users, and Google made their OS enable spying.
Your ad here. Ask me how!
And that goes for my 254 fake FB accounts too!
Oh, you mean you actually have FB on your tracked cellphone with Android?
Ok, you're just pulling my leg there, no way anyone would be dumb enough to do that.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
I can't simply explain away Facebook's actions anymore. I am done with them.
Facebook is also available as a website, so why bother installing an app for it that just intrudes more on your privacy? If you must use it, just use the mobile website within a browser like Chrome. That way they should not be able to monitor what is going on outside of the website. Or is there some way that they can still access that info, even from inside a web browser, which I am not aware of?
William George
It is an evil company. Zuckerberg should be arrested.
Corporatism != Free Market
If you care about any data that could be collected from your phone, you should probably consider not using a smartphone at all. It shouldn't be news to anyone at this point that all free apps collect and sell your data, to some degree. Also you should probably stay away from PCs and smart TVs.
Face it: you have to leave Facebook. You cannot un-know things like this. There's no rules anymore, they do whatever they want
I would ask the people of Slashdot to face something else; the truth that most people do not care about privacy. At all.
Continuing news like this from Facebook just makes it ever more obvious.
You have to figure out how to live in the world, knowing this fundamental truth and the truth that follows - even if you leave Facebook, there will always be another Facebook like milking of your privacy, because it doesn't bother most people.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
they've been known to change security setting at will and they had partnered with MSFT early on. This is expected.
Trust No One. What was left off was "especially Microsoft".
The link to the actual government data is in this story.
Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
Naw, I don't think a sheet of glass can celebrate anything, and surely any alcohol will have evaporated.
Likely a few people at remote listening stations will have a few days or weeks to drink a last toast to Planet Earth. But if you have internet access and are allowed to post on slashdot, you're not gonna be one of those.
You mean to say that many people actually believe all that "privacy policy" bullshit? Rhetorical question...
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
At least Microsoft reserved their wrongdoing to creating an illegal monopoly, raising prices, and anti-competitive behavior that kept the web back a decade. All bad things, but it never had direct impact on the vast majority of people, mostly just other companies and some software developers like myself. And hey.. even Microsoft eventually reformed its act after they started losing market.
FB on the other hand is a thief who lies to, and spies on a billion+ people every day, and then sells the stolen and spied data to anyone that asks.
This is the beginning of the end for them. They can't make this go away and keep their valuation at the same time.
Never had it, never will. Looks like I made the right decision. It was creepy from the get-go, like an on-line trailer park full of trash. Zuckerberg creeps me out. Every picture of him I've seen looks as though he could shed his human skin at any time to reveal the alien underneath. He looks like the type of person to rummage through your underwear drawer.
"collecting a record of their call and SMS history" using App, not using web interface, who sucks anyway. FB UI really sucks.
Making popcorn for this one.
There's a begging-the-question fallacy in there: Facebook analyzed the risk, then took action. The "anyway" implies they found the risks beyond some threshold.
Question: was there a methodology for determining if the action was too risky?
Question: did they determine the action was too risky?
Question: was their determination based on an internal standard or on a common criteria?
He missed the one where the PM said there was a "PR" risk. Was that Privacy Risk or Public Relations? Is the summary trying to imply that the PM thought it was a Privacy Risk when the PM was talking about Public Relations?
Welcome to lying without stating untrue things. The questions above will either lead to facts which support the implications (truth) OR to facts which debase the implications (lies), but nothing that was stated was false.
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I hope Zuck goes blind and loses all his limbs.
You are so racist.
You are such a fucking dumbass.
couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of fucking idiots.
FB intentionally used outdated Android APIs to pretend to be of an older generation, which retained the ability to harvest logs of calls and texts.
Foolish man; do you think someone who cared about privacy even an iota would be a facebook employee?
When it's convenient for them. Rather than pay to use someone else's SSID map database, or pay people to roam around the world and record the SSIDs for them, Apple simply lifted visible SSIDs and GPS data from iPhone users' phones.
This happened about the same time Google was caught accidentally recording more than SSID with their street view cars. Google admitted they did wrong, and the EU fined them. Apple never admitted any wrongdoing, and the EU never did anything about them. What we have today is a consequence of that dichotomy in regulatory reaction. Google tried to be open about their data collection so you could avoid it if you wanted, and were punished more harshly than companies being secret about their data collection so you were unwittingly subjected to it.
Consequently, now all companies collect information secretly, and don't admit anything even when they're caught. I salute all of you and the brave new world you've created for yourselves.
Time to disencorporate Facebook and hang all of its top three levels of managers.
Only way to be sure. Only way to save our freedoms from the corporations.
Whenever you hear an asshole utter the phrase "growth hacking", remember this story.
because that's how they connect with people. In particular adults have a very, very hard time meeting people. Especially in an age of declining church attendance. Facebook groups are a replacement for that. If you want folks off Facebook the only way would be a replacement for that feature.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
and couldn't care less about privacy. I'm way, way more worried about not having access to healthcare, the fact that my pay is 20% less than my parents and that my country is fighting 8 illegal wars (illegal in that not a one has Congressional authorization).
Privacy violations are a symptom of the problems faced by the working class, not the problem itself. The real problem is that there's a class war on, and my side is losing.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
This is not a difficult matter of logic.
Well it wasn't until you tried to describe it.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Suckerburged again!
It should become synonymous with willingly having the wool pulled over your eyes.
"Then going ahead anyway" -- what does this even MEAN?
RETARD.
Why did you sign your post as "RETARD"? You shouldn't be so hard on yourself just because you're a little slow. I'm sure if you really apply yourself you can achieve a higher level of reading comprehension. Maybe you will even be able to real grown up books some day.
"couldn't care less about privacy. I'm way, way more worried about not having access to healthcare"
Aren't you aware that disregarding your privacy can impact your access to health care? Search for known cases of this -- but maybe don't search using your own computer or Internet connection, because that will undoubtedly become a negative factor, too (just like checking your credit score reduces your credit score).
Every bit of data that can be acquired about you will affect insurance premiums and loan decisions and interest rates.
And just because privacy violations are a symptom of problems of the working class doesn't mean people should just give up protecting what they have (and surrender entirely to exploitation by the system).
People don't care about privacy but may care that facebook use is correlated with depression (links everywhere). Usually I don't log in for days or a week or two, and when I do come back I feel a mixture of expecting a hit and a mild wave of depression. The posts feel like they are made by people trapped in a cage. I usually don't stay more than a few minutes.
I've been recommending what I found worked for me: I used Social Book Post Manager browser add-on to undo everything I've ever posted or liked or commented on FB. Having no content of my own made me disinterested in posting anymore, and my "friends" list stayed so I can get in touch with people via DM. That's most of what FB is good for, as far as I'm concerned.
and put his fucking app on your phone. if you can't stand not knowing whether Aunt Trudy's operation was a success you can go to the damn webpage from your mobile browser. works fine.
if you wouldn't put the zuck's filthy cock in your ass don't put his app on your phone.
The word "anyway" only tells you that the action has been questioned. It is your own judgmental nature that you've detected, not any external threshold.
It acknowledges that a decision included a trade-off, and that the actual decision made was not to stop the action involved in the trade-off.
You're making a lot of presumptions about whatever was or wasn't done to measure the risk, but the public information doesn't actually tell us about that. So it is a lie to imply that it is important, and somehow precludes honest acknowledgment of the facts. They considered the risk to be very high, and they still did the thing. That is "anyway" territory no matter which side of that decision you're on.
Just because not everyone has been taken advantage of yet doesn't mean they won't care when it finally happens.
Pardon the grammar.
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The "anyway" implies there was a usually-contraindicating factor--that the outcome would have resulted in a situation not occurring--but the situation occurred anyway.
"He had a girlfriend, but he slept with the girl from the bar anyway."
It is a common English idiom, kind of like how "slept with" doesn't actually mean sleeping, even if that's what the words in the dictionary tell you.
Of course some people are super sheltered, and don't quite get what someone means when they say they "slept with" someone they met at the bar.
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