A recent article is heating up the privacy issue with apps again, this time focusing on text message reading via Facebook's app.
A report from the London Sunday Times (paywall) claims that the Facebook mobile app for Android and iOS is accessing personal text messages residing on smartphones. The social website reportedly isn't denying its actions, saying that the data collection is part of a trial to launch its own messaging service. Even more, when the service actually goes live, users will be prompted to give permission.
"The permission is clearly disclosed on the app page in the Android marketplace and is in anticipation of new features that enable users to integrate Facebook features with their texts," a spokesman for Facebook said in a statement. "However, other than some very limited testing, we haven't launched anything yet so we're not using the permission."
The overall theme of the article reveals that companies like Facebook and Yahoo are accessing personal information -- including text messages and contact lists -- and intercepting phone calls without the user's knowledge. YouTube can reportedly remotely access and operate the users' smartphone camera to take pictures or videos at any given time. Even more, merely downloading basic apps can leave consumers vulnerable to a plethora of spam and invasive advertising.
But this is mostly nothing new. The problem, according to the paper, is that these features are clearly labeled in the terms and conditions -- something 70-percent of smartphone and tablet users rarely or don't even read because they're overly complicated and lengthy. Most of us generally give the app the green light when its flashes a list of permissions before installing without even reading what it will actually access.
As for Facebook's app, the permissions clearly state that it will read SMS or MMS messages, saying that permission "allows application to read SMS messages stored on your device or SIM card. Malicious applications may read your confidential messages." The app will also write to SMS messages stored on the device or SIM card, and receive and process SMS messages. Other permissions include reading contact data, writing contact data, determine the phone number and serial number of the phone, access the GPS and more.
Despite the listed permissions, Facebook told ZDNet that the Sunday Times paper was wrong, that there's no actual reading of user text messages. "Facebook said that lots of communications apps use these permissions, and the application technically has the capability to integrate with the phone’s SMS system, but added that it is for testing purposes," the report states.
According to a list of app permissions, Flickr has access to location data, text messages, contacts, who the user is calling, and the camera. Both Angry Birds and Shazam have access to location data and who the user is calling, whereas Netflix only keeps tabs on the user's internet history.
Out of fourteen listed apps, Netflix and Ancestry are the only two that don't keep tabs on who the user is calling, and only four don't collect location data. Four apps have direct access to the camera including dating site Badoo, Ancestry and My Fitness Pal. My Remote Lock will actually intercept a phone call.
Good thing the government is looking out for the people and protecting their privacy and best interest. Not.
Good thing the government is looking out for the people and protecting their privacy and best interest. Not.
Someone.
Furthermore why is there still no edit function on this site!
"Good. Give them lawyer-grade reading level material. If they don't understand, they'll accept it."
As much as people want to bash RIM, i can do all those things on my 3yo blackberry.
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.
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.
The FEDS are in on it too, free spying on the enemy, the US citizens.
It seems like if you can make a free app that is marginally useful, you can make a ton of money just making it run all the time in the background collecting personal data and selling it.