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Facebook Accused of Watching Instagram Users Through Cameras

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Re: Facebook Accused of Watching Instagram Users Through Cameras

#171

Post by switch11 »

noworriesnate wrote: post #73
izacus wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's one thing to enjoy benefit of doubt, it's another to just make up utterly unbelievable fringe crap that can be explained by hundreds of other explanations.

Snowden revealed a lot of stuff that was the just domain of crazy fringe theories before. Anyone morally okay with facebook's known problems would also most likely be morally okay with spying on users like this. Hence, I agree that giving them the benefit of the doubt is irrational.

yeah, people like to believe Snowden didn't happen

Look back at everything he revealed

That's LITERALLY conspiracy Theory proven to be conspiracy reality

And that guy, Keith Alexander, is now on the board of Amazon

so giving large tech companies like Google, Amazon, FB the benefit of the doubt is insanity

Re: Facebook Accused of Watching Instagram Users Through Cameras

#172

Post by switch11 »

emsy wrote: post #13

Let’s assume for a moment the story turns out to be true: would people stop using Instagram because of it?looking at the history of privacy violations and the market’s responds to it I doubt it. There is a minority of users who will feel rightfully violated in their privacy (imagine browsing instagram naked while possibly being ogled at by some creep at FB). The worst that will happen is that FB will be sanctioned to…

Yes, actually people would

Many of the people who use Instagram are ones who stopped using Facebook due to privacy issues and their grandpa and grandma showing up

They didn't know Facebook owns Instagram

Facebook is stuck in this loop where it has to keep buying competitors because its own users lose faith and leave

If Instagram didn't sell to Facebook, Facebook would be screwed

Currently, FB has Instagram, Whatsapp and Messenger

By some special deal with the Government they are trying to nuke TikTok

If that doesn't work they are in trouble

Many of the newer companies that are growing won't sell to FB

(Tik Tok, Snapchat, Telegram, etc)

Re: Facebook Accused of Watching Instagram Users Through Cameras

#173

Post by paxys »

emsy wrote: post #13

Let’s assume for a moment the story turns out to be true: would people stop using Instagram because of it?looking at the history of privacy violations and the market’s responds to it I doubt it. There is a minority of users who will feel rightfully violated in their privacy (imagine browsing instagram naked while possibly being ogled at by some creep at FB). The worst that will happen is that FB will be sanctioned to…

Of course people would stop using Instagram. A major app provably spying on you from your camera is an extremely big deal, and is something every non-tech user can easily understand.

The truth is though that as in ~100% of such sensationalist headlines there is nothing alarming in what the app is doing, which is why users don't care.

Re: Facebook Accused of Watching Instagram Users Through Cameras

#174

Post by bearcobra »

bagacrap wrote: post #103
wheybags wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If this was the case, they wouldn't have claimed it was a bug. Besides, big tech companies have lost the benefit of the doubt.

Fb* has lost benefit of the doubt. I don't understand why people read yet another story about FB's bad behavior somehow conclude all of big tech are bad guys. Is it really so hard to keep them straight?

I mean, there are plenty of stories about Google, Amazon, Apple behaving in ways that could lead someone to that conclusion. Microsoft has the best reputation to me, but I'm young enough that the EEE days don't hold much resonance.

Re: Facebook Accused of Watching Instagram Users Through Cameras

#175

Post by angel_j »

kennywinker wrote: post #165
angel_j wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't need access to your photo library either. Imagine giving access to your whole roll!

If you want to post, it needs access to your photo library or the camera. If you want to post stories, it needs access to the camera and microphone.

nah you pick a photo and select "share" then select insta

Re: Facebook Accused of Watching Instagram Users Through Cameras

#177

Post by mrguyorama »

ethanbond wrote: post #151
bitxbit wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok so we are going for the least common denominator based on your mother. Makes zero sense.

Not saying they shouldn't do it, but in a company with finite resources dedicated to the needs of 100,000,000 users, <1% of whom would ever look at such a thing, not getting around to that feature would make a non-zero amount of sense.

Reminder, this company you are saying can't possibly spend a few hundred thousand dollars to add a feature their underlying OS most likely already supports and is a definite net good for security researchers and industry watchdogs at a minimum is worth Two Trillion Dollars and has absurdly high profit margins.

Re: Facebook Accused of Watching Instagram Users Through Cameras

#178

Post by jessaustin »

august125 wrote: post #99

Mark Zuckerberg has completed his transformation into a real life Artie Ziff. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CU9X3tvTmIQ

Your comparison is apt, but for a moment I confused this character with that of Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg. Villains with a "Z"!

Re: Facebook Accused of Watching Instagram Users Through Cameras

#179

Post by izacus »

switch11 wrote: post #171
noworriesnate wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Snowden revealed a lot of stuff that was the just domain of crazy fringe theories before. Anyone morally okay with facebook's known problems would also most likely be morally okay with spying on users like this. Hence, I agree that giving them the benefit of the doubt is irrational.

yeah, people like to believe Snowden didn't happen Look back at everything he revealed That's LITERALLY conspiracy Theory proven to be conspiracy reality And that guy, Keith Alexander, is now on the board of Amazon so giving large tech companies like Google, Amazon, FB the benefit of the doubt is insanity

If you missed my point: it's one thing to give benefit of the doubt (which they don't deserve) and it's another thing to just make up dream rantings about what companies are supposedly doing with the data which can be easily checked for truth with basic understanding of underlying mechanisms.

Re: Facebook Accused of Watching Instagram Users Through Cameras

#180

Post by saagarjha »

pferde wrote: post #15
can16358p wrote: post #9

Don't want to be the devil's advocate here but just because camera is on doesn't mean anything is being recorded. As an iOS developer who worked with apps that access camera frequently, I can confidently say that it's just a UX optimization. Starting the camera takes a brief few hundred milliseconds which is easily noticable from a user perspective. By keeping the camera ready, they are making the experience smoother…

Doesn't keeping camera on increase battery drain, though? Also, with Facebook being evil and all, what's stopping them from hopping on "hey, the camera is already on, let's not waste that, and use the incoming visual data for something while we're at it" line of thinking eventually?

Many flagship apps absolutely destroy battery life. Just something users put up with…
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