Facebook scans system libraries on Android and uploads them to their server • Hacker News Board

Re: Facebook scans system libraries on Android and uploads them to their server

#151

Post by wilg » Sat, Aug 31, 2019, 12:43 AM UTC

bubble_talk wrote: post #150

We should create a "privacy hall of shame" (I was tempted to call it the "privacy offender registry") and list the names of all the employees who work on these features, along with an easy-to-read blurb which explains how the feature could be misused. Bonus points for linking to their social profile. If you cannot find the actual person, go up the org chart and list the person closest on the hierarchy. Not that it is…

This is called "Doxing"[1] and it's a form of harassment and a violation of privacy.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doxing

Re: Facebook scans system libraries on Android and uploads them to their server

#152

Post by TuringNYC » Sat, Aug 31, 2019, 12:53 AM UTC

saagarjha wrote: post #5

I'd expect that they're doing this because they'd like to diagnose crashes or bugs on systems that they don't have the hardware for. It's still somewhat creepy and possibly a fingerprinting mechanism.

Wouldn’t a hash of the lib achieve the same end result, especially now that they already have a large sample of actual?

Re: Facebook scans system libraries on Android and uploads them to their server

#153

Post by jammygit » Sat, Aug 31, 2019, 1:00 AM UTC

I find it unsettling in general that some app has the ability to do this. What are our other apps up to?

How good is the sand boxing on iOS?

Re: Facebook scans system libraries on Android and uploads them to their server

#154

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Aug 31, 2019, 1:12 AM UTC

annadane wrote: post #39

How does the internal culture at FB come to grips with the world's vision of them as creepy and amoral and still do stuff like this anyway?

[deleted]

Re: Facebook scans system libraries on Android and uploads them to their server

#155

Post by aledalgrande » Sat, Aug 31, 2019, 1:16 AM UTC

dmitrygr wrote: post #47

javagram wrote: post #43

I was going to say this isn’t a big deal but copying and uploading the libraries is actually illegal (copyright violation) and users likely can’t even consent to this even if it is in the Facebook ToS as many android phones contain proprietary libraries not licensed for redistribution. The creators of those various libraries should have a valid legal case against Facebook here, if they want to exercise it. I doubt an…

Some older android devices running newer lineage/AICP/etc builds include a few libraries I wrote (in their entirety) for compatibility of old vendor prebuilts with new android versions - libdgv1 & libdmitry. Maybe I should C&D FB for laughs?

Go for it bud!

Re: Facebook scans system libraries on Android and uploads them to their server

#156

Post by aledalgrande » Sat, Aug 31, 2019, 1:20 AM UTC

avgDev wrote: post #114

cjarrett wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you do care, you get filtered out.

Theranos is the prime example of this. Whoever, was negative about the product in a way was removed. If one questioned a promise of the product because it was IMPOSSIBLE they got fired.

The "not a team player" case.

Re: Facebook scans system libraries on Android and uploads them to their server

#157

Post by aledalgrande » Sat, Aug 31, 2019, 1:26 AM UTC

Wonder if they're also doing creepy stuff with the other apps they bought (Instagram, Whatsapp)

Re: Facebook scans system libraries on Android and uploads them to their server

#158

Post by 15155 » Sat, Aug 31, 2019, 1:44 AM UTC

javagram wrote: post #43

I was going to say this isn’t a big deal but copying and uploading the libraries is actually illegal (copyright violation) and users likely can’t even consent to this even if it is in the Facebook ToS as many android phones contain proprietary libraries not licensed for redistribution. The creators of those various libraries should have a valid legal case against Facebook here, if they want to exercise it. I doubt an…

Video game anti-cheat software has done this for ages.

Re: Facebook scans system libraries on Android and uploads them to their server

#159

Post by lightedman » Sat, Aug 31, 2019, 1:58 AM UTC

wrs wrote: post #31

ErikAugust wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't just send a list of libraries, it actually uploads the libraries [1]. You seriously think that's a good use of bandwidth? [1] https://twitter.com/wongmjane/status/1167463077748436993?s=2...

Given the Wild West nature of Android, there may be no other possible way to get that version of that system library to debug something.

And what if that library that is uploaded is one that I wrote with no designed intent of public distribution?

It is wholesale going after every library on the system, AFAICT.

Re: Facebook scans system libraries on Android and uploads them to their server

#160

Post by saagarjha » Sat, Aug 31, 2019, 2:32 AM UTC

jammygit wrote: post #153

I find it unsettling in general that some app has the ability to do this. What are our other apps up to? How good is the sand boxing on iOS?

Sandboxing on iOS would not stop this sort of thing. Not that this would be useful on iOS, some all the libraries are combined into one file, mapped into every process, and easy to grab from a firmware image. (I guess this could be useful if you’re trying to debug something on an internal install?)