[HN Gopher] Delete Your Facebook App
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       Delete Your Facebook App
        
       Author : redbell
       Score  : 23 points
       Date   : 2021-10-24 20:45 UTC (2 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.forbes.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.forbes.com)
        
       | redbell wrote:
       | > _You need to remember that Facebook is a trillion-dollar empire
       | built on data, and only data--with Facebook, it's not so much a
       | metaverse as a dataverse. If the company can use this data,
       | combined with everything else it holds on you and those around
       | you, then it will. Why would it suddenly decide to exercise
       | restraint?_
       | 
       | So, I suggest that the new name of the company should be
       | "Dataverse"
        
         | redbell wrote:
         | Also, I was wondering if this tracking behavior is affecting
         | Android phones as well. The author did not gave a hint on this?
        
           | deadbunny wrote:
           | Why wouldn't it?
        
       | civilized wrote:
       | We've been so overwhelmed with noise about Facebook that most of
       | us are probably burnt out on the topic by now. So when we get hit
       | with
       | 
       | "FB can use accelerometer pattern matching to figure out where
       | you are even if you've disabled location tracking"
       | 
       | ... it definitely does seem insane and deeply messed up, but I
       | just don't have the energy to care anymore.
       | 
       | I'm definitely never installing an app from a company in the FB
       | family though.
       | 
       | And I can't trust this article either. It just adds more shit
       | into the "information" blender. Forbes is the bottom of the
       | barrel and has been for a long time.
        
       | Stephen304 wrote:
       | It would be great for app permissions to cover this. Im thinking
       | location permissions should need to be allowed to either access
       | photos with geotagging or maybe it just gets filtered out
       | transparently to the app. And you could have the system prompt
       | the user if they want to enable geotagging the first time it
       | occurs.
        
       | bazza451 wrote:
       | Really dodgy reporting.
       | 
       | They article shows the "alarming" first message of the Twitter
       | threads then if you look at the further analysis (in later
       | replies) it's from a function which is rage shake which is a bug
       | reporting tool which then the researchers say oh ok no problem...
        
       | batch12 wrote:
       | On some Android devices, deleting the app is impossible.
        
       | avalys wrote:
       | This is ridiculous.
       | 
       | The article contains an observation that the Facebook app reads
       | accelerometer data. It contains no evidence that Facebook retains
       | this data, stores or uploads it to Facebook servers, or uses it
       | for any purpose other than what is stated (some kind of camera
       | thing and gesture recognition for bug reporting).
       | 
       | The rest is made-up speculation about what they "wonder" Facebook
       | could do with this data if they were storing it - which, again,
       | they have no evidence to suggest is happening. I find the idea
       | that you can effectively use accelerometer traces to correlate
       | the location of devices to be extremely unlikely in practice,
       | even if theoretically possible.
       | 
       | Meanwhile, this site itself is so festooned with trashy ads and
       | pop ups such that only about 15% of my screen is available to
       | display the actual article text.
        
         | civilized wrote:
         | > Researchers Talal Haj Bakry and Tommy Mysk warn that
         | "Facebook reads accelerometer data all the time. If you don't
         | allow Facebook access to your location, the app can still infer
         | your exact location only by grouping you with users matching
         | the same vibration pattern that your phone accelerometer
         | records."
         | 
         | Really weaselly phrasing here. Seems designed to persuade you
         | that FB is actually doing this.
         | 
         | Forbes is indeed barely readable clickbait garbage and has been
         | for many years.
        
         | micromacrofoot wrote:
         | it reads the accelerometer data even with the relevant camera
         | feature turned off, so unless we see evidence otherwise it
         | seems prudent to assume they harvest it... they've moved well
         | beyond deserving the benefit of the doubt
        
       | zxcb1 wrote:
       | Without access to the data, they resort to inference via side-
       | channels. This information can in turn be leveraged similar to
       | lookalike audiences. Facebook users would do well to think about
       | what else can be inferred from these side-channels when
       | aggregated and processed by AI.
        
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       (page generated 2021-10-24 23:02 UTC)