Geez, how much more in bed with Obama and the NSA can Facebook get? My suggestion: If you have messenger on our phone delete it. Then re-download it and read the terms of agreement. This is sheer lunacy. Also for those who didn’t know this one, check out the video below. This news is actually about 5-7 years old. Notice what the government has made cell phone makers do now? Notice you can’t take the battery out?
[Audio/Video below cannot be seen in Newsletter - have to go to Blog]
Cellphone users who attempt to install the Facebook Messenger app are asked to agree to terms of service that allow the social networking giant to use the microphone on their device to record audio at any time without their permission.
As the screenshot above illustrates (click for enlargement), users are made to accept an agreement that allows Facebook to “record audio with the microphone….at any time without your confirmation.”
The TOS also authorizes Facebook to take videos and pictures using the phone’s camera at any time without permission, as well as directly calling numbers, again without permission, that could incur charges.
But wait, there’s more! Facebook can also “read your phone’s call log” and “read data about contacts stored on your phone, including the frequency with which you’ve called, emailed or communicated in other ways with specific individuals.”
Although most apps on Android and Apple devices include similar terms to those pictured above, this is easily the most privacy-busting set of mandates we’ve seen so far.
Since the vast majority of people will agree to these terms without even reading them, cellphone users are agreeing to let Facebook monitor them 24/7, green lighting the kind of open ended wiretap that would make even the NSA jealous.
Other app companies are also requiring you to allow them to approximate your location, send SMS messages from your phone that cost you money, read your contacts, read your phone status and identity, get “full network access” to your communications (in other words listen to your phone calls), modify or delete the contents of your USB storage, and disable your screen lock (the 4 digit code that password-protects your phone).
As we have previously highlighted, embedded microphones in everything from Xbox Kinect consoles to high-tech street lights that can record private conversations in real time represent the final nail in the coffin of privacy as the ‘Internet of things’ becomes a part of our daily lives.
If you bothered to read what any of those permissions actually did you wouldn't be in such an uproar. I happen to have a very good understanding of Android phones, and they can't secretly turn on anything. You have absolutely no idea what you are talking about and it's clear you put about 2 minutes of research in to this and wrote an article to promote fear and misinformation. Android is an open source project, meaning all code in all apps are available to be reviewed by anyone. There are lots of people out there reviewing the code in these apps, for Android anyway, I don't know or care to know about iPhones. So if there was some secret code hijacking our mic or camera, it would be seen. It would also show up on things like data transfer indicators and so on. No anonymous data is being sent to anywhere from my phone and I have FB and FB Messenger installed. Stop feeding misinformation to people, jerk.
ReplyDeletesnappy new year schill!
DeleteThey can listen to you and see you threw the camreas on all your high tech hd device all work both way the received and send the messages... but you be a good sheep!!! You clown why do you think lap tops tvs video game consoles do every thing!! If you cant talk to some one in china they can hear u!! All the time if you can make video they can see you 24 /7.. dont be stupid for ever wake up clown
Delete