Great reporting by TechCrunch’s Josh Constine:
Desperate for data on its competitors, Facebook has been secretly paying people to install a “Facebook Research” VPN that lets the company suck in all of a user’s phone and web activity, similar to Facebook’s Onavo Protect app that Apple banned in June and that was removed in August. Facebook sidesteps the App Store and rewards teenagers and adults to download the Research app and give it root access in what may be a violation of Apple policy so the social network can decrypt and analyze their phone activity, a TechCrunch investigation confirms. Facebook admitted to TechCrunch it was running the Research program to gather data on usage habits, and it has no plans to stop.
Since 2016, Facebook has been paying users ages 13 to 35 up to $20 per month plus referral fees to sell their privacy by installing the iOS or Android “Facebook Research” app. Facebook even asked users to screenshot their Amazon order history page. The program is administered through beta testing services Applause, BetaBound and uTest to cloak Facebook’s involvement, and is referred to in some documentation as “Project Atlas” — a fitting name for Facebook’s effort to map new trends and rivals around the globe.
This is a very interesting case. These users are clearly doing this of their own volition; they are making the choice to give up their privacy so Facebook can see literally everything they do on their iPhone. At the same time, we can all agree this scummy, sleazy, and stupid, and I would love for Apple to have the guts to revoke Facebook’s iOS developer account.
They won’t, of course, but if Apple really cares about privacy – they do not, but for the sake of argument, let’s assume that they do – they should remove Facebook from the App Store.
Looks like the other shoe dropped this morning.
Apple says it’s banning Facebook’s research app that collects users’ personal information:
https://www.recode.net/2019/1/30/18203231/apple-says-its-banning-facebooks-research-that-collected-users-personal-information
But the story goes that they’re banning them because they’re violating Apple’s policy on the use of Enterprise Certificates, not, necessarily, because of any privacy violations.
Can a 13 year old really make an informed decision as to what selling their data actually means? And the impact it can have on their futures?
With comments on social media destroying careers decades later. Honestly, I don’t think it’s reasonable to assume anyone (let alone teenagers) truly understand what impact selling their data may have.
> Can a 13 year old really make an informed decision as to what selling their data actually means? And the impact it can have on their futures?
I’m not sure _any_ of us can make an informed decision on this. Compared to the companies using and profiting from this data, we’re all at an extreme information asymmetry regarding its value, how it will be used, what it means for our privacy, and what it means for our future.
I’m not sure either if any of us can really make an informed decision but I do know a thirteen year old legally shouldn’t be allowed to.
Who cares.
Honestly, this is blown way out of proportion.
How is this different from Nielsen Ratings writ large?
There’s no privacy violation here. There’s no secret going on. They’re not forced to do it, they’re paid for their information, for their time, for their participation.
“University study requires participants to give up sensitive health information.” OH NO!
If they’re secretly recording conversations, if they’re Secretly recording your whereabouts, if they’re SECRETLY reading your email, then, yea, there’s a problem,
But there’s no secret here. These participants willing allowed Facebook to be a fly on their wall for money or other gifts. Up front. “If we pay you $XX, can we track your every move?” “YES!” they said.
Can a 13 year properly decide that? Maybe, maybe not. I agree that’s a gray area.
Other than that, big deal.
Because Nielsen doesn’t have a window into your entire home and everything you do there. With this app, Facebook sees 100% of your activity on your iPhone. Every web page browsed, every app opened, everything you do on every app on the device, every photo and video you take…
If you can’t see the difference you’re either blind or willfully ignorant.
I don’t think many people have an appreciation for just how invasive these high tech advertising companies are.
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-45368040
https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-google-ads-tracking-20170523-story.html
Google buys 70 percent of our personal credit and debit card transactions from our banks and credit card companies. We have no idea what companies are involved unless someone leaks to the press. These are business deals over our personal information, and yet they aren’t even legally compelled to tell us who’s buying our data or how it’s being used. It’s just a black box. The law entitles consumers to call the banks & credit card companies and ask them to stop sharing your personal details, but the onus is on you to do it every year for every account. I had to spend an hour on the phone last month to opt out of letting them sell my data just for one account.
Typically, I don’t think we should get involved in people’s personal choices. If it only hurts them, I don’t see that we have an obligation to save the stupid from themselves. The problem with this particular situation though, is that it doesn’t only hurt the person who installs it. It hurts *everyone* they connect with, through any internet-based media. If someone installs this, then uses that device to email me, Facebook has something on me even though I do not have and refuse to open a Facebook account. This isn’t about saving the stupid from themselves, but rather about the rest of us being protected from these idiots.
It’s interesting how much the story seems to try to say it’s an issue how Facebook is disregarding Apple’s rules. To me, that merits little more than a mention.