Facebook Collected Call and Text Data from Android Phones for Years

[Megalith]

Twitter user and developer Dylan McKay was a Facebook user who recently discovered that the social network had been scraping calls and texts made on his Android phone since 2016: after downloading his account archive, he found entire call and SMS records bundled with his posts, friends, and advertising data.

The issue presumably arises from previous versions of Android, which allowed apps access to parts of your phone in an “all-or-nothing” manner. So if Facebook requested access to a phone’s microphone, camera, and call data, users could not allow or deny specific permissions. These permissions were often required for installation, so if you didn’t want Facebook snooping on your phone, you couldn’t use the app on your phone.

 

[Uvaman2]

Dafuq?

 

[Jim Kim]

#DeleteFacebook

 

[viscountalpha]

Oh. I know they were scraping calls and contacts. I had some "do you know such and such" that could have only been from scraping.

I'm going to start posting dis information in Facebook. I want to make my data far less valuable.

 

[Jailer]

RIP privacy.

 

[greatnullaa]

What if you don't have a choice? Many phones ship out with facebook app installed and it cannot be removed without rooting the device.

Chilling, isnt it?

 

[HockeyJon]

I find it hilarious how people are suddenly concerned about their privacy. What changed? Trump was elected? Like seriously, not trying to be political, but I really want to understand what finally triggered the backlash for something that common sense should have told people was going on for years already.

 

[boushidosan]

#FUCKSOCIALMEDIA

 

[SticKx911]

RIP privacy.

What is this piv-a-cy you speak of?

 

[Chupachup]

I'm going to show this to my daughter just to watch her freak out!

 

[auntjemima]

I find it hilarious how people are suddenly concerned about their privacy. What changed? Trump was elected? Like seriously, not trying to be political, but I really want to understand what finally triggered the backlash for something that common sense should have told people was going on for years already.

I feel it is directly linked to the WikiLeaks. Before that you had "crackpots" always claiming we had no privacy, but it really came to light with the constant leaks from WikiLeaks from their many sources.

What is this piv-a-cy you speak of?

Pretty much this. Privacy is an illusion.

 

[SamuraiInBlack]

What if you don't have a choice? Many phones ship out with facebook app installed and it cannot be removed without rooting the device.

Chilling, isnt it?

Which is exactly why I always rooted mine. My LG V20 had it on stock loadout and the first thing I did was wipe the app off of it.

 

[motqalden]

What if you don't have a choice? Many phones ship out with facebook app installed and it cannot be removed without rooting the device.

Chilling, isnt it?

Yeah i can't uninstall it from my phone but i can disable it.

 

[danc3]

Wow. With FB and these other social media platforms, the news keeps getting worse.

 

[Loose Nut]

Every app asks for permission first. stop clicking accept without reading

 

[trparky]

Apple iOS has had for several years a granular app permission system to prevent this kind of shit from happening. You can control a lot of what permissions apps have from the Privacy menu in the iOS Settings app.

For the longest time Android never had this kind of granular privacy and app permission control, only iOS did.

 

[auntjemima]

Apple iOS has had for several years a granular app permission system to prevent this kind of shit from happening. You can control a lot of what permissions apps have from the Privacy menu in the iOS Settings app.

View attachment 61806

For the longest time Android never had this kind of granular privacy and app permission control, only iOS did.

Android has this now, so it's a moot point.

 

[trparky]

Oh yes but for the longest time it didn't, any app had the permission to run roughshod over you and you couldn't do anything about it.

 

[Spidey329]

Dafuq?

Been an issue with Android, especially versions where the permissions were very broad. They're slowly addressing it. I believe Android P now does it so you can only access certain (permitted) data points when the app is in the foreground. It'll prevent apps like Moviepass from playing fast and loose with the GPS data or Facebook from acting in the background as a full-time data snooper.

 

[commissioneranthony]

Huh. I'm curious if they were able to scrape info from google voice and hangouts apps. I'm going to go check. If that's the case, that's some pretty world-class BS right there. I'm running a custom rom and the such. Now I'm just genuinely curious...

 

[trparky]

They're slowly addressing it.

This should have been a core thing from the very beginning but no, it went against why Google exists in the beginning. Remember, Google is an advertising company first, a services company second. Hell, the United States NSA wishes they had the data collection capabilities of both Google and Facebook.

Apple doesn't have such parts of their business plan, they make money from other sources of revenue; namely selling hardware and services. Google's whole point of being in business is to sell your data!!!

 

[trparky]

Businesses that make money by collecting and selling detailed records of private lives were once plainly described as "surveillance companies." Their rebranding as "social media" is the most successful deception since the Department of War became the Department of Defense.
--
Edward Snowden

Facebook makes their money by exploiting and selling intimate details about the private lives of millions, far beyond the scant details you voluntartily post. They are not victims. They are accomplices.
--
Edward Snowden

 

[blkt]

This should have been a core thing from the very beginning but no, it went against why Google exists in the beginning. Remember, Google is an advertising company first, a services company second. Hell, the United States NSA wishes they had the data collection capabilities of both Google and Facebook.

Apple doesn't have such parts of their business plan, they make money from other sources of revenue; namely selling hardware and services. Google's whole point of being in business is to sell your data!!!

I certainly don't disagree, but ask yourself why would any agency or acronym group want to have direct capabilities when you have a hydra of companies willingly implement anything required? The shift in accountability is fully intended.

 

[janis2018]

That's why i call it expensive shit phone whit low durability. device who steals or time and makes as poor. it's not a toy for kids.

 

[Deleted member 93354]

There's a reason I don't put messenger or facebook on my phone anymore. Although they might be disappointed to learn that I only call my mom and wife.

 

[Dead Parrot]

Wait, people are surprised that Facebook was collecting all the data they possibly could? In other news, so are Google, Yahoo, WalMart, Discover Card, Your Bank, The other person's bank, Your ISP, Their ISP, etc.

 

[Dekoth-E-]

What if you don't have a choice? Many phones ship out with facebook app installed and it cannot be removed without rooting the device.

Chilling, isnt it?

Don't use a device you can't root.

 

[Krenum]

Shocking!

 

[trparky]

Don't use a device you can't root.

Too bad that's getting harder and harder, especially with the likes of locked boot loaders and eFuses in the United States.

 

[Dekoth-E-]

Too bad that's getting harder and harder, especially with the likes of locked boot loaders and eFuses in the United States.

Why I haven't bought a new phone since 2011.

 

[ManofGod]

Well, Facebook does not have access to my SMS or Phone stuff on my Sony Xperia XA1, just verified the settings. That said, I was using Windows Phone and Windows Mobile for years so I did not have to worry about it anyways. I even have a Alcatel Idol 4s for Windows and it works great as a secondary phone.

 

[YeuEmMaiMai]

why I never use FB on my phone... ever

 

[mynamehere]

What if you don't have a choice? Many phones ship out with facebook app installed and it cannot be removed without rooting the device.

Chilling, isnt it?

It's the first app I remove.

 

[SmokeRngs]

One of the first things I did when I got my last phone was remove and/or disable anything Facebook on it. I wasn't going to use it in the first place, I didn't want it reporting anything I was doing, my location, etc. and I didn't the the damn thing draining my battery. The number of battery draining issues with facebook apps people have reported over the years is scary. Just for the hell of it I think I re-enabled the app once and updated it to see what it was like. I thought the damn thing was horrible anyway. I quickly reverted the app back to the original state on the phone and disabled it again (since I couldn't remove it). In my case it probably doesn't matter a whole lot since I haven't actively used Facebook in years. As it is I think I can count on one hand the number of times I've even logged into it on my PC in the past few years.

 

[Wild1]

isp's dump live metadata to nsa for over a decade without a warrant in real time. But facebook though....

ps. Didn't know anyone over 16 had a facebook. Lol need to ditch that shit like myspace just close account and never look back.

https://www.humanetech.com

 

[SomeoneElse]

I don't think its the fact that they collected all this data, i think its the fact that i don't trust them to actually secure said data, so when it leaked and everything is taken from SMS and voice recording, now a hacker has full blown access to your accounts because that made recon that much easier. Now they can do social engineering on the banks, or any where they want to get or spend someone else's money. That's the real problem which is underlying.

 

[DejaWiz]

 

[blkt]

View attachment 62137

Is he Data or Lore?

 

[Crimson]

Is he Data or Lore?

View attachment 62147 View attachment 62148

Oh it's Lore.

That's why I picked up the htc u 11 because I can root it. I don't use facebook nor have I ever. Promptly removed crapbook from my phone using Titanium backup. First I could not uninstall it and then I relized I had to force stop the app. Now that I am thinking of it, the freeze function in TB may of worked.

It's total BS you need to go through this process just to remove an app.

 

[Dr. Righteous]

My preferred social media is a hand written letter. I think much has been lost since this was abandoned by most people.
After my grandmother died at 92 we were going through her things to settle her estate. My sister found a hat box full of personal letter she received over her lifetime.
This was a unknown treasure trove of family history. Among this were letters from my dad he wrote home in the 50s when he was a young man. Reading these I found a young optimistic man full of hopes and dreams for the future. It made me wonder what happened because dad seemed rather tired and cynical when I was growing up. Life happens.