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

vice.com

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

#61

Post by om42 »

sneak wrote: post #13

Reminder: The NextDNS iOS app allows you to monitor and block these types of requests from all of your apps, via their DNS logging/filtering. (You can also configure the retention on the DNS logging, so as to not cause more toxic waste data.) I can't recommend it enough. Until/unless we get something like Little Snitch for the phone (are you listening, Apple?!), this is the next best thing.

NextDNS is great, set it up on all my devices a few back when there was a post on here about it. Uninstalled a few apps just from seeing the number of requests they were sending even when I didn't use those apps frequently.

Like its mentioned in this discussion, using the FB SDK will result in apps sending requests to FB. Found a banking app I use was doing this...

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

#62

Post by mpclark »

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.

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.

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

#63

Post by 3minus1 »

modzu wrote: post #49
leggomylibro wrote: post #19

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.

note the reason hippa exists has nothing to do with protecting individuals; it was drafted to protect the insurance companies. it is absolutely not that health data is somehow "private" enough to warrant some special protection for the persons themselves

I never heard this before. Can you explain how it protects insurance companies?

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

#64

Post by netsharc »

node-bayarea wrote: post #59

I see that as Zoom's stock price is increasing, people are writing hit pieces against it! Good job!

Such "hail corporate"... How about you look at it another way: the stock price is increasing because the app just got super popular the last few days, but users might not be aware of the privacy implications of the app, and curious experts started digging into it to see if it's a safe app.

It'd be like saying the people who were investigating Dieselgate were doing it because they wanted to destroy VW's stock price, instead of caring about the health of humans.

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

#65

Post by phwd »

At the risk of pointing to the documentation,

graph-facebook-com/app/activities is an endpoint used by 3rd party developers working with Facebook SDKs to send app analytic data for insights.

https://developers.facebook.com/docs/marketing-api/app-event... http://www.facebook.com/analytics https://business.facebook.com/events_manager/app/events

This is what a URL can look like.

graph-facebook-com/1106907002683888/activities?method=POST&event=MOBILE_APP_INSTALL&anon_id=1&advertiser_tracking_enabled=1&application_tracking_enabled=1&custom_events=[{%22_eventName%22:%22fb_mobile_purchase%22,}]

If you click the above you'll litter my analytics feed for my app 1106907002683888 with junk data.

Just in case, someone was looking for the specific call talked about because I couldn't find it linked in Vice's article.

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

#66

Post by xmprt »

julianozen wrote: post #20

To clarify, having just worked with the Facebook SDK library for my company's codebase, I dont think it is possible to setup the SDK without this happening. Disclaimer: I do not know what the FacebookSDK does after you call it's launch methods but I am pretty certain that they are required for a least some versions of the SDK. If you are a Zoom user who is not using a Facebook account, I believe the only info Faceboo…

Can't they fingerprint the device? The fact that Zoom was launched on a specific device is still a lot more information than I would be comfortable giving up if I don't use Facebook at all.

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

#68

Post by bosswipe »

In my experience developers that integrate the FB SDK into their apps just copy-paste whatever code snippet Facebook tells them to do, which is always maximum data capture, without thinking of any of the implications. There's usually a way to limit data leakage while using the minimum FB functionality you want, such as only using FB for login without sending every damn app event to Facebook.

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

#69

Post by lwf »

lacker wrote: post #56
product50 wrote: post #51

The world is facing such a massive crisis, people are getting laid off, and here on HN/Vice, they are discussing why a VC app is sending an anonymized link to Facebook.

Does it really make sense to call it a "VC app" when Zoom is a public company worth more than Ford or GM?

"Video Conferencing app", not venture capital.

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

#70

Post by somethoughts »

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.
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