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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

#161
post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's past time for us to get serious and apply HIPAA-style protection to the storage and transmission of PII, without exemptions. Companies like Facebook will complain loudly that they won't be able to survive, but that is not our problem. If we pass legislation with teeth, they will need to change their business model. That would be the point.

I disagree with this — more regulation will make it harder to innovate. For example, I’ve met several founders who wanted to enable tele-medicine years ago but decided against it because “the lawyers cost more than the engineers”, and walking-on-eggshells destroys morale & iteration speed. I’m not arguing to de-regulate heath data — my point is that we should selectively apply regulation. It’s likely a great thing to…

>I’ve met several founders who wanted to enable tele-medicine years ago but decided against it because “the lawyers cost more than the engineers”, and walking-on-eggshells destroys morale & iteration speed.

Thankfully so - I wouldn't want my telemedicine to rely on eg. some random unsecured Mongodb instance.

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

#162

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.

It's probably used for install tracking. Apple doesn't provide a way to know how a user found your app, but Facebook does. This is why the app I work on uses the Facebook SDK. Basically, we want to know how effective our Facebook ads are at getting actual installs.

So, do you get permission from the users to send this information to Facebook? Can they decline?

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

#163
I'd love to throw stones here but I'm just used to it. The official way of installing Ubuntu linux (and many other distros such as Mint) from a Mac, for example, uses a giant bloated piece of crap that includes not just the Facebook SDK but also the Google Analytics stack! I think it's a lost cause. There simply aren't enough good software developers active in the world and these SDKs can make it easy or possible for developers to ship product.

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

#165
post #62
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.

I’m surprised Zoom is happy for Facebook to know exactly who its customers are. This is information that could be used against the company at some point, for example if FB made a video conferencing play.

Zoom uses Facebook login.

Zoom also buys ads on Facebook, so integrates the SDK for attribution.

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

#166
post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's past time for us to get serious and apply HIPAA-style protection to the storage and transmission of PII, without exemptions. Companies like Facebook will complain loudly that they won't be able to survive, but that is not our problem. If we pass legislation with teeth, they will need to change their business model. That would be the point.

I disagree with this — more regulation will make it harder to innovate. For example, I’ve met several founders who wanted to enable tele-medicine years ago but decided against it because “the lawyers cost more than the engineers”, and walking-on-eggshells destroys morale & iteration speed. I’m not arguing to de-regulate heath data — my point is that we should selectively apply regulation. It’s likely a great thing to…

This is innovation in the wrong direction... against our privacy and consent for the benefit of a company whom I may not want to give this data to and whom didn't clarify that's what was happening. It's corporate malfeasance, and if you think it should be unrestricted "innovation" then you're probably on the creepy side of the Big Brother-like data-gathering monster.

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

#167
post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not every business has to be viable for a startup. I'd rather a company that can't afford a single lawyer not have access to my personal information. If that means pricing them out of it through regulation, then so be it.

Then don't use the startup? Not everyone has the same calculus as you. You don't need regulation in order for you to not use a product.

Regulation exists to protect citizens at scale. “Don’t use the business” isn’t how we’ve built society, rightfully so. If you believe the regulation to be onerous, fix it.

One is not entitled to do whatever one wants to generate a profit, at the detriment to uneducated or unsophisticated citizens, or society as a whole.

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

#168
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…

pi-hole

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

#169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then don't use the startup? Not everyone has the same calculus as you. You don't need regulation in order for you to not use a product.

Regulation exists to protect citizens at scale. “Don’t use the business” isn’t how we’ve built society, rightfully so. If you believe the regulation to be onerous, fix it. One is not entitled to do whatever one wants to generate a profit, at the detriment to uneducated or unsophisticated citizens, or society as a whole.

I guess vote with your wallet isn't a thing anymore?

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

#170
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I deployed a VPN+PiHole on a micro ec2 instance for use from my iOS devices. Works great. First i installed pihole and configured, then used this https://github.com/jawj/IKEv2-setup to setup the vpn. Took about 30 mins. Works great!

Why do you trust AWS more with your traffic than an ISP?

For me the value is more about having ad blocking at the dns level and the vpn is just a way to get that on iOS/Android devices where I don’t control dns servers. When out and about on 4G, pages load a lot faster with all the garbage blocked.
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