Facebook has been collecting call history and SMS data from Android devices

[workinclasszero]

Facebook has been collecting call history and SMS data from Android devices
iOS devices appear to be unaffected
By Tom Warren@tomwarren Mar 25, 2018, 8:00am EDT

Facebook has been collecting call records and SMS data from Android devices for years. Several Twitter users have reported finding months or years of call history data in their downloadable Facebook data file. A number of Facebook users have been spooked by the recent Cambridge Analytica privacy scandal, prompting them to download all the data that Facebook stores on their account. The results have been alarming for some.

“Oh wow my deleted Facebook Zip file contains info on every single phone cellphone call and text I made for about a year,” says ‏Twitter user Mat Johnson. Another, Dylan McKay, says “somehow it has my entire call history with my partner’s mum.” Others have found a similar pattern where it appears close contacts, like family members, are the only ones tracked in Facebook’s call records.

Facebook appears to be gathering this data through its Messenger application, which often prompts Android users to take over as the default SMS client. Facebook has, at least recently, been offering an opt-in prompt that prods users with a big blue button to “continuously upload” contact data, including call and text history. It’s not clear when this prompt started appearing in relation to the historical data gathering, and whether it has simply been opt-in the whole time. Either way, it’s clearly alarmed some who have found call history data stored on Facebook’s servers.


https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/25/17160944/facebook-call-history-sms-data-collection-android

[marlakay]

1. From the beginning they have been begging

Me for phone number, innocently asking as a back up if you can’t get on.

I have never given my phone number and never will.

[PatSeg]

8. Same here

And my reaction is always, "How stupid do you think I am?" Of course, I don't use Facebook on a smartphone, which probably opens up tons of personal data on users.

[dalton99a]

2. Kick

[Anon-C]

3. Thanks for posting Workinclasszero. Huge K&R!

[workinclasszero]

6. YW

Direct from our phones to Cambridge Analytica folks!

Facebook must die!

[MontanaMama]

4. Gmail does that too.

any bets they’re doing the same thing?

[workinclasszero]

9. Wouldn't surprise me if proven but...

So far Facebook has been the only one accused of weaponizing the info through Cambridge Analytica in service to republicans and other fascists worldwide.

[backtoblue]

5. A thought

I don't have Facebook, but a friend logs onto their page using my phone. Does this compromise my phone?

[workinclasszero]

7. I bet they have your phone number at minimum

Could be more but I'm no expert.

[dalton99a]

10. FB probably assumes the phone belongs to your friend, and treats it accordingly

[askyagerz]

13. No your number shouldn't show up unless you give it to them

The thing with FB is everyone just gives them the info they need

[CentralMass]

11. I have an Android phone and do access FB from it. I've gone through all of my settings and tightened

my already tight settings down. That continuously upload” contact data was already off but to be safe I just deleted my phone number from the Account Setting-> Text Messaging settings.

[Honeycombe8]

12. Not from me!

I only set up a FB account recently, and then only to access a community group, and a couple of groups about cord cutting and Roku.

I also don't have a Smartphone, but even if I did, I wouldn't be using it for FB.

[SCVDem]

14. I have no fb account.

Do they still have a file on me?

[IluvPitties]

15. I hate Facebook, and this is disgusting.