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Facebook can now read your texts

tony.calileo.com

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Re: Facebook can now read your texts

#31

Post by nl »

anaphor wrote: post #17
kevinmchugh wrote: post #2

At this point I'm running at least 2 versions behind on the facebook app. I didn't install it last time it asked me to allow it to "Send emails to guests [of events] without host's knowledge" among other things. I see now that they also want to be able to connect and disconnect from WiFi. The Facebook app is probably the fastest way to find a list of all permissions in the Android system. "Draw over other apps", "Rea…

"view Wi-Fi connections". Hmm, is there a reason it also needs the geolocation permission and that? Are they gathering their own geolocation data bootstrapped from google's somehow?

The "view Wi-Fi connections" thing is probably for the free Facebook WiFi access thing[1].

[1] https://www.facebook.com/help/126760650808045

Re: Facebook can now read your texts

#32

Post by uptown »

jonobird1 wrote: post #7

Does anyone know what they are using this feature for exactly?

It helps expand their social-graph beyond what you've shared on their platform. It also gives them access to geolocation information for users that haven't shared it previously, as photos shared over text messages may contain geo-location coordinate information. It likely also gives them context about where people are, what they're doing, who they're talking to the most, and what they're communicating about so they can deliver more context-aware advertising.

But if you ask them - they'll say it helps them deliver a better experience for their users and helps connect people, and that's what people really want ... to be more-connected.

Re: Facebook can now read your texts

#33

Post by chrsstrm »

Not just Facebook. There are many apps that are overstepping in terms of permissions. I turned off auto-update long ago and removed many offenders, but it seems every app these days is now requesting as many privileges as they can get away with. The general population of users aren't reading the list of new permissions on updates and no one is making these co's explain themselves as to why they need listed permissions. I asked an engineer behind an app I wanted to use that paired with a paid service I love why they needed access to my contacts, considering my contact list wasn't part of the core service. I told him read access to my contacts and full network access made me wary; what would keep them from reading and storing all my contacts on their server? His only response was that they promised not to do anything nefarious. I should not have to root my phone to use apps while protecting my personal data. Android User Profiles sounded very promising to keep private away from social, but my experience testing this feature out on the Nexus 7 was terrible.

Re: Facebook can now read your texts

#34

Post by stakecounter »

nl wrote: post #30
ericcumbee wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

am I crazy or could they not just include a uri to the facebook app with the 2 factor auth token included as an argument?

Yes of course. But this allows them to automate that process. Typical tradeoff: It's a nice feature, but adding it requires permissions that are off-putting to some users. I'm not sure there is a good solution here.

The good solution is in Android's hands and is to allow on demand permission requests after the app is installed.

Re: Facebook can now read your texts

#35

Post by nl »

stakecounter wrote: post #34
nl wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes of course. But this allows them to automate that process. Typical tradeoff: It's a nice feature, but adding it requires permissions that are off-putting to some users. I'm not sure there is a good solution here.

The good solution is in Android's hands and is to allow on demand permission requests after the app is installed.

I remember when Symbian did that. God it was awful!

But perhaps if it were implemented better it might make some sense.

Re: Facebook can now read your texts

#36

Post by Maxious »

stakecounter wrote: post #34
nl wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes of course. But this allows them to automate that process. Typical tradeoff: It's a nice feature, but adding it requires permissions that are off-putting to some users. I'm not sure there is a good solution here.

The good solution is in Android's hands and is to allow on demand permission requests after the app is installed.

Android does on demand permission requests for premium SMS sending. now to just scale that to anything an app developer wants to make optional.

Re: Facebook can now read your texts

#37

Post by JohnTHaller »

comex wrote: post #26
jmreid wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can't you already disable access to Contact, Calendar, Reminders, location, etc per app on the iPhone?

Yes. And of course no app can read your text messages in the first place there.

Well, they could read all that other stuff by default with no warning previously until all sorts of apps abused it. Then Apple had to add in the prompts for things like reading Contacts. I'd imagine the Android devs are working on similar since the list of permissions model is breaking down.

Re: Facebook can now read your texts

#40

Post by mladenkovacevic »

kevinmchugh wrote: post #2

At this point I'm running at least 2 versions behind on the facebook app. I didn't install it last time it asked me to allow it to "Send emails to guests [of events] without host's knowledge" among other things. I see now that they also want to be able to connect and disconnect from WiFi. The Facebook app is probably the fastest way to find a list of all permissions in the Android system. "Draw over other apps", "Rea…

Yeah this is the update I stopped at too.. Now I might just delete the Facebook app because I hate constantly seeing that there is an update waiting for me.
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