A few days ago I was immersed in a debate with an acquaintance about the pros and cons of using Facebook. He told me that they were all pros, that there were no cons, to which I replied that Facebook violates our intimacy and privacy, that this is more harmful than is believed, etc.
Facebook not only has all the information that we put on our wall, but also the geographic location of places we have attended, everything that we had published before on Instagram and now all the information or data that exists on WhatsApp, in addition to much more information such as everything we talk about in chats and etc ... but apparently this is not enough for them, now Facebook also wants to read the content of our SMS.
This I have read a few weeks ago on FromAndroid.net (and I want to share it here so that more people are aware). According to our friend Alain, in the new update of the Facebook application for Android (free application, what good vibes are those of Facebook right? … ¬_¬) the application now asks us to confirm or accept the new permissions it will have on the Android device and its information, now it wants us to confirm that it (the application) and the owners (Facebook) will be able to have access to read our SMS and MMS:
As you can see in the photo, they are new permits waiting to be approved by us. This was first mentioned by a user on Reddit, where in addition the comments of many users seem to indicate that already before the Facebook application for Android could read our SMS, but they had not requested our permission to do so, now they do request it to avoid any type of lawsuit or scandal.
Let's review once again everything that Facebook knows about us:
- Everything we have talked to anyone through their messaging or chat system
- All the photos and comments that we and our friends have made in them
- The information that we fill in our profile
- Since they bought Instagram they already have everything we ever put on Instagram
- Now that they bought WhatsApp they have everything that we talk through this system with anyone
- As much as we like in anything, all that they have obviously saved
And now I wonder Do they also need to read my SMS? … God !!, Facebook will know me better soon than my own mother. We no longer only have to share our data with third-party sites, which can help us / guide us on how log in to facebook, in addition to those of Facebook they already have too much of our data.
The justification for reading the SMS they will give would be:
We need the permissions to read all your SMS and MMS in order to scan confirmation codes via SMS.
That is, they will behave well, they will be good guys, they will be able to read all my SMS / MMS but nah, they are not interested, they promise me that they will only read the confirmation codes, the rest they will not read ... ¬¬
If you are a Facebook user and you use their official application available through PlayGoogle on your Android device, and you have no problems with them accessing your SMS, nothing happens, you can continue using it. On the contrary, if you do not want Facebook to have access to more information about you, you can use some other application such as Fast.
By the way, the rest of the application's permissions, that is, what it can do ... is laughable and scary. O_O . You can record audio and video, connect and disconnect from any Wi-Fi, add or modify calendar events, be careful with the latter…: send emails to others without needing my confirmation or approval. You can also modify our contacts, read our log or call history, etc. Come on, nowadays government spies are out of work, Facebook is the best spy that exists today. I leave a screenshot of the permissions:
For now, this one who writes you is not a frequent Facebook user, that is, I am online in your chat through Pidgin, but I'm not a lot to share things on my wall. Also, I have a ZTE with FirefoxOS, so I do not use (nor do I plan to use) Android as my main system, let's say that neither Google nor Facebook are saints of my devotion 😉
Many thanks to Alain at FromAndroid.net for sharing the news.
Moreover, Did you know about these new permits? ... do you agree with them?
It scares the amount of information they collect, and how it never stops growing. Besides whether we want to or not, it is becoming a monopoly, and that is what worries me the most.
They keep bothering me for not having social networks or WhatsApp. But everyone gives away as much data as they want, I prefer to stay out.
Yes, it is true, the problem is that it is becoming a monopoly. But I think the way it works, how it collects information, is a good tool for making senses and statistics. Of course, it has to be used in a good way, as I mentioned below to Mirlo
https://youtube.com/watch?v=i9rQyISdRZI
Good post,
I have a question, in google hangouts you also have access to sms, but in the settings I have it disabled, can you still see the sms?
Thank you
By default, yes, since it acts almost in the same way as WhatsApp (when you want to send a text message, it appears as one more alternative).
In the meantime, I will be using Telegram (and WhatsApp for acquaintances who are reluctant to leave said instant messaging client for Telegram and / or Kontalk).
Bad news: Telegram has turned to the dark side and now also asks for tons of permissions (including SMS control)
That they have the permission to do it, does not mean that they will do it, there are not enough staff in the world to read all the sms of the whole world, it is logical.
For a long time the analysis (of files, images, written or spoken conversations) has been done by computer, the human factor only enters when it is necessary to distinguish false positives in the subjects that interest them.
That it is complicated does not mean that they will not do it, especially when they have the capacity and the permission.
Computers only look for certain things, they do not analyze everything.
They analyze EVERYTHING in search of certain things.
If they knew where these "certain things" are, they would have no need to analyze anything.
The technology that does that exists (Google for example) and evidence that they use it that way too (When Amazon deleted specific books, when Apple deleted emails, Official documents that came to light and a long etcetera).
Of course, they look for certain things, that simple, they are not interested in what I love you that you have said to your girlfriend.
Still pandev, I don't like the idea that someone other than myself (ok, and my girlfriend…) can read my SMS just like that. Even if I'm not going to read them, the simple fact of 'being able to do it' I no longer like.
Is it necessary to repeat all that Facebook can and knows about us?
Oh right, and the police dogs only look for drugs and weapons, I'll let them come smell my drawers every day because I have nothing to hide.
There is no doubt that to defend our rights and freedoms we must first know and value them.
Probably gara, more places do it than you think, and it has no solution.
I already wear Tinfoil for Facebook
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.danvelazco.fbwrapper
Meh, I am using Flipster for facebook for my Android with CM 7.2 (the official application is insanely heavy that unfortunately it does not open when I want to open it).
Even the official Ask.fm app and VKontakte are much lighter than Facebook for Android (and by the way, Facebook for MIDlet devices performs a lot more decent than its Android counterpart).
One solution is encryption, I found Encryp Facebook, it serves to encrypt the messages on the wall, the bad thing is that I have not been able to find something like that for the chat, if someone knows solutions or applications to be able to encrypt the information for WhatsApp and Facebook they would be a good solution . I am going to keep searching
Yes, but what use is that to you? How does it work? Because I think that with a good encryption system (be careful, I'm not an expert and I know very little about that), you should have an application that encrypts the content on your PC and then the recipient, with the same application, decrypts it , with some special key.
Also, what you write on the Facebook wall is what you see, so I don't understand how the supposed encryption is done. I would appreciate if you can explain it to me.
with extensions in the browser, because the problem is to convince others, and apparently there are not many applications for this.
So a special key is shared with your friends so that they can decode it, and as for the wall for those who did not install the key in their extension they will see something similar to aeipu348di49pcñ9u3p9g349gp49, while those who do will see it clearly.
Ah, very good then.
It is the daily bread.
Last week I witnessed how, when I wanted to install a simple music player, I asked for permission to even have access to calls and phone book.
Curiously, it was the one that appeared at the top of the list when you were looking for a player with certain characteristics.
It makes me think that people don't see what they accept or that they put it first on purpose.
It seems to me that the permission of calls is used a lot in audio players so that it detects when an incoming call is started while the music is playing, then automatically the song is paused. I'm not really sure that someone will correct me.
I correct you, another player was installed on that phone that did not ask for those permissions, but of course, it was not so "popular", and although it was necessary for that, it would have nothing to do with the permissions to access your contacts and agenda.
KZKG ^ Gaara ... do you think that people who use facebook or WhatsApp are interested in having Facebook read their messages ... The common user of Facebook or WhatsApp is indifferent.
«… I don't have anything to hide, I only use the Wassá to talk nonsense with my friends and organize parties…»
That is the phrase I hear the most from ordinary users when I talk to them about privacy and proprietary software on the internet.
Easy: it analyzes you to get better advertising and additional services, but in the finals he ends up backfiring.
If they didn't do that, do you think they would be practically free services XD?
Well, they are definitely not going to read every message you write but they will undoubtedly use that information for something, for example to offer you advertising according to what you told a friend that you needed and that kind of thing. Now if everyone who takes care of their privacy, I for example try not to share very personal things through this type of apps
A solution.
For people to switch to free and decentralized social networks such as Diaspora, Pump.io and decentralized messaging and video calling networks such as XMPP, SIP and not continue to be sheep who go after monopolies and end that network effect of «... is that all my friends occupy it ... »,« ... I have nothing to hide ... »
That update came to me a few months ago and I uninstalled the app at the time without updating. I think most people did not realize it from what I have been able to know in my environment ...
Permission to read your sms? permission to modify your calendar? permission to modify your agenda? permission to connect / disconnect from a wifi?
Seriously, is this a joke or what?
It seems to me something too difficult to believe, if Facebook really asks for permission to carry out these types of actions, totally illogical for a social network, I think that being a social network is just a cover for something else because if not, I won't see it no meaning to all that.
Good thing I don't use that shit.
I have no problem with that. Since before Christmas I stopped entering Facebook and it is not because of the information that you can take from me, but because you have your contacts. If you realize you have more than you need and it is alarming, you can become obsessed and create conflicts over bullshit. There are also the typical ones that you can monitor their mood with their publications, etc. My friends as normal looked at me badly or as if saying "this is stupid", so I made up that I had a bet and that is why I did not enter.
The only bad thing is that sometimes I have plenty of time xD
A good option, which I have always used, is to lie when signing up for any social network or registering anywhere.
I can assure you that Facebook doesn't know my real name, because I never gave it to them. Neither my address, nor my telephone number, nor na de na, because all my information is more false than a thousand euro bill.
They can obviously track my location, that's hard to prevent, but they will know a person's location that nothing else exists.
Hello, that can help you a bit, because if you have connection with people around you in real life, you will not have absolute anonymity.
I think that the problem is not your personal data itself, although they may be of use, but rather the way you interact as a person in different scenarios: your comments, likes, frequency of visits to such pages, login time and duration of it (and perhaps from where it was made), among other things that now do not occur to me.
In other words, Facebook seems to me to be an excellent tool for making statistics on human behavior in various situations. Used in a good way, it can be put to good use. He just lacks a couple of things to be God: to have information about our purchases and payment of taxes, and to know our medical history. I insist, if it were used in a good way, seriously and ethically, focusing on making our society better, I think we would all agree on the direction it is taking; But since it is a private company whose objective is only to make easy money and find new ways to dominate ourselves a little more, it is scary.
Hello Joaquín, knowing how and with whom I interact does not worry me. But the point is that, if you give them your true data, I bet you 10 against 1 that they already have, (whenever they want and that they feel like it), your medical history, your income statements ... etc, etc.
It matters little to me that Facebook knows that Mirlo does not exist, does not pay taxes, nor does he have a social security number, etc, etc ...). he likes Becquer's poetry more than Espronceda's for example.
I repeat, never giving your true data is a good measure to preserve your privacy.
Greetings.
Yes, now I understand you.
For now, a simple Huawei phone that does not let me install much, FB does not fall into that category of the most needed.
But if I look at something, and it is that when I install wasapp, I am not about to write it well xD, it asked me for a code that would arrive by sms, and what do you think, I was surprised, because he knew what it was and automatically ended the registration.
With this said, that if not the FB application, apparently now they can have access to everything, since their recent purchase is in almost all android phones.
Greetings.
With a custom rom you can revoke the permissions with this one you can. beanstalk, hox. http://uppix.com/f-face531f93fa0015b6fc.jpg
I think the problem lies more in the Android permission management system. In iOS, although the facebook app is loaded with so much, the user has the ability to modify permissions through the system settings section, (especially those related to privacy) and there is also a do not track filter at the level phone (just to mention a few things), plus you are always notified every time an app wants to enable a permission that by default comes in its list, but was not activated when it was installed. I do not know how things work in other operating systems (like FirefoxOS), but at least in Android, I feel that the weakness is this (comparing it with iOS just to cite that example).
Very good point. Now I understand why some want an iPhone (although I prefer an iPod Touch 5 because the iPhone 5 / 5S / 5C is too expensive).
Those who want an iPhone do not usually want it for that, but for other issues.
Most of the time just to pretend.
I switched to the iPhone precisely because of the improved privacy and security issues that it handles with respect to android (the platform I was on before), including the ones I mentioned in my previous comment 😉
IPhone? … from Apple? O_O
Yeah @ KZKG ^ Gaara hehe, Are you surprised by the privacy thing? I was also surprised at first ... But I assure you that it is a much safer phone (and careful of privacy) than any other out there. I invite you to read my full review where, (among other things), I fully explain this point:
http://xenodesystems.blogspot.mx/2014/03/de-android-ios-cronica-de-una.html
Greetings.
Hello,
Can anyone comment on the topic of privacy, security, application permissions in firefox os?
greetings.
Big Brother is reaching gigantic levels. Who would think that social networks would have control of our data.
Well.. First I'm going to place an order to desdelinux and your boys: Can you remove the requirement to enter an email to write? I hope you can, you guys are cool!
Suegundo: two years of life with facebook goals:
Messages .. ideas .. talks .. projects; everything is written and in the past. That is to say: NOBODY IS COMMITTED PRESENTIALLY if they do not know the other. The Facebook trap is that people follow Facebook without overcoming it to the next instance: THE REAL SOCIETY !! CREATE COMMUNITY.
The people who use Facebook (you guys) for more good reasons that they carry with me and arm or are members of excellent groups in the face, they do not overcome virtual reality and they continue with their ass in the chair near the wifi. I got tired and don't use it anymore.
When I manage to do something I may use it only as a means of publicity. And I learned that I'm going to have to do it on my own, chew it up, and deliver it. Because no one seems to overcome the will to consume, talk nonsense about technology, repeat photos with positive messages or jokes and plan to be comfortable in a shopping mall.
Well .. for this the face served me, apart from the fact that the NSA has detailed all the psychological profiles of my contacts and my own not only through the "like" and our publications but also through the personal information that is provided chatting.
You have to cut this people. Since I don't use it anymore (and I used it 1 hour a day or 2 with cuts) I am more productive and I read more interesting things than the stupid things that appear on the wall or the silent cry that one with the best will can publish.
Greetings .. and I hope you abandon this lie that calls itself a "social network."
PS: except that a society is people individualized in their PCs and united only by the network.
PD2 .: excuse the spelling, I don't want to pass the proofreader.
About the mail you can invent one and that's it, come on, I'll give you some:
user @ gmail
user@gmail.com
"For now, this one who writes them is not a frequent Facebook user" aha but you are not saved baby, you are still inside the "matrix". For my part, I left Facebook in 2010 and I have a full, humane and healthy life. Greetings.
Come on, have you forgotten that Firefox is not very holy to say? https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2012/12/03/firefox-gets-social-w-facebook/
what does he say? many of us don't know English ...
And speaking of official apps for smartphones, it seems that Pusteblume (by far the best unofficial application for Diaspora *) has a huge bug: it doesn't have the "log in" button, and without that damn button, you can't access said social network from Android.
Returning to the topic of Facebook, I have long become a FB dependent thanks to the fact that the herd of contacts I have are reluctant to go to other social networks such as VK or Diaspora * (at most, I tolerate them being on Renren, but that follow on Facebook is beyond depressing).
I already knew for 5 years that Facebook was a nosy but one of the insufferable ones, but thanks to Pump.io (formerly, identi.ca) and Diaspora *, the panorama has broadened.
I did not know, but thanks for the information I have android on my mobile but I do not use that application
Fucking! They are no longer satisfied with facebook, instagram and WhatsApp, they already want to read the sms after a camera will follow to see us.-
.-_-.
They can now use your camera too and your microphone
For some time now, the facebook android app has been able to unify instant messaging ...
On the one hand, it is okay to read messages, there are degenerate adults who could be arrested. (my phrase is understood, it is not necessary to explain it)
On the other hand, it is annoying to know that they know everything about the selected person, because most of them tell you even what color their Thong has 🙂, by chat haha!
But it doesn't bother me much, because being alive and envisioning has to do alive, (I'll get to the point, speaking between codes, most of them, 59% don't understand what I'm saying. 😛)
Facebook (mobile application and web platform) also tracks the web pages that we visit - not only the links that we click within the FB itself, but also the other tabs that we have open (many people are not aware of this). To get an idea of the number of trackers that are on all the websites we visit, install the disconnect extension (https://disconnect.me/disconnect), which blocks tracking requests (trackers) and also allows you to see how many have been blocked and what their origin is (this has 3 denied requests from Google analytics). On the Fox News page, for example, the disconnect blocks 9 ad trackers, one analytic from comScore and 4 from user-content interaction analysis (including facebook).
Other good options: adblock plus blocks social buttons (which interact with the FB and G + cookies that we have in our system, for example, storing there the information about the other sites we visit, where its button was present) and priv3 + (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/priv3plus/?src=priv3), which blocks third-party cookies so that they cannot track you.
For Android, I use the Tinfoil, which opens the mobile site in a sandbox / virtual environment so that facebook cannot crawl the pages we see in our "normal" browser: http://androidlibre.org/content/tinfoil-para-facebook-y-evite-que-rastreen-el-historial-de-navegaci%C3%B3n-cuando-visitamos-la
I hope it helps someone. They attack but we counter-attack! (The easy thing would be to stop using FB but hey…)