Facebook. And Theresa May

#1

So it seems social apps are delving a little more into my underwear drawer than I find acceptable.

I texted a friend who I hadn’t texted for a while, to say hi.

Next thing, Facebook has suddenly started offering that friend up as someone I should connect with.

I never, ever, got within three people of this person in the FB world. I haven’t emailed or anything.

It’s too coincidental. The app either read (and compared) who I accessed in the address book, or worse, noted that I texted them, and cross-referenced the entry in my address book to the database of details they had.

Is this normal now? It’s unacceptable to me.

And what are the implications for surveillance? I mean, I"m looking down the barrel of a hard right UK prime minister soon.

#discomfort

#2

Probably. They could’ve possibly also Facebook searched you, but I wouldn’t be surprised if your assumption was correct considering the permissions they seek.

#3

Right - and they keep changing the permissions, and how we’re “giving” them.

I know on very good authority that the social community big wigs think this is just a fine thing to do. Otherwise - “how else can the envelope be pushed?”.

#4

Howsabout - gang - doin’ me a favour!?

What can I do to tempt FB to reveal its inner workings? What actions can I take on my phone / PC / tablet to trick it into offering me more clues?!

#5

It might be on your friends end.

Facebook has managed to figure out not to try to connect me to the toxic waste club I briefly knew, nor any of their connections.

#6

Probably the easiest thing is to create a new email account with a new name and buy a cheap smartphone which you don’t use anything except stuff directly tied to the new email account. Still requires a lot of work. And cooperation from some folks up to creating new email accounts and facebook accounts to make a fake social circle unrelated to anything real. But only one would need to buy a dedicated smartphone … necessarily.

(Disclaimer: There might be a way to reverse engineer the app but I haven’t messed around with anything like decompiling in like 17 years and I wasn’t good at it then either.)

Very likely. But doesn’t Facebook ask for permission to see call data? When I had facebook, I was pretty sure it did. If you dial a phone number that’s listed on a facebook profile, it would be trivial to look it up.

#7

I can only control my own answer to that question; not that of everyone else I know. It’s like friendoku.

#8

Lucky.

#9

This is why I’ve uninstalled Facebook from my mobile phone. It started being really creepy, suggesting people from the address book as soon as I contacted them via mail or message. I don’t know how they do it or whether it’s some sort of new iOS feature they exploit, but it was just too much for me. Now I access FB only from a Safari window (which I already set to private mode by default); a bit less convenient, but the peace of mind is significant.

Oh, and it saves so much battery, the FB app is really addicted to continuous GPS polling.

#10

That’s exactly what’s going on!

#11

I never activated mine. on any phone I’ve had.

I don’t do any kind of social media from my mobile devices, ever.

Because, “paranoia…” but better safe than sorry.

#12

“paranoia” - but dude, I think you’re on point.

#13

I read ‘1984’ in the early 90’s and ever since I’ve been very wary of how I use “free” technology and what info I provide willingly.

#14

Privacy is non-existent, and Zuckerberg is completely amoral. He’ll happily sell your much-more-detailed-than-you-intend biography to whichever politician, dictator or corporate bastard pays for it.

His entire business model is based on doing this. FB users aren’t his customers, they’re his product.

If that bothers you, get rid of FB, don’t interact with the FB accounts of any third parties, and learn as much as you can about encryption.

Given the way things are going, it might be worthwhile reading up on rapid-oxidation chemistry as well.

#15

That’s it - fuck using a separate app when you can just use your browser, for about 49 reasons.

#16

Holy mololy - FB openly says they’re collecting data with cookies whether you’ve on or off it. Holy COW.

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Bald rudeness.

closed #17

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