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Zoom iOS app sends data to Facebook even if you don’t have a Facebook account

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Re: Zoom iOS app sends data to Facebook even if you don’t have a Facebook account

#251

Post by ktta »

ladfjkl wrote: post #233
st3fan wrote: post #26

EVERY. SINGLE. APP. THAT. INCLUDES. THE. FACEBOOK. SDK. Even if you don't log in. The Facebook SDK sends data back. Hook your device up to an intercepting proxy and start up a few apps. 99% of them do this. I really wish Apple would put an end to this.

Has anyone tried the Lockdown app? https://9to5mac.com/2019/07/24/lockdown-ios-firewall-open-so... It looks promising, and has been posted to HN a few times, but nobody has commented on it. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20519456

There's also Guardian Firewall, which is built (or atleast started by) a well known iOS jailbreaker

https://9to5mac.com/2019/08/05/guardian-firewall-vpn-ios-app...

Re: Zoom iOS app sends data to Facebook even if you don’t have a Facebook account

#252

Post by wolco »

munk-a wrote: post #173
gowld wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are allowed to look at you and take notes and sell them.

Depending on the specifics they may not be. I live in a Condo tower and my mailbox isn't visible from the street, so if you decided to take notes on me as I read my mail you'd be trespassing. The specific scenario isn't the point - but the fact that a semi-obvious scenario could be incorrect sorta is. Regulations are complex and tech has a terrible history of playing fast and loose with regulations so it's not like a…

Being in a public area in a private business doesn't afford you that privacy. The trepassing charge would be possible if a security guard asked the person to leave.

Re: Zoom iOS app sends data to Facebook even if you don’t have a Facebook account

#254

Post by dylan604 »

samstave wrote: post #197

So facebook sent me a cease and desist threat for revealing that they were tracking all vehicles driving by their campus and then telling the city of menlo park of this. So facebook, i want you to cease and desist in tracking anything and everything about me or anyone who wants nothing to do with your leviathan of bullshit tracking or pay out the ass and prove all my data has been deleted, and provide me a manner wit…

>So facebook sent me a cease and desist threat for revealing that they were tracking all vehicles driving by their campus and then telling the city of menlo park of this.

Do you have a blog or some such going into more details? This raises all sorts of curiousness. How did you find out this is what was going on? What justifications did FB claim for doing the tracking? What justifications did FB claim for stopping you from talking about it? As the Robot says "Data inadequate!"

Re: Zoom iOS app sends data to Facebook even if you don’t have a Facebook account

#255

Post by pcmaffey »

gpanders wrote: post #180
jedberg wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ironically, those orgs have themselves been accused of being pay-to-play -- if you give them enough money they will certify you organic. Since it's industry run, there is no one checking that the organic certifiers are legit. It's turtles all the way down. The only legit solution is the government, because they are the only ones without a profit motive in the whole system (although they can be bribed, but that's a wh…

They may be without a profit motive but individual bureaucrats and legislators certainly have a power motive which is often just as, if not more, insidious.

Which is why campaign finance reform is essential.

Re: Zoom iOS app sends data to Facebook even if you don’t have a Facebook account

#256

Post by exotree »

wideasleep1 wrote: post #245
exotree wrote: post #241

Here’s a reality for folks: right now, Zoom is literally saving entire corporations and jobs in the midst of a global pandemic. Outside this little bubble, no one is blinking twice at this, and neither is our government; frankly, and that’s how it should be. The benefits of Zoom actually _even working at all_ during this time is to be applauded and the engineers and customer service reps should be applauded. This...…

Welcome, Zoom employee. The 'privileged' condescension tact will not win friends and influence people. Have you tried meet.jit.si? It's secure and free, no account or download needed. Cheers.

I’m an independent contractor with no ties to the company in any capacity

Re: Zoom iOS app sends data to Facebook even if you don’t have a Facebook account

#257

Post by pcmaffey »

arielm wrote: post #101
somethoughts wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Similar to how we have organizations which can certify whether produce is organic or not, we need organizations which can certify whether apps and websites are certified ad tracking free.

We (Appfigures) are scanning apps for SDKs so we know which trackers, analytics, location trackers apps are using. We’re working on a way to make that data accessible to app developers so they can learn from competitors, but having a simple way to tell if an app tracks you that doesn’t require signing up or anything like that could be an interesting idea. Would you actually check an app before downloading/using it?

The key here would be for you to become a search engine of apps that are "3rd-party tracking free", and then build trust with customers who value that and become a destination for app discovery.

For developers, additional traffic becomes an incentive to comply.

Re: Zoom iOS app sends data to Facebook even if you don’t have a Facebook account

#258

Post by AnthonyMouse »

wilg wrote: post #234
AnthonyMouse wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I really wish Apple would put an end to this. This is what really gives lie to the whole walled garden thing. Its selling point is supposed to be in Apple preventing things like this, but here we are in reality and they don't. Meanwhile they do e.g. prevent Signal from replacing Apple's default app for SMS, which has no purpose other than to create barriers for cross-platform competitors to the default apps.

Terrible take. They use it to apply many security and privacy policies! Just not the one we're talking about now. Difficult to figure out how to actually do this, especially so without a crazy UX. They should figure out the default apps thing. Though I don't know what you'd need for SMS, there's not much system integration there besides Siri (which I think supports plugins) and maybe sms: links?

> They use it to apply many security and privacy policies!

Have you read the guidelines? Many words requiring you to use and not discourage users from using Apple's in-app purchasing system (which they get a large cut of), prohibiting you from trying to compete with the App Store or similar, prohibiting app-alternatives they don't control (like remote desktop into a cloud server), requiring "Sign in with Apple" if you use another third party sign in service and that sort of thing.

There is a privacy section, but the dirty secret is that they have very little power to enforce it against premeditated abuses. Companies add a feature to their app that gives them a pretext for uploading your data to their servers, and then there is no way for the user or Apple to verify what happens to it from there or determine actual compliance with the privacy policy.

So the policies with a compliance enforcement mechanism are the ones that benefit Apple and the ones that are supposed to benefit users in practice don't have one.

> Difficult to figure out how to actually do this, especially so without a crazy UX.

Actually not so hard in that specific case. They could run the app and not sign in with a Facebook account, and if it tries to contact Facebook servers anyway, reject it.

> They should figure out the default apps thing. Though I don't know what you'd need for SMS, there's not much system integration there besides Siri (which I think supports plugins) and maybe sms: links?

They prohibit it on purpose. Signal isn't allowed to send and receive SMS on iOS:

https://support.signal.org/hc/en-us/articles/360007321171-Ca...

> Apple does not allow other apps to replace the default SMS/messaging app.

The "Firefox" on iOS isn't even actually Firefox, it's required to use Apple's browser engine.

Re: Zoom iOS app sends data to Facebook even if you don’t have a Facebook account

#259

Post by dylan604 »

exotree wrote: post #241

Here’s a reality for folks: right now, Zoom is literally saving entire corporations and jobs in the midst of a global pandemic. Outside this little bubble, no one is blinking twice at this, and neither is our government; frankly, and that’s how it should be. The benefits of Zoom actually _even working at all_ during this time is to be applauded and the engineers and customer service reps should be applauded. This...…

>Zoom is literally saving entire corporations

So, this is the one SV disruptor that is actually changing the world? I hope you didn't break your arm reaching around to pat yourself on the back with that one.

>Outside this little bubble, no one is blinking twice at this,

Might I suggest stepping out of your bubble to realize that the world is not going to end because of the lack of a video conference. People are sheep. Fire is hot and water is wet. "People are not blinking twice" is not the hill you want to die on. You might as well say "people are stupid, and we can take advantage of them". At least that would be honest.

Build an app. If it is good and people want it, they will pay for it. If you want to make it free by selling the data you harvest from the users, then be up front about it and let the users decide. As you stated, people are not "blinking twice". Since you are not up front about it, then any good will you might have earned is out the window.

Re: Zoom iOS app sends data to Facebook even if you don’t have a Facebook account

#260

Post by samstave »

dylan604 wrote: post #254
samstave wrote: post #197

So facebook sent me a cease and desist threat for revealing that they were tracking all vehicles driving by their campus and then telling the city of menlo park of this. So facebook, i want you to cease and desist in tracking anything and everything about me or anyone who wants nothing to do with your leviathan of bullshit tracking or pay out the ass and prove all my data has been deleted, and provide me a manner wit…

>So facebook sent me a cease and desist threat for revealing that they were tracking all vehicles driving by their campus and then telling the city of menlo park of this. Do you have a blog or some such going into more details? This raises all sorts of curiousness. How did you find out this is what was going on? What justifications did FB claim for doing the tracking? What justifications did FB claim for stopping you…

..
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