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Facebook still ‘secretly’ tracks your iPhone

forbes.com

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Re: Facebook still ‘secretly’ tracks your iPhone

#211

Post by zepto »

thebean11 wrote: post #181
zepto wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They reflect very well. Now that this vulnerability has been identified, they can fix it and solve the problem for their users.

They could fix the problem regardless of whether the app was downloaded from the app store, a third party store, or just sideloaded, so I don't see what you're getting at.

It sounds like you are saying this issue is irrelevant to the App Store.

So how can it reflect badly on their case?

The way it reflects well, is to notice that this is a small hole in their privacy measures which can easily be fixed, and the only reason we are talking about it is that for the most part their privacy controls work well. I.e. it demonstrates their seriousness about privacy.

Re: Facebook still ‘secretly’ tracks your iPhone

#212

Post by NoImmatureAdHom »

tgragnato wrote: post #180
NoImmatureAdHom wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are lying when they say this. I promise you Facebook MITMs WhatsApp communications for oppressive regimes.

I think someone caught the app dumping private keys to crashlogs.whatsapp.net But a MITM should still be visible More details?

For example:

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/1/26/iran-blocks-signal-...

Q: Why would Iran block Signal but not WhatsApp if they actually use the exact same protocol? A: Because Facebook has cut a deal with the regime to give them access to things they could not get access to with Signal

I suppose it could be that blocking WhatsApp would cause too much disruption, so the Iranian regime tolerates it for now, but I put much more weight on Facebook just rolling over.

There are other instances of WhatsApp being allowed and other allegedly as-secure platforms being banned. It could be chance or network effects, but my guess is that Facebook has built in tools to comply with those regimes' spying demands. Perhaps they even push locale-specific versions of the app.

Re: Facebook still ‘secretly’ tracks your iPhone

#213

Post by NoImmatureAdHom »

shawnz wrote: post #163
NoImmatureAdHom wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

WhatsApp is closed source, so you have no idea what it's doing. And they can push an update doing whatever they wish to you at any moment. You have to rely on Facebook pinky-swearing that it is what they say it is. And I promise you it isn't what they say it is.

Being open source isn't necessary or sufficient to be able to audit a piece of software. Software can be audited even if it's closed source (for example by reverse engineering, although it's more difficult), and even if it's open source it might still be impractically difficult for non-experts to audit.

"more difficult" is an understatement!

I agree that FOSS doesn't solve all ills. It's a necessary step, though.

Re: Facebook still ‘secretly’ tracks your iPhone

#214

Post by [deleted] »

doggosphere wrote: post #182
nr2x wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any sufficiently advanced form of advertising is indistinguishable from malware.

Doesn't seem to fit the definition of malware: Malware is any software intentionally designed to cause damage to a computer, server, client, or computer network. A wide variety of malware types exist, including computer viruses, worms, Trojan horses, ransomware, spyware, adware, rogue software, wiper and scareware.

[deleted]

Re: Facebook still ‘secretly’ tracks your iPhone

#215

Post by b3morales »

Nextgrid wrote: post #193
jeromegv wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not obvious. You are uploading a photo to send to a friend, you don't know or expect that where this photo was taken is automatically used by Facebook to target you. Hell, most people wouldn't even know that the EXIF has the location.

To be fair, this is more of a legal and ethical problem than a technology problem. Photo geolocation metadata has legitimate uses, the problem isn't that the metadata is there per-se but that it's being used for nefarious purposes without the user's knowledge nor consent.

Technology could help out here, though. It would be nice for there to also be an explicit switch in device settings allowing the user to choose whether the GPS data should be included when the camera takes a photo. This would be separate from location services being enabled.

Re: Facebook still ‘secretly’ tracks your iPhone

#216

Post by suramya_tomar »

RyanHamilton wrote: post #210
motohagiography wrote: post #150

Beginning to think the reason security is so difficult is because ostensibly "good" companies do everything an attacker does and worse, but under the guise of EULAs. Here's a thought experiement: If Facebook were malware, could you get rid of it?

On my previous samsung phone I literally couldn't remove facebook. It claimed to be an OS level app and refused to uninstall.

Its the same on the S21 Ultra, you can't uninstall the app but you can disable it.

Re: Facebook still ‘secretly’ tracks your iPhone

#218

Post by fooker »

tgragnato wrote: post #180
NoImmatureAdHom wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are lying when they say this. I promise you Facebook MITMs WhatsApp communications for oppressive regimes.

I think someone caught the app dumping private keys to crashlogs.whatsapp.net But a MITM should still be visible More details?

Law enforcement has access to a list of people who forwarded particular links or media. This indicates that e2e has some bypasses or exceptions. It would be pretty much impossible to unearth the details though.

Re: Facebook still ‘secretly’ tracks your iPhone

#219

Post by cvwright »

motohagiography wrote: post #159
cj wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but only if everyone else was convinced it was malware, too. "Facebook invades privacy" is still a minority opinion among their user base (whether we like it or not).

Not sure you'd need everyone, it would be a product. Apple has been aiming to become that product, because I've said before that Apple is primarily a privacy company with a bunch of entertainment features. It also means that competing with Apple isn't about design, it's also mainly about providing privacy. Their whole recipe is the complementary packaging of the two orthogonal concepts of entertainment and privacy. I…

We should all work on starting the next Apples.

Re: Facebook still ‘secretly’ tracks your iPhone

#220

Post by cvwright »

2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #143
seoaeu wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Be the change you want to see" doesn't really work for society level collective action problems. My concern with Facebook isn't that they have too much information about me, it is that they know too much about my country's citizens in aggregate (and thus can manipulate them). Whether I opt out has a real impact on me, but zero impact on whether they can run disinformation campaigns and swing elections.

>Whether I opt out has a real impact on me, but zero impact on whether they can run disinformation campaigns and swing elections. Being the change you want to see doesn't automatically mean the world changes. It just means live with principles regardless of external factors. You don't like Facebook? Then don't use Facebook. It's as simple as that. Others can take it or leave it. I just see it as people complaining ab…

> You don't like Facebook? Then don't use Facebook

It’s hard though, because what alternative do people have?

I didn’t log in to my Facebook account for 7 years, and I got way out of touch with most of my old friends in different cities.

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