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App suddenly crashing on startup due to FBSDKRestrictiveDataFilterManager.m

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Re: App suddenly crashing on startup due to FBSDKRestrictiveDataFilterManager.m

#161
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except, you know, when does a developer ever have a choice? You are asked to put the SDK in and you do it...

this, combined with a wrong past technical decision that we can not change it instantly. unfortunately it's not as easy to fix mobile bugs as it is on the web, as you have to both pass the approval process and wait for the full rollout to clients. in our case, it's just a wrong decision, we don't use it for tracking. also, if you use facebook login, the terms and conditions force you to use their SDK (which automatic…

> we don't use it for tracking

True, you're just facilitating, not profiting.

Such a clear and obvious good reason to drop support and walk away.

Re: App suddenly crashing on startup due to FBSDKRestrictiveDataFilterManager.m

#162
post #64

Waze, a google owned app for the past 4 years, crashes because of the FB app. WhatsApp, a Facebook owned app, will not give you read access to your own chat database - it’s encrypted. But they have an arrangement with Google where it’s will back up unencrypted to your Google account (though, Google won’t let you retrieve it ... only the WhatsApp app can) Everything about this duopoly, their cooperation and lack of co…

You can download your chat backups as a readable archive file. If you have iCloud mounted, these files can be found in your iCloud folders. Or do you demand that any file under your control that contains chat should be accessible, rather than just one of them?

On Android, this used to be the case, but then Facebook and Google reached an agreement in which the WhatsApp backup goes unencrypted, and doesn't count against your Google Drive quota.

You can't download it without impersonating the WhstsApp app.

Do you know if the icloud backup is encrypted or not?

Re: App suddenly crashing on startup due to FBSDKRestrictiveDataFilterManager.m

#163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm pretty sure that's the same agreement that every developer has with Google just by writing an android app and using Google APIs. You can store data on Google Drive that isn't accessible from Google Drive and only that app can read or write it.

> I'm pretty sure that's the same agreement that every developer has with Google just by writing an android app and using Google APIs. But why would WhatsApp store it unencrypted on Google Drive, and encrypted (without giving you any access to the key) on your own SD card or local backup? It makes no sense. Except ... Google and Facebook have agreed that WhatsApp stores the database unencrypted, and in return Google…

"But why would WhatsApp store it unencrypted on Google Drive, and encrypted (without giving you any access to the key) on your own SD card or local backup? It makes no sense."

The design is pretty clearly to support the bog standard backup use case of "something happened to my device, I got a new one, I want my old data".

It would be nice if they added an option to also encrypt backups, although I think it would be non trivial to design where the key material would live. (phone enclave? Multiple devices? adding/removing devices? etc) Not to mention just having the option might cause more harm than good if people turn it on and regret it.

I think their design philosophy here is likely "let's err on the side of smooth UX and let the 'end-to-end encryption is srs bzns' loonies go to signal"

Re: App suddenly crashing on startup due to FBSDKRestrictiveDataFilterManager.m

#164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple needs to promote a simple solution to switch your Spotify/whatever account from FB login to the privacy-focused Apple login. Obviously it would require app developers to implement, but Apple has a lot of power here.

This is sort of already a feature coming to iOS 14, though it's really for switching an existing account to an Apple ID login, there's nothing technically stopping a developer from using it to switch a user from FB login connected account too.

Oh that’s great, thank you. Hopefully Apple will take it a step further somehow.

Re: App suddenly crashing on startup due to FBSDKRestrictiveDataFilterManager.m

#165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm pretty sure that's the same agreement that every developer has with Google just by writing an android app and using Google APIs. But why would WhatsApp store it unencrypted on Google Drive, and encrypted (without giving you any access to the key) on your own SD card or local backup? It makes no sense. Except ... Google and Facebook have agreed that WhatsApp stores the database unencrypted, and in return Google…

So, Facebook is willing to give up data on its users, it’s highest competitive advantage, to its largest competitor, in exchange for... some commodity backup disk space?

They likely get more in return that we're unaware of ....

But, you know -- they gave the same kind of info (and much, much more) to firms like Cambridge Analytica for free for years. So perhaps they didn't even get more in return.

Facebook's purchase of WhatsApp was OKd by EU regulators subject to some constraints, e.g. that they don't use WhatsApp data to enhance FB graph and/or gain other unfair advantages. FB has since admitted to using WhatsApp metadata in violation of that constraint (and didn't even get a slap on the wrist) - and perhaps giving the data to Google is also part of playing dumb. I don't know, but I'm sure it has everything to do with benefit for FB and GOOG, and almost surely at the expense of user privacy.

Re: App suddenly crashing on startup due to FBSDKRestrictiveDataFilterManager.m

#166
post #64

Waze, a google owned app for the past 4 years, crashes because of the FB app. WhatsApp, a Facebook owned app, will not give you read access to your own chat database - it’s encrypted. But they have an arrangement with Google where it’s will back up unencrypted to your Google account (though, Google won’t let you retrieve it ... only the WhatsApp app can) Everything about this duopoly, their cooperation and lack of co…

Yes, it's definitely time for some slightly enhanced armchair activism! Convert all active whatsapp contacts to signal? 80%? 50%? Same for Facebook messenger! It needs to be uncomfortable enough - if they want to communicate with us and are minimally tech savvy ("click link to install app") they have to switch to signal . That's it. I'm starting to send out messages over my morning coffee. Let's do this together: htt…

I haven't had an account on Facebook or the like for years, and I started using Signal when it came out. I've been evangelizing it, and I never used Messenger or Whatsapp or any of those services.

The uptake? Like ~30% of the people I'd like to contact bother with it. The rest, it's even worse - we get stuck with SMS. And a lot of conversations I just miss, period, because they're groups of people in one of those other ecosystems (and missing those is a price I'm personally OK with paying, but not everybody will be).

The situation is just really bad. Signal is a good baby step forward, but it's not really the answer for most people, because they're sticky to wherever their network graph of contacts already is, and they're not going to switch just because the one weird nerd in their life isn't available there.

Re: App suddenly crashing on startup due to FBSDKRestrictiveDataFilterManager.m

#168
post #3

That’s twice in as many months. They may need some better QA here although to be fair it does seem mostly people with an older SDK version based on the comments. But still. I guess they need to cotton onto whatever server side change happened and roll it back. At least this time you can disable the SDK (at least one app developer has a kill switch for the SDK) unlike the last issue that happened during code initialis…

> They may need some better QA

There's no such thing as QA at Facebook. Really. Developers are supposedly responsible for all testing of their own code, but all of the pressure is to "move fast" so that goes about as well as you'd expect.

Re: App suddenly crashing on startup due to FBSDKRestrictiveDataFilterManager.m

#169

I fucking hate that Spotify uses this.

Use Apple Music!

Or just keep your music collection local and laugh in disbelief at these Black Mirror-esque problems.

The simple act of listening to music should not require a vast server infrastructure at the other end of the world, under control of a third party, and a working global communications network. The fact that people got used to this kind of nonsense is very, very scary to me.

Re: App suddenly crashing on startup due to FBSDKRestrictiveDataFilterManager.m

#170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can't you optimize ad performance by generating unique URLs for each campaign and then counting the number of clicks/installs per campaign on your own infrastructure?

“Can” is true but not the question at hand! If Facebook, which charges money for advertising, let go of controlling that tracking relationship, they’d lose a lot of money. So they won’t.

Doesn't Facebook charge you for clicks regardless? Given the SDK is open-source and is embedded in an app controlled by the developer, there's nothing preventing them from modifying the SDK to report false clicks if Facebook actually relied on the SDK to report ad metrics for billing purposes.
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