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Facebook Knows How to Track You Using the Dust on Your Camera Lens

gizmodo.com

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Re: Facebook Knows How to Track You Using the Dust on Your Camera Lens

#131

Post by beatgammit »

dgzl wrote: post #114
nlh wrote: post #112

I was talking to a friend today who said, fairly succinctly, that Facebook's single biggest problem is that they Totally and Royally Suck(TM) at PR. I wonder what would happen if they were just straightforward about this. "Friends you May Know is really cool! We use your phone's location data and do cross-checks on your address book to make the most intelligent suggestions. We even use some unique features of your ca…

Being upfront would bring more press... Alternatively, how many of your friends are going to read this article?

Would it? The press likes to jump on surprising news, and if everything is upfront, there's not much to report on. They could even make a way to opt out if people complain (and few would actually opt out), which would save face in the media.

I don't use Facebook because I value my privacy, and I'd probably have less success convincing people to leave the platform if they were upfront about the stuff they do. People care a lot less about their privacy than PR firms seem to realize...

Re: Facebook Knows How to Track You Using the Dust on Your Camera Lens

#132

Post by glandium »

spac wrote: post #128
glandium wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fun fact: my Android phone battery was being sucked at a fast pace last month. I don't remember exactly how it presented itself in the UI, but I ended up figuring out that the Google app was the culprit, because it was using the GPS... which I had explicitly disabled. An internet search showed I was not alone with such problems, and that the solution was to manually revoke some permissions for the app (thankfully it…

But you do have the option to purchase phones running operating systems that implement tighter and more credible controls. I believe that companies understand nothing better that consumer dollars.

The fact that I could prevent the app from using the GPS says the OS does have the tight controls already. This is not a problem of permissions model.

Also, the only non Android phones are essentially from Apple, and they are too big for my taste. (also, ridiculously expensive ; also, my wife uses iPhones, they all ended their (short) career with a swollen battery; not sure what she does with them)

Re: Facebook Knows How to Track You Using the Dust on Your Camera Lens

#133

Post by astronautjones »

BurningFrog wrote: post #106
gdulli wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know what you mean about making my life harder. I don't see what I have to gain by using location services outside the rare moments I need it. I'm gaining privacy by not keeping it on.

> I don't know what you mean about making my life harder You're spending time and effort turning this on and off. The rest of us don't.

What are you going to do with the additional ~5 minutes that not spending that time and effort has added to your life?

Re: Facebook Knows How to Track You Using the Dust on Your Camera Lens

#134

Post by spac »

shaklee3 wrote: post #107
vertexFarm wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is partially the same community that thought these violations would be a good idea in the first place, as long as we get a bit of hamfisted curated content and adtech monetization. Of course some of the invested individuals still want to defend it. Maybe just to maintain the cognitive dissonance and assure ourselves what we're doing to people is okay. Expect to be unpopular, but that's fine--popular is not the s…

The fact that Google knows where I work, and what days I work, and uses that information to alert me before I leave whether there's a better route is worth it. That feature alone can save tens of minutes to hours per week, not to mention all the other benefits.

What other benefits do you experience from sharing that information? The traffic alerts was one, but could you elaborate on the others?

Re: Facebook Knows How to Track You Using the Dust on Your Camera Lens

#135

Post by drdaeman »

nlh wrote: post #112

I was talking to a friend today who said, fairly succinctly, that Facebook's single biggest problem is that they Totally and Royally Suck(TM) at PR. I wonder what would happen if they were just straightforward about this. "Friends you May Know is really cool! We use your phone's location data and do cross-checks on your address book to make the most intelligent suggestions. We even use some unique features of your ca…

> Friends you May Know is really cool!

I've got over 9000 suggestions and not a single accurate one. Maybe they have the best technology and all the data out there, but I'm skeptical they can really use all the data they supposedly have on me.

Same goes for any targeted advertisement, not just Facebook. Some come close (based on simple topic preferences), but in all those years I've yet to see any large number of the actually useful ones. All those data mining and AI-driven targeting seem to utterly fail, suggesting me to buy a second TV after I've just already got a new one. Or subscribe to Grammarly (every second YouTube pre-roll, seriously?!), when I've already bought that.

Re: Facebook Knows How to Track You Using the Dust on Your Camera Lens

#137

Post by remarkEon »

abootstrapper wrote: post #54
remarkEon wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed. I'm wishing for a "dumb" social networking company, where the people who run it are idiots and I don't have to worry about this kind of invasive engineering (I long ago deleted my Facebook). There's always twitter, I suppose.

Can we not have smart ethical people? When did getting away with unethical or unlawful behavior become associated with “smart?”

It's always been associated with smart?

I think the point you were trying to make is that I shouldn't directly tie intelligence with unethical behavior (i.e. all smart people are unethical), and you're right. That said, my point remains ... in this age the unethical exploits will by definition be discovered and implemented by intelligent individuals.

Re: Facebook Knows How to Track You Using the Dust on Your Camera Lens

#139

Post by zoul »

glandium wrote: post #132
spac wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But you do have the option to purchase phones running operating systems that implement tighter and more credible controls. I believe that companies understand nothing better that consumer dollars.

The fact that I could prevent the app from using the GPS says the OS does have the tight controls already. This is not a problem of permissions model. Also, the only non Android phones are essentially from Apple, and they are too big for my taste. (also, ridiculously expensive ; also, my wife uses iPhones, they all ended their (short) career with a swollen battery; not sure what she does with them)

iPhone SE is small and fairly cheap.
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