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Test Shows Facebook Begins Collecting Data From Several Popular Apps Seconds After Users Start Consuming Them. Company Also Collects Data of Non-Facebook Users. (wsj.com)
Millions of smartphone users confess their most intimate secrets to apps. Unbeknown to most people, in many cases that data is being shared with someone else: Facebook. [Editor's note: the link may be paywalled; here's an alternative source.] The Wall Street Journal reports: The social-media giant collects intensely personal information from many popular smartphone apps just seconds after users enter it, even if the user has no connection to Facebook, according to testing done by The Wall Street Journal. The apps often send the data without any prominent or specific disclosure, the testing showed. [...] In the case of apps, the Journal's testing showed that Facebook software collects data from many apps even if no Facebook account is used to log in and if the end user isn't a Facebook member.
In the Journal's testing, Instant Heart Rate: HR Monitor, the most popular heart-rate app on Apple's iOS, made by California-based Azumio, sent a user's heart rate to Facebook immediately after it was recorded. Flo Health's Flo Period & Ovulation Tracker, which claims 25 million active users, told Facebook when a user was having her period or informed the app of an intention to get pregnant, the tests showed. Real-estate app Realtor.com, owned by Move, a subsidiary of Wall Street Journal parent News Corp, sent the social network the location and price of listings that a user viewed, noting which ones were marked as favorites, the tests showed. None of those apps provided users any apparent way to stop that information from being sent to Facebook. Update: New York Governor Cuomo has ordered probe into Facebook access to personal data.
In the Journal's testing, Instant Heart Rate: HR Monitor, the most popular heart-rate app on Apple's iOS, made by California-based Azumio, sent a user's heart rate to Facebook immediately after it was recorded. Flo Health's Flo Period & Ovulation Tracker, which claims 25 million active users, told Facebook when a user was having her period or informed the app of an intention to get pregnant, the tests showed. Real-estate app Realtor.com, owned by Move, a subsidiary of Wall Street Journal parent News Corp, sent the social network the location and price of listings that a user viewed, noting which ones were marked as favorites, the tests showed. None of those apps provided users any apparent way to stop that information from being sent to Facebook. Update: New York Governor Cuomo has ordered probe into Facebook access to personal data.
Anyone got the list of apps to avoid?
Yes... all of them. Always assume everything you post to an app CAN, and PROBABLY will find it's way into the wrong hands eventually.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
https://www.ft.com/content/62f...
Also, old news, this came out in December.
Palaces, barricades, threats, meet promises
Just shut em down for fucks sake. They don't care, at all. Not one little bit.The entire concept of social contract escapes them.
I don't do social media. Not at all. And yet I can't escape them.
It's not that hard to break paywalls, you know.
I'm pretty sure Facebook is a US intelligence front company.
So whaddya gonna do? You let the NSA do it, why not facebook? Just charge them a tax on it.
I'd bet they aren't geoblocking this in the EU. That's gonna sting. The GDPR has big, sharp, poisonous fangs.
Any EU Slashdotters using any of these apps? Please do make a "take" request to get everything they have on you, followed by a "sanitize" request to delete it all. We ma not see the fireworks, but they will be impressive.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
The only thing to do is not to use a smart phone. It's it's not the "apps", then it's Apple or Google.
I don't respond to AC's.
Just read title, facebook is indiscriminate and grabs all. I just downloaded this facebook hosts file and added it to my own.
https://github.com/jmdugan/blo...
would be to mandate that all connected devices have a user-configurable firewall that enjoys root permissions and is the ultimate boss of whatever data is sent or received by any app. We all know that will never happen, and we also know that the majority of users would never configure it.
But just imagine it for a moment - those of us who actually care about our privacy, (but who don't know what to do, or who get stuck with unrootable devices), would be able to force the data miners to fuck off. And a lot of formerly-clueless people who suddenly DO care about their privacy when they read news stories like this wouldn't be so helpless. They could ask their geek friends what to do and NOT hear something like "buy a new phone, root it, install this app, blah blah blah".
It's nice to dream sometimes.
'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
GDPR is a paper tiger. No one is being slapped with large fines.
Please stop using the feel-good propaganda word "sharing" to describe the practice of stalking, spying, profiling, and selling personal data.
Everybody did most certainly not know that apps that are not obviously affiliated with FB send users' personal data to FB, regardless whether or not you are a FB user.
Google abandoned the "Don't Be Evil" slogan years ago... obviously. Companies must act in the fiduciary interest of shareholders... if that requires being evil, then so be it!
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
I think multi-billion dollar fines of Google, Facebook, Apple, and the like will be the primary funding source for the EU for many years to come...
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
Can you sentence robots to jail?
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
Obviously Slashdot's parent company hasn't gotten any advertising revenue from Facebook in a while... can you say "extortion"? If it works for AMI, why not for Slashdot? Oh wait, extorting the robot didn't work for AMI, did it?
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
ALL of them, friend AC. While you're at it, get off the Smartphone Treadmill; stop paying hundreds or thousands of dollars for a silly phone that'll be obsolete in 2 years, and get the cheapest plastic dumbphone that's good at being a telephone (shouldn't cost more than $50), and be content with that, use the money you saved on something actually important. You'll also save money every month paying the price-gouging wireless companies because you won't need any 'dataplan' anymore. All in all you'll save at least $1000 the first year, and probably $300-500 every year after that, and get a fair fraction of your overall privacy back.
Cowardly idiots like you get what you deserve. Enjoy having your life under a microscope.
When I refer to 'capitalism out of control' or 'capitalism gone bad', that's what I'm talking about: 'Profit above all else, fuck anyone who doesn't like it'. It's got to CHANGE.
It hasn't been in force long enough for a meaty case to be brought (because they take months to resolve). That's why the last fine Google had was small, as the amount was calculated using the old legislation. Give it time, the cases are coming.
"Wait. Something's happening. It's opening up! My God, it's full of apricots!"
The apps which got caught doing this are just the stupid ones. There's no reason for the app to send the data directly to Facebook. The Realtor.com app could send the data to Realtor.com first, then they send the data to Facebook without you ever knowing.
There are only two ways to prevent this sort of sharing with a third party. Legislation like the EU has adopted. Or reading the EULAs like a hawk and not using any app which states that they share usage info with other companies.
I do not ever recall consuming an app. Is this something peculiar to social media (I don't use it)?
The paywall can be circumvented by using, ironically in this case, Facebook.
blog
Given how much trouble the GDPR caused for small, honest businesses just to update their documentation and processes just to get the formalities right even if nothing materially changed about their actual data processing, the regulators had better at least use the new powers it gives to get some good out of it.
Of course, the GDPR came into effect less than a year ago, and the regulators are reportedly already applying stronger penalties in some cases. However, it seems likely that they're waiting for a headline case to make a point before they start issuing the first really big fines. What better case could there be than a data-hoarding giant like Facebook covertly collecting and processing sensitive personal data, which is a special category under the GDPR that includes health data and that has stricter rules about when processing is allowed?
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
... the worse Facebook looks.
Won't someone please THINK OF THE CORPORATIONS!!!1!
Lameness filter encountered. Post aborted!
Filter error: Don't use so many caps. It's like YELLING.
-- You are in a maze of little, twisty passages, all different... --
Spate? I don't see a lot more than normal. And they've been getting a lot of attention for the last few years due to their scummy business practices and Zuckerburg's congressional testimony. If they don't change their ways, then there will be a lot of stories to run.
And what is EU going to do to company that is solely based outside EU? They have to jurisdiction even if GDPR says so.
PS: I am talking about the companies that make the apps
Ah, but they're sending the data to Facebook, which probably didn't think this one through.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
The device I really want is something with roughly the format and feature set of a modern smartphone, but with the software emphasis entirely on standard communications apps (call, send message, browse web, check email, etc.) and useful hardware features (photo/video recording, torch, GPS) rather than "app store apps" where 99.999% of them are junkware and the few useful ones could be done almost as well connecting to ordinary web sites from a browser with reasonable security and privacy. Sadly, no-one seems to make that device, so the options are old school feature phones (which have served me well for a long time, but aren't as convenient in some practical respects) or current smartphones (which are a security, privacy and reliability nightmare for the reasons we all know).
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
Because msmash values quantity over quality and enjoys making Slashdot worse.
I'm not posting anonymously because this shit is getting old. The posts are so consistently bad they amount to crapflooding.
"This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
Most civilized countries have rules governing the basic safety of appliances like cars and refrigirators and the like. They make sure the things don't catch fire for no apparent reason and the brakes work properly, for instance. These laws are there because you can't expect every citizen to know about these things. It's time there are laws installed that govern what social media can and can't do with your data, because you can't expect the people who use them to know all about what is happening to their data.
-- Cheers!
FB operates within the EU so they have to comply to our laws. They can be fined just like MS and Google were.
-- Cheers!
This is how app developers are getting paid. You either pay for an app or use it freely with the understanding you are still paying for it through data collection your device allows. There are libraries, opensource and other, that just plugin to apps that allow developers to get paid for their work and your device coughs up data along the way that allows you to keep using said apps. I don't get the fucking outcry here. It's just data. Without said data you wouldn't have all the apps you can right now since there would be zero dev incentive to charge $5 a month for an app that requires constant development since 5 frigging people would use it. Now you guys are going to make sure the government cracks down on this free market and ruins everyones' day by making free apps impossible.
This right here. Everyone that is upset about this is on the wrong side. This is how apps and software developers make money these days. They share data in exchange for developing software and giving it to you for free. If you get outraged and start a social justice war around this then the government is just going to crack down and fine the crap out of everyone until there won't be free apps anymore. You are going to destroy an entire market because you're pissed off someone like Facebook knows where you ate lunch today? This is how marketing works. It is targeted. It doesn't matter if the data goes to Facebook or Google or some smaller entity it pays for the development of the software you use daily. In exchange you give up some details of your life. The only outrage should be when companies sell that data back to governments like in the case of the fake genealogy websites. Then your data _is_ guaranteed to be used against you in court.
that's my attitude. Banning a thing isn't gonna fix it (which is what shutting down Facebook is basically). Instead regulate it (and tax it while you're at it)
Of course, you'd have to vote people into office would oppose regulatory capture, and that means voting for some folks you might not necessarily like. I don't necessarily mean policy wise (there is that too) but I mean you might not like them personally.
The kinds of people who can be bought off are often also some of the most affable. Reagan, Clinton (Bill), even Bush Jr were all immensely likable but I could spend the next 12 hours regaling you of all the horrible stuff they did.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
Yes it's a pain for small businesses, just like VATMOSS. But it's a perfect example of why we can't have nice things. We tried making it easy, but then Amazon etc could spend lots off lawyers to dodge taxes.the ugly foolproof solution made it harder on small companies. Same with data protection.
SJW n. One who posts facts.
Seeing as the fines can be €20m, or 4% of annual global turnover, whichever is higher, that's a dangerous bet to make, even for $5.27.
"Wait. Something's happening. It's opening up! My God, it's full of apricots!"
I guess these apps are built by small US companies or even individuals, without any assets in the EU. What exactly stops them from ignoring this GDPR request completely?
Unfortunately, the responses in cases like the GDPR and VAT MOSS didn't have much respect for proportionality. The risk of a small business with contact details for 500 customers it had last year being hacked are hardly the same magnitude as the risks of an international payment service with millions of people's credit card details in its database. The risk of a company that only sold €25,000 to customers in the EU setting up international subsidiaries to save a few percent of VAT is hardly the same as a giant like Amazon doing so. And yet the small businesses are faced with much the same rules and disproportionate overheads, which has a horrible chilling effect when you multiply it by the number of times this happens.
So I will respectfully disagree with the "this is why we can't have nice things" argument. Legal systems have recognised the concept of de minimis harm since forever. So have numerous global treaties, for that matter. The EU is exceptionally bad at aiming at perceived abuses by big businesses but failing to notice all the smaller businesses being taken out as collateral damage. But if it then fails to even achieve its intended result in terms of curtailing abuses by bigger businesses, that's just adding insult to injury, so if it's going to have dubious laws like the GDPR, it had better at least use them to do some "greater good" or the whole thing was just a damaging waste of time.
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
social media from your computer.
Software firewall, browser extensions, external firewall.
Secure your computer and networking from social media.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"