Facebook won’t let you opt out of its phone number ‘look up’ setting • Hacker News Board

Re: Facebook won’t let you opt out of its phone number ‘look up’ setting

#21

Post by sanxiyn » Mon, Mar 04, 2019, 5:12 AM UTC

StudentStuff wrote: post #15

sanxiyn wrote: post #8

Just delete the phone number. You can use two factor authentication with OTP, SMS part is unnecessary.

Deleting the data in your account settings isn't going to necessarily remove it from Facebook's database. Getting a vanity number that spells your first name or nickname would be a better workaround IMO, and you can set business hours and such to control your potential employer's access to you :P

I believe GDPR specifies right of erasure, and if Facebook doesn't delete the phone number you "deleted", Facebook will face much larger problems.

Re: Facebook won’t let you opt out of its phone number ‘look up’ setting

#22

Post by 6nf » Mon, Mar 04, 2019, 5:16 AM UTC

snarfy wrote: post #20

Glad I never gave them my number.

Don't worry someone in your circle of friends already handed it over.

Re: Facebook won’t let you opt out of its phone number ‘look up’ setting

#23

Post by StudentStuff » Mon, Mar 04, 2019, 5:21 AM UTC

sanxiyn wrote: post #21

StudentStuff wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Deleting the data in your account settings isn't going to necessarily remove it from Facebook's database. Getting a vanity number that spells your first name or nickname would be a better workaround IMO, and you can set business hours and such to control your potential employer's access to you :P

I believe GDPR specifies right of erasure, and if Facebook doesn't delete the phone number you "deleted", Facebook will face much larger problems.

My comment was fairly US-centric, as we don't have GDPR. In the EU that'd be much more useful, as the cost of phone numbers in Europe and calling rates vary wildly, and can be quite exorbitant in some countries.

Re: Facebook won’t let you opt out of its phone number ‘look up’ setting

#24

Post by piotrkaminski » Mon, Mar 04, 2019, 5:21 AM UTC

potatofarmer45 wrote: post #14

This will make keeping your social media private during recruiting much much harder because rather than trying to search for your name on FB or your email, an interviewer can just search your listed contact number. Names are often not unique but phone numbers are. This matters because creating a new email account for recruiting is trivial, yet creating a new phone number for recruiting is not. Most phones are not dua…

> yet creating a new phone number for recruiting is not

Doesn't Google Voice solve this problem? Or perhaps there are restrictions I don't know about. Of course, you still have to remember to create a burner phone number before giving out your contact info...

Re: Facebook won’t let you opt out of its phone number ‘look up’ setting

#25

Post by ardy42 » Mon, Mar 04, 2019, 5:23 AM UTC

sanxiyn wrote: post #8

Just delete the phone number. You can use two factor authentication with OTP, SMS part is unnecessary.

> Just delete the phone number.

I'd be surprised if Facebook ever deletes anything like this voluntarily. Most likely "deleting the number" just means hiding it and using it only of ad targeting and more subtle forms of profile matching.

Re: Facebook won’t let you opt out of its phone number ‘look up’ setting

#26

Post by ardy42 » Mon, Mar 04, 2019, 5:25 AM UTC

piotrkaminski wrote: post #24

potatofarmer45 wrote: post #14

This will make keeping your social media private during recruiting much much harder because rather than trying to search for your name on FB or your email, an interviewer can just search your listed contact number. Names are often not unique but phone numbers are. This matters because creating a new email account for recruiting is trivial, yet creating a new phone number for recruiting is not. Most phones are not dua…

> yet creating a new phone number for recruiting is not Doesn't Google Voice solve this problem? Or perhaps there are restrictions I don't know about. Of course, you still have to remember to create a burner phone number before giving out your contact info...

> Doesn't Google Voice solve this problem? Or perhaps there are restrictions I don't know about.

Only sort of. I wouldn't be surprised if Facebook rejects Google Voices numbers and will only accept a real-live carrier numbers. It seems pretty easy to do, given how often my GV is rejected by sleezy services I'd like to give a throwaway (e.g. peoplesearch opt-outs).

However, I'm not going to personally test this theory by attempting to give a panopticon like Facebook even my semi-throwaway GV number.

Re: Facebook won’t let you opt out of its phone number ‘look up’ setting

#27

Post by jfaat » Mon, Mar 04, 2019, 5:26 AM UTC

sanxiyn wrote: post #9

snek wrote: post #7

does facebook support otp 2fa, or just sms

Facebook supports OTP 2FA. Use it.

Does it still require you to have the Facebook app installed, or can you use a 3rd party tool like Authy now?

Re: Facebook won’t let you opt out of its phone number ‘look up’ setting

#28

Post by runn1ng » Mon, Mar 04, 2019, 5:32 AM UTC

piotrkaminski wrote: post #24

potatofarmer45 wrote: post #14

This will make keeping your social media private during recruiting much much harder because rather than trying to search for your name on FB or your email, an interviewer can just search your listed contact number. Names are often not unique but phone numbers are. This matters because creating a new email account for recruiting is trivial, yet creating a new phone number for recruiting is not. Most phones are not dua…

> yet creating a new phone number for recruiting is not Doesn't Google Voice solve this problem? Or perhaps there are restrictions I don't know about. Of course, you still have to remember to create a burner phone number before giving out your contact info...

Because of all the issues with (1) terrorists, (2) foreign state influencers, (3) spammers, Facebook tries to block Google Voice as much as possible

Re: Facebook won’t let you opt out of its phone number ‘look up’ setting

#29

Post by cmurf » Mon, Mar 04, 2019, 5:36 AM UTC

sanxiyn wrote: post #8

Just delete the phone number. You can use two factor authentication with OTP, SMS part is unnecessary.

The last time I tried to do this, about a year, it required a phone number to enable 2FA in the first place, and then it was possible to use OTP (with e.g. Google Authenticator). But once I got sucked into doing that, I couldn't delete the phone number to do only OTP without it also disabling 2FA.

Re: Facebook won’t let you opt out of its phone number ‘look up’ setting

#30

Post by pilif » Mon, Mar 04, 2019, 5:38 AM UTC

ardy42 wrote: post #26

piotrkaminski wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> yet creating a new phone number for recruiting is not Doesn't Google Voice solve this problem? Or perhaps there are restrictions I don't know about. Of course, you still have to remember to create a burner phone number before giving out your contact info...

> Doesn't Google Voice solve this problem? Or perhaps there are restrictions I don't know about. Only sort of. I wouldn't be surprised if Facebook rejects Google Voices numbers and will only accept a real-live carrier numbers. It seems pretty easy to do, given how often my GV is rejected by sleezy services I'd like to give a throwaway (e.g. peoplesearch opt-outs). However, I'm not going to personally test this theory…

Even if FB was not allowing Google Voice, you could give FB the real number and give throwaway GB numbers to recruiters.

That would solve the issue voiced by OP