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Facebook Government Privacy United States

Facebook Deceived Users About the Way It Used Phone Numbers, Facial Recognition, FTC To Allege in Complaint (washingtonpost.com) 36

The Federal Trade Commission plans to allege that Facebook misled users' about its handling of their phone numbers as part of a wide-ranging complaint that accompanies a settlement ending the government's privacy probe, Washington Post reported Tuesday, citing two people familiar with the matter. From the report: In the complaint, which has not yet been released, federal regulators take issue with Facebook's earlier implementation of a security feature called two-factor authentication. It allows users to request one-time password, sent by text message, each time they log onto the social-networking site. But some advertisers managed to target Facebook users who uploaded those contact details, perhaps without the full knowledge of those who provided them, the two sources said. The misuse of the phone numbers was first identified in media reports and by academics last year [PDF]. The FTC also plans to allege that Facebook had provided insufficient information to users -- roughly 30 million -- about their ability to turn off a tool that would identify and offer tag suggestions for photos, the sources added. The sources spoke on the condition of anonymity. The facial recognition issue appears to have first been publicized earlier this year by Consumer Reports.
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Facebook Deceived Users About the Way It Used Phone Numbers, Facial Recognition, FTC To Allege in Complaint

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  • by Java Pimp ( 98454 ) on Tuesday July 23, 2019 @03:02PM (#58974368) Homepage

    I'm shocked I tell you! Shocked! ... well.. no... not shocked....

  • Say it isn't so (Score:4, Interesting)

    by JustAnotherOldGuy ( 4145623 ) on Tuesday July 23, 2019 @03:03PM (#58974372) Journal

    "Facebook Deceived Users About the Way It Used Phone Numbers, Facial Recognition, FTC To Allege in Complaint"

    No way, I can't believe that Facebook would do anything underhanded or deceptive.

    Do it again, I mean.

  • Facebook has always been 100% honest about how much they were going to spy on you.

    Their lies were as thin as a doctor about to give you a shot and saying... "This will not hurt one bit".

    Whenever I read Facebook's TOS and Privacy notices, they made it clear they sell your data and use it however they please.

    • by Geekbot ( 641878 )

      That's not the real problem. Their TOS may have been "clear" about using their system, if a legal document can be described as clear. That's one thing the EU was trying to address. They have a generic quick misleading request then a challenging legal document that says contrary to what you just read. "Well, that's just legaleese. Facebook already summed up what the info/permission was for." And the problem is that it is the legaleese that is truthful and the easy to understand part that is completely decept

  • I hate being right. (Score:4, Informative)

    by nicolaiplum ( 169077 ) on Tuesday July 23, 2019 @03:35PM (#58974534)

    That's why I don't have phone-based 2FA on Facebook. I expected them to misuse my phone number.

    You cannot trust Facebook. Ever. They are an entirely rotten, untrustworthy organisation and that tone comes from the top.

    • by Anonymous Coward

      They already have your phone number; someone who has you in their contact list gave it to them.

      • Indeed, but unlike the OP, I quite enjoy being right.

        It reminds me of all the morons that say you can avoid using Google. They are stupid in the same vein. They never consider the fact that Google trades information with everyone for money. Like the Credit Bureaus, you don't have to directly do business with Them, you only need to do business with a business that does business with them and they get your information that way. And there are a lot of businesses that do business with google and Facebook!

        • They never consider the fact that Google trades information with everyone for money.

          Cite? Do you have something beyond cynicism to back this claim?

          FWIW, in 8 years of working for Google, I've never seen a case of Google buying information. I was once peripherally involved in a conversation with credit card issuers who offered to sell information about credit card transactions to Google, but Google declined (and the Googlers involved were shocked -- Google would never sell such information and the ease of the offer and the low price were very surprising). I moved to Android five years a

          • by sconeu ( 64226 )

            Wrong direction. Google isn't a data buyer, it's a data seller.

            • Wrong direction. Google isn't a data buyer, it's a data seller.

              Nope, not that either. Google's data is far too valuable to sell. Google can get much more value out of it than potential buyers could, because Google has better tools and better access to users. Google also has a philosophical/moral position against selling data, but one would have to be very naive to believe that would survive if the business case for selling it were significantly better than the business case for keeping it close and using it internally to target ads. As it is, the targeted ad busine

  • by sjames ( 1099 ) on Tuesday July 23, 2019 @03:45PM (#58974600) Homepage Journal

    Looks like Zuck needs to start digging between the couch cushions again, so he can pay the fine.

  • Malicious intents (Score:2, Informative)

    by slash2019 ( 6030504 )
    Facebook's malicious intent became so obvious when it started separating the messaging part of its app as an entirely new messaging app. This was done to harvest more non-FB related info from the user's phone, like contacts, SMS content, etc. Also, FB has a system-level app pre-installed on Android smartphones (I don't know if the same is true for iPhone devices). It runs in the background, gathering phone information. So there is basically a facebook app running all the time in your phone even when you're
  • "Facebook Deceived Users About Everything "

    There, FTFY.

Some people manage by the book, even though they don't know who wrote the book or even what book.

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