Ive seen a lot of shares of this today. Unfortunately, people look at it with an already edgy view on Facebook and how these huge corporations are trying to grab all your info and invade your privacy. With those eyes, sure, this article is scary and opens up to the horrors of never having privacy. But what if you look at it from a developer standpoint? Im gonna pick apart all the claims of the article writer to give you a development view. Also, these permissions arent from Facebook. Theyre actually from the Google Play Store. You see, whenever you submit an app to the Play Store, any features it uses has to be listed under those permissions. The problem is, its like a hypochondriac in regards to alarms. Any appstore is usually like this. Let me give you an example. Do you remember my DogeBook addon for Chrome and Facebook? All it ever did was change the background of Facebook and play with the opacity of certain sections. Whenever I submitted it to Mozilla to be listed for addons, it said I one of the permissions was to have full access to all of your Facebook information. What? It does nothing of the sort. All it does is specify that it should only run the script while on Facebook, but that permission was automatically added. So there you go. Something simple got misconstrued. If you believed all people were evil and out to get your SSN, Bank Account info, and all names of your past relatives, then you probably wouldnt have downloaded my addon once you saw that permission. Also, all of these permissions and what they actually do are listed under the info when you look at your app in the settings. (At least on Android). Just reading those alone will show you, well, how bullshit this article is. So lets get down to it, shall we? Ive copied the claims of the article writer here, and then after each one Ill give my thoughts. Change the state of network connectivity – This means that Facebook can change or alter your connection to the Internet or cell service. You’re basically giving Facebook the ability to turn features on your phone on and off for it’s own reasons without telling you. *This is just generalized usage on wifi. Almost all apps that use ANY type of data or internet have to have this permission.* Call phone numbers and send SMS messages – This means that if Facebook wants to…it can send text messages to your contacts on your behalf. Do you see the trouble in this? Who is Facebook to be able to access and send messages on your phone? You’re basically giving a stranger your phone and telling them to do what they want when they want! *-Oh man, more mumbo jumbo to make believe Facebook is controlling your phone. Facebook messenger allows you to use it as a texting app. You can sync your contacts with it and use it as an all in one messenger. For the calling, if you hit the menu button, it allows you to call the contact you are talking to if theyre number is listed in your phone or on their Facebook. Without this permission, you cant have that cross-app ability. * Record audio, and take pictures and videos, at any time – Read that line again….RECORD audio…TAKE pictures….AT ANY TIME!! That means that the folks at Facebook can see through your lens on your phone whenever they want..they can listen to what you’re saying via your microphone if they choose to!! *No, it doesnt do it by itself. If you believe apps will open up automatically and do whatever they want, please throw your phone in the trash and go back to using a Motorola RAZR. Again, cross-app capabilities. This allows you to take a picture within the app to send to others. Video and audio too. The at any time means once you click it. And Im almost sure that permission is misquoted by this terribly biased person* Read your phone’s call log, including info about incoming and outgoing calls – Who have you been calling? How long did you talk to them? Now Facebook will know all of this because you’ve downloaded the new Facebook messenger app. *Short and sweet: Cross-capability with using the phone feature.* Read your contact data, including who you call and email and how often – Another clear violation of your privacy. Now Facebook will be able to read e-mails you’ve sent and take information from them to use for their own gain. Whether it’s for “personalized advertisements” or if it’s for “research purposes” ….whatever the reason..they’re accessing your private encounters. *Again, syncing contacts to be used has to have this permission in order to pull that information if you let it.* Read personal profile information stored on your device – This means that if you have addresses, personal info, pictures or anything else that’s near and dear to your personal life…they can read it. *In your settings on your phone, theres a page where it saves accounts to different apps you use. Thats your Profile. It doesnt care that youre logged into your other app accounts.* Get a list of accounts known by the phone, or other apps you use – Facebook will now have a tally of all the apps you use, how often you use them and what information you keep or exchange on those apps. *This is what allows it to cross over between its own app. Without this, Messenger is a seperate login each time you use it.* There. From a developmental standpoint, these make sense. But, again, let me reiterate something. GOOGLE PLAY DEFINES THESE PERMISSIONS BASED ON THE APPS DESIGN. Its terrible at knowing just exactly what the app is doing, so it gives a generalized permission just to be safe. Here, go read the permissions for some of the apps you use day to day that arent Facebook. You know, the Indie Developers, some random games that arent associated with some big company, etc. GASP. They have permissions you dont like, too!!!! Omgosh roflmaosamuraisauce!!!! Your opinion is blurred because its this big privacy raping company that is behind the app itself. You do realized that you choose to use this app, right? You absolutely chose to go to the play store and USE this app, right?? You ACCEPTED all permissions and all things with this app to use it, RIGHT????? Just because you use a smart phone does not mean you HAVE to use this app. Thats your choice. But, but, I want to use Facebook waaahhhhhhhhhh on my phone. Open up your Internet browser on your phone. Go to facebook. Guess what? The layout on this actually makes sense. And you dont have to have a separate messenger to use it. Best of all? You dont have to have a separate app. Still complaining after reading this post? Delete it. Seriously, delete the app. Delete the Facebook app. Probably delete your Facebook. Because what you dont realize is that when you use Facebook on your computer, you probably give them more information anyway through your posts, shares, likes, and check ins.
Posted on: Fri, 08 Aug 2014 18:47:43 +0000
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