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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

#111

Post by danabramov »

itronitron wrote: post #76
ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #36

Are they using a Facebook dependency? FB has a couple of libraries popular for use as UI libraries. I didn't think they phoned home, but I could be wrong.

Are you asking about React and GraphQL? I'm not sure whether they phone home but their development was certainly subsidized by abusing people's privacy.

GraphQL is a standard. It can't "phone home" any more than HTTP or JPEG could. It also belongs to a foundation now and isn't controlled by Facebook.

React is open source and doesn't include any tracking code. You're welcome to read its source on GitHub or check the npm package content.

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

#112

Post by Nextgrid »

kasey_junk wrote: post #53
robin_reala wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The good thing is that this is illegal in the EU, so they can just be sued for problematic amounts of money.

They can’t be sued. They can be reported to a proper privacy authority who can chose to do something about it or not.

And as of right now (2 years after the law went into effect) privacy regulators still don't care and nothing suggests things will change. *

I've put lots of time into raising complaints with the ICO (the privacy regulator in the UK) and even for the few complaints that were upheld (they try to find every single possible excuse not to), it still didn't have any effect and I have yet to see a proper investigation into the company or a fine.

* please don't bring up the 50M Google fine about them forcing the creation of an account while setting up an Android device. Not only is it pocket money to them (aka the cost of doing business) but this ignores the much larger problem like Google Analytics stalking everyone's behaviour across the entire Internet.

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

#113

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #37
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.

If they did, it would raise a ruckus. There's a lot of developers that rely on these dependencies, and just blocking them would cause a major backlash.

I'm wondering why this post was so unpopular. It wasn't meant to be offensive or judgmental, in any way at all.

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

#114

Post by Nextgrid »

megablast wrote: post #96
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.

Can't apps start up the facebook SDK after someone has clicked the facebook login button? If someone has already logged in with facebook, set a flag in NSUserDefaults, and start the sdk then.

I'm pretty sure they can (though another comment states the opposite and might be right), and I'm definitely sure they can even implement the whole Facebook login through standard OAuth without using any of Facebook's code.

They choose not to because 1) it's easier and 2) Facebook gives them a "cut" of the revenue in the form of free analytics and insights into how their Facebook ads are performing.

The companies decided that the value they get out of Facebook ads & analytics are worth more than their customers' privacy. Until well-enforced regulations come into play (so not the GDPR) nothing will change.

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

#115

Post by Nextgrid »

golergka wrote: post #91
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.

As an app developer, I think that I've done "Facebook SDK integration" task over 10 times at the very least. I don't think I'm the only one. It's unrealistic to expect a mobile app not to offer a user the option to login through Facebook. And yet, we don't need to integrate Facebook's binary blobs to use this SDK's main features. How about we implement the open version of Facebook SDK that uses their APIs but doesn't…

I'm certain you can implement Facebook login through standard OAuth and not have to rely on any of their code.

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

#116

Post by davb »

Monzo does this too, on every app launch on Android. They say it's to attribute referral sources but, as someone who actively chose not to have a Facebook account, I hate that they initiate any request to Facebook from my device. I'm blocking it with DNS66 but not everyone knows how or why they should consider doing this.

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

#117

Post by dublinben »

somethoughts wrote: post #70
godelski wrote: post #2

> There is nothing in the privacy policy that addresses [that data is being sent to Facebook] > The Zoom app notifies Facebook when the user opens the app, details on the user's device such as the model, the time zone and city they are connecting from, which phone carrier they are using, and a unique advertiser identifier created by the user's device which companies can use to target a user with advertisements So Zoo…

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.

Exodus Privacy will tell you what trackers are present in an Android app. They don't certify apps as "ad tracking free" but leave that decision up to you. The only certification of being ad-free is probably to be open source as well, in which case there's a large selection of apps in F-Droid which meet that requirement.

https://reports.exodus-privacy.eu.org/en/

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

#118

Post by Nextgrid »

ogre_codes wrote: post #7

Every time I read an article with FaceBook in the title I'm a little more glad that I stopped using the service a while ago. Stuck using Zoom for work, but I do use it on a semi-quarantined device so it shouldn't be able to tie it back to my old Facebook account or online activity on my desktop.

The problem isn't using Facebook. In fact, if you were knowingly using Facebook it might be considered a fair trade-off that you get stalked in exchange for getting the service for free (not saying it is right, but at least you have all the facts and can decide whether using Facebook is worth it).

The problem is that Facebook stalks you regardless of whether you have an account or not (through their SDKs embedded in pretty much every app).

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

#119

Post by callalex »

yalogin wrote: post #55

Why do people use zoom at all? I know big companies that use it. A little disconcerting that even large companies don’t ask the right questions or do the due diligence and when paying for it.

Big wigs tend to make software purchasing decisions based on marketing, features, price, and nothing else. In that order.

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

#120

Post by claudeganon »

s_dev wrote: post #29
sneak wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

NextDNS doesn't send the traffic, just DNS (and, entirely encrypted via DoH, unlike normal DNS), but if you're concerned about it, something like pi-hole does much the same thing, and is self-contained/self-hosted.

If it's not open source how do I confirm that for myself?

Agreed. I’d pay for a service that was a. open source and b. configurable to work with my own machines.
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