Facebook Accused of Reading Text Messages via App

[exfileme]

A recent article is heating up the privacy issue with apps again, this time focusing on text message reading via Facebook's app.

Facebook Accused of Reading Text Messages via App : Read more

 

[the_krasno]

Oh come on! People who care about their privacy will have to lock themselves out of the internet at this rate!

 

[GenericUser]

Just another "we're not REALLY doing what it looks like, we just have those features in there for no good reason on accident" case. "Testing" purposes? If you don't have plans to explicitly use those services on the phone, don't request those permissions.

 

[Crush3d]

Companies want to see how far they can go before users have had enough and take a stand.

Good thing the government is looking out for the people and protecting their privacy and best interest. Not.

 

[fancarolina]

Some explain to me why Android and iOS don't give users a choice about permissions. Simply telling me what the application wants isn't enough. I should have a choice if I want to allow each item or not. If the app doesn't run right for my permission choices then I will know it. Then I can choose what to enable to make it work or not depending on what I want to allow.

 

[fancarolina]

[citation][nom]Fancarolina[/nom]Some explain to me why Android and iOS don't give users a choice about permissions. Simply telling me what the application wants isn't enough. I should have a choice if I want to allow each item or not. If the app doesn't run right for my permission choices then I will know it. Then I can choose what to enable to make it work or not depending on what I want to allow.[/citation]

Someone.

Furthermore why is there still no edit function on this site!

 

[jaber2]

My wife typed "wedding" on msg, she got bombarded with wedding adds for few days, if only she did a search on google, she would have noticed same when ever she visited any site with adds.

 

[the real mr b]

The simple equation : More_Spying = More_Revenues clearly demonstrates that it will only get worse.

 

[warezme]

I'm not a technophobe but I have no apps on my phone that didn't come with the device and most of those I have disabled or removed. I have no Twitter or Facebook account and don't care to have one. Even though I am an IT pro and maybe because of it, work in the business, know what it is about and I am really into some very high end stuff most people don't even know exist. People that understand the business don't use most of the social stuff out there and if they do, they do it on PC's that are armored against attacks behind firewalls and filtering systems. If you are going to be nonchalant and flippant about what you install and use on the internet and your phone, be prepared for the consequences and don't bother to complain about it.

 

[A Bad Day]

"Sir, the vast majority of our customers have around 8th grade reading level."

"Good. Give them lawyer-grade reading level material. If they don't understand, they'll accept it."

 

[Guest]

It should be illegal for a company to bury terms behind a bunch of legal jargon designed to protect themselves. Furthermore it should be illegal for them to set a fixed window size for the display of said terms. Many EULA's are 15+ pages long, sitting inside a tiny windows displaying no more than 4 lines of text which is non-resizeable. On top of that, they print 5+ paragraph in a row in all caps making it impossible to read. They are clearly purposely making it difficult to read. All of the statutes an EULA grants should be spelled out plainly above, and then all of the legal technicalities can be listed below. Right now they just randomly throw it all in there together.

 

[thehelix]

[citation][nom]Fancarolina[/nom]Some explain to me why Android and iOS don't give users a choice about permissions. Simply telling me what the application wants isn't enough. I should have a choice if I want to allow each item or not. If the app doesn't run right for my permission choices then I will know it. Then I can choose what to enable to make it work or not depending on what I want to allow.[/citation]

As much as people want to bash RIM, i can do all those things on my 3yo blackberry.

 

[nebun]

why am I not surprised?....this is too funny

 

[Marco925]

If you have the facebook app and a facebook account, you've already sold your soul. there's nothing more they can possibly know about you.

 

[kyuuketsuki]

[citation][nom]loleula[/nom]It should be illegal for a company to bury terms behind a bunch of legal jargon designed to protect themselves. Furthermore it should be illegal for them to set a fixed window size for the display of said terms. Many EULA's are 15+ pages long, sitting inside a tiny windows displaying no more than 4 lines of text which is non-resizeable. On top of that, they print 5+ paragraph in a row in all caps making it impossible to read. They are clearly purposely making it difficult to read. All of the statutes an EULA grants should be spelled out plainly above, and then all of the legal technicalities can be listed below. Right now they just randomly throw it all in there together.[/citation]
This is actually spot on. EULAs really need some kind of standardized, enforced format for ease of reading, and having some kind of summary of key points that can quickly be scanned through by most people who are, quite reasonably, not inclined to spend a lot of their time slogging through legalese every time they want to use some new software (and again whenever their existing software has its EULA changed).

As it is, EULAs and other similar types of agreements should really be unenforceable seeing as they're obviously and explicitly designed to *not* be read.

 

[alidan]

[citation][nom]the_krasno[/nom]Oh come on! People who care about their privacy will have to lock themselves out of the internet at this rate![/citation]
or just not post to twitter, facebook, and run around in a car with a megaphone on top yelling about how bad it burns when peeing after hooking up with a 1 night stand.

 

[rich d]

Noticing the extent of permissions is what prompted me to delete the Facebook app from my Android phone a few months ago. The operating systems really should allow us to block certain permissions while allowing others.

 

[john_4]

Only stupid Tools use Facebook.

 

[john_4]

[citation][nom]Crush3d[/nom]Companies want to see how far they can go before users have had enough and take a stand.Good thing the government is looking out for the people and protecting their privacy and best interest. Not.[/citation]
The FEDS are in on it too, free spying on the enemy, the US citizens.

 

[john_4]

Wow Tom's is up there with 12 hits with Ghostery on this page. FOX News wins with 17.