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Facebook iOS SDK Remotely Crashing Spotify, TikTok, Pinterest, Winno and More

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Re: Facebook iOS SDK Remotely Crashing Spotify, TikTok, Pinterest, Winno and More

#171

Post by jeffbee »

whatthesmack wrote: post #166

We have a few thousand apps on the App Store and got bit by this today. The SDK is very useful for a smooth login experience if the user has the Facebook app installed, because your app can offer Facebook as a login option, then just pop the user over to the Facebook app, they can tap “okay” (or whatever), and jump back to your app. That said, we’re going to rip this thing out of our apps ASAP. No framework should be…

How can one developer have thousands of apps? It sounds just like a giant scattergun for malware. There are not 1000 distinct useful ways to use an iPhone.

Re: Facebook iOS SDK Remotely Crashing Spotify, TikTok, Pinterest, Winno and More

#172

Post by mayank »

Nicksil wrote: post #52
yllus wrote: post #36

For those wondering why the Facebook SDK is so widely used in popular mobile apps: Facebook Login is actually in the minority of reasons to add the Facebook SDK to your mobile app. The vast majority of apps will add the Facebook SDK because it contains Facebook App Ads; a library that "completes the circle" in terms of finding out how effectively the ads you ran on Facebook were at getting people to download, install…

>Is that "spyware"? Yes, absolutely. It uses energy and bandwidth I paid for to surreptitiously transmit my information for use which will solely benefit Facebook and the software developer.

In that sense, any sort of client-originated telemetry is spyware. And there’s an awful lot of that, starting with ICMP.

Re: Facebook iOS SDK Remotely Crashing Spotify, TikTok, Pinterest, Winno and More

#173

Post by saagarjha »

marmada wrote: post #165
Nicksil wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Is that "spyware"? Yes, absolutely. It uses energy and bandwidth I paid for to surreptitiously transmit my information for use which will solely benefit Facebook and the software developer.

I feel like I'm in the minority here -- but I don't understand the problem. Software developers want to know whether their existing marketing methods are effective. The FB SDK helps with this. You always have the choice to not install the app (if you don't want to). This also helps developers make sure their marketing is effective and reaching the right people, which seems like a win-win to me.

It is not clear to users which apps use the Facebook SDK, so they can’t avoid them even if they wanted to. And so many do include it that it’s hard to find alternative apps…

Re: Facebook iOS SDK Remotely Crashing Spotify, TikTok, Pinterest, Winno and More

#174

Post by Nicksil »

bitcrazy wrote: post #139
freeone3000 wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe they could try the novel method of charging money instead of buying ads to get users to show ads to.

For the average user out there, the fact is, most people only care about privacy when there's a breach/outage/scandal of some kind. Otherwise, the average person is not going to have "zomg fb is spyware" on their mind. If apps start charging money, there would be a significant drop in the # of average user installs. Then the app would only make money off of privacy focused users, which is comparatively small.

>For the average user out there, the fact is, most people only care about privacy when there's a breach/outage/scandal of some kind. Otherwise, the average person is not going to have "zomg fb is spyware" on their mind.

Because they don't know.

Like every industry, there are practices involved to which the layman is oblivious. It is important to remind ourselves that the reason the majority of users aren't vocalizing their concerns with these unsavory practices isn't because they don't care but because they don't know.

Re: Facebook iOS SDK Remotely Crashing Spotify, TikTok, Pinterest, Winno and More

#175

Post by fouc »

mynameisvlad wrote: post #127
ethanbond wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah. I'm thankful for the opportunity, err... requirement to trade my privacy for others to have one fewer password to deal with. And of course for Facebook to have more personal data to munch on.

I'm not really sure what the problem is here. You are perfectly free to not use Spotify, or any other app that chooses to utilize Facebook login or other components of the Facebook SDK. Spotify made their choice to use the SDK for whatever gains they get out of it, and as a customer you can choose to not use their service or app if you disagree with that. There's even comments in this HN thread that point you on how…

There should be more visibility on where a user's data is going. User's should be informed, similar to malware sites, they should be informed "this website is sending your data to the following companies" etc.

Re: Facebook iOS SDK Remotely Crashing Spotify, TikTok, Pinterest, Winno and More

#176

Post by saagarjha »

lonelappde wrote: post #160
Nicksil wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Devil's advocate: you could always not run those apps. Although for non-technical users it would be challenging to determine if the apps were transmitting that info, it's possible for technical users to detect it (assuming the info goes to an obviously-facebook url and isn't piped through e.g. spotify) But therein lies the rub: the overwhelming majority of users of software are not like you and me and have no idea w…

The resources are trivial. If you don't like it you don't have to use the app that you chose to install.

> The resources are trivial.

I think I as a user should get to decide that.

Re: Facebook iOS SDK Remotely Crashing Spotify, TikTok, Pinterest, Winno and More

#177

Post by Nicksil »

lonelappde wrote: post #160
Nicksil wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Devil's advocate: you could always not run those apps. Although for non-technical users it would be challenging to determine if the apps were transmitting that info, it's possible for technical users to detect it (assuming the info goes to an obviously-facebook url and isn't piped through e.g. spotify) But therein lies the rub: the overwhelming majority of users of software are not like you and me and have no idea w…

The resources are trivial. If you don't like it you don't have to use the app that you chose to install.

>The resources are trivial.

Some of them aren't, though. The Facebook SDK isn't a trivial resource. It also depends a lot on the specific device the software is being loaded on to. It may be trivial to a newer device or one with upgraded hardware, but perhaps not so with baseline hardware or devices several years old.

>If you don't like it you don't have to use the app that you chose to install.

This argument may work with someone working in the software industry, but falls flat the moment the implied obligation is place on the unsuspecting.

Re: Facebook iOS SDK Remotely Crashing Spotify, TikTok, Pinterest, Winno and More

#179

Post by RandallBrown »

jeffbee wrote: post #171
whatthesmack wrote: post #166

We have a few thousand apps on the App Store and got bit by this today. The SDK is very useful for a smooth login experience if the user has the Facebook app installed, because your app can offer Facebook as a login option, then just pop the user over to the Facebook app, they can tap “okay” (or whatever), and jump back to your app. That said, we’re going to rip this thing out of our apps ASAP. No framework should be…

How can one developer have thousands of apps? It sounds just like a giant scattergun for malware. There are not 1000 distinct useful ways to use an iPhone.

A consulting company or a company that makes "white label" apps like for restaurants or stores.

Re: Facebook iOS SDK Remotely Crashing Spotify, TikTok, Pinterest, Winno and More

#180

Post by [deleted] »

jeffbee wrote: post #171
whatthesmack wrote: post #166

We have a few thousand apps on the App Store and got bit by this today. The SDK is very useful for a smooth login experience if the user has the Facebook app installed, because your app can offer Facebook as a login option, then just pop the user over to the Facebook app, they can tap “okay” (or whatever), and jump back to your app. That said, we’re going to rip this thing out of our apps ASAP. No framework should be…

How can one developer have thousands of apps? It sounds just like a giant scattergun for malware. There are not 1000 distinct useful ways to use an iPhone.

[deleted]
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