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Meta has banned the personal Facebook accounts for everyone on our team

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Re: Meta has banned the personal Facebook accounts for everyone on our team

#241

Post by Dylan16807 »

likpok wrote: post #85
Dylan16807 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An app downloading on behalf of the user isn't a privacy issue. Are their servers acting as a proxy? Whether that's a privacy issue depends on how they configure/limit/audit their servers.

An app downloading data on behalf of the user is basically what Cambridge Analytica was doing. The problem is that data ownership is complicated. If I know your phone number, can I share it with other people? That was CA (me downloading data about all my friends). Here the issue is private messages — is it okay for me to share the messages you sent privately to me? A lot of people will get quite upset if you do that!

> An app downloading data on behalf of the user is basically what Cambridge Analytica was doing.

That's half of it. Is the app sending the data back to the app makers? If not then it's extremely different.

Re: Meta has banned the personal Facebook accounts for everyone on our team

#242

Post by Dylan16807 »

xvector wrote: post #68
Dylan16807 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An app downloading on behalf of the user isn't a privacy issue. Are their servers acting as a proxy? Whether that's a privacy issue depends on how they configure/limit/audit their servers.

That is a naive view. If/when the app devs go malicious, it will be Meta on the legal hook for users' "stolen data." The press and users will blame Meta, not the developers of this app, or the users that unwittingly handed over their data. The headlines will say "X million Facebook users' data leaked," or "X million Facebook users hacked." Meta is acting in an entirely reasonable manner for a company under such regul…

That's a potential privacy violation.

Distinguishing "it violates privacy" and "it could violate privacy if the code was changed" is not naive.

Re: Meta has banned the personal Facebook accounts for everyone on our team

#243

Post by waitforit »

Matheus28 wrote: post #136
felipellrocha wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I mostly agree with you, banning the personal accounts from their *team* is a bit much. Specially considering how that also includes access to Instagram, and WhatsApp, WhatsApp being the biggest issue here since in many countries that is considered a way of conducting business.

I agree, it's a bit much. But they are all violating the ToS they accepted so...

By that logic, every employee of Apple/Google/Meta or at least the ones working on related projects should be handled a fine every time Apple/Google/Meta gets fined by the EU for breaking the law/abusing its position? The are violating the law after all.

Re: Meta has banned the personal Facebook accounts for everyone on our team

#244

Post by Matheus28 »

amatecha wrote: post #237
Matheus28 wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why should 3rd parties be allowed to make unauthorized api requests? Additionally, some apps are only monetized through advertisement, and 3rd party apps don't display them. How do you expect the 1st party to stay in business? I don't align with Meta on a lot of issues, but they should be able to control what apps interact with their platform. Don't like it, don't use it.

I think I should have the legal right to access private messages addressed to me by family members via the service explicitly designed to facilitate private communication between friends and family members. I don't think I should be forced to see advertisements and be subjected to historically-unprecedented surveillance to read those couple hundred bytes of text from a family member. When a platform's primary purpose…

I disagree. No one has the right to use facebook/twitter/etc as they wish, or even at all. They're not necessary for modern western society. SMS and phone calls are always an option. We aren't like China where if you don't have WeChat you can't do anything.

Re: Meta has banned the personal Facebook accounts for everyone on our team

#245

Post by josephcsible »

fzeroracer wrote: post #209
xmodem wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The 3rd party is not making the API request though. I am, just using software that didn't come from the platform vendor. Many 3rd party twitter clients have expressed a willingness to display ads if provided an API to do so. As someone who has lost precious accessibility capabilities because of restrictions on 3rd party clients, I unfortunately have to point out that I don't really have a choice of what platforms I d…

Let me offer you a question then: Do you know how much data the OG App is taking from you while you authorize it to work on your behalf? How do you know it's not reading through your entire message history? Or building its own network graph of your friends to sell? How about security? How do you know it's securely storing your credentials? Or that it's not selling said credentials as well? Like in this scenario to Fa…

Sure, there's a risk there. But it should be my choice whether or not to accept that risk, not Meta's.

Re: Meta has banned the personal Facebook accounts for everyone on our team

#246

Post by Dylan16807 »

ummonk wrote: post #63
amatecha wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What evidence do you have that this application was acting as a "proxy" where the developers can "intercept and see all data"? That's a pretty big claim to make without providing any supporting evidence.

That’s how any third party interface works. It’s a proxy that ostensibly just formats and displays the data to the user but there is no way to guarantee they don’t upload it to their own servers or something, as Cambridge Analytica did (which got Facebook in trouble)

You have a strange definition of proxy. That would make the official app a proxy too, wouldn't it?

Re: Meta has banned the personal Facebook accounts for everyone on our team

#247

Post by Matheus28 »

waitforit wrote: post #243
Matheus28 wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree, it's a bit much. But they are all violating the ToS they accepted so...

By that logic, every employee of Apple/Google/Meta or at least the ones working on related projects should be handled a fine every time Apple/Google/Meta gets fined by the EU for breaking the law/abusing its position? The are violating the law after all.

I don't see how to conclude that from my logic.

An equivalent one is a company not allowing Google employees to use their services for whatever reason. That's fine and acceptable.

Re: Meta has banned the personal Facebook accounts for everyone on our team

#248

Post by d110af5ccf »

dleslie wrote: post #138

Many folks on here might be too young to remember, but there was an era where cable companies served premium channels with a scrambled signal to all customers, and sold access by way of attaching the appropriate filter. In fact, all channels were protected in this way, with your cable box holding the necessary filters. Albeit, some were merely hidden by a band pass filter and not scrambled. Anyhow, those arguing that…

Doesn't seem like a valid analogy to me. Access to an API isn't the same thing as intentionally accessing a paid service for free.

If someone writes an app that somehow bypasses needing a Netflix account and lets you stream video from them without paying them. That would be analogous. The intent would be to illegitimately access a paid service.

Using a third party client with a valid account to access API endpoints that respond to that account. I don't see a problem with that. I don't care what the ToS says. It should not be legal to disallow that in a ToS. It also shouldn't be legal to intentionally obfuscate your APIs.

Third party clients are okay and attempting to block them is morally wrong and should not be legal.

Re: Meta has banned the personal Facebook accounts for everyone on our team

#249

Post by chaostheory »

josephcsible wrote: post #239
chaostheory wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you don't like Meta's terms, don't use Meta products and services. It's that simple. There's no indentured servitude because you're not giving Meta free work. In this case, people don't want to pay for Meta services by viewing ads. If you don't want to pay, don't use the service.

> don't use Meta products and services. It's that simple. Doesn't that basically completely cut you off from electronic communication with everyone else in most European countries, where WhatsApp has basically completely replaced SMS?

SMS didn’t disappear. You just have to pay for it with money.

WhatsApp also isn’t the only IM on the market. If you want to use it, you have to use it on their terms.I didn’t like the terms so I dont use it. I prefer paying Apple upfront with money instead of paying other companies with my privacy and attention.

Re: Meta has banned the personal Facebook accounts for everyone on our team

#250

Post by amatecha »

Matheus28 wrote: post #186
int_19h wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> some apps are only monetized through advertisement, and 3rd party apps don't display them. How do you expect the 1st party to stay in business? They're welcome to find a different business model. Why should we sacrifice interoperability for everyone for their sake?

Why should you get to use their servers and resources if they don't want you to be using them without displaying ads?

Probably because literally every single friend and family member of mine is on there and sharing their entire life there (and messaging me) and I can't take part in that. I said in another comment that once a platform provides that degree of communication, certain rights to protect the users should be applicable, to ensure we are able to participate in society without onerous cost to our mental health, dignity or privacy.
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