Sneaky Little Facebook

I believe this thread belongs in Social issues,it is about Facebook after all.

So Facebook have decided to take the messaging service away from the phone application and create a standalone application called Facebook messenger. You won't be able to view your private messages until you install this application, forcing most people to download it.

I was about to install it until my phone popped up with all the allowances that I would need to give to this application. This list includes the following;

- Edit SMS or MMS
Allows the application to write to SMS messages stored on your phone or sim card. Malicious applications may delete your messages.

- Read SMS or MMS
Allows application to read SMS messages stored on your phone or sim card. Malicious applications may read your confidential messages.

- Receive SMS or MMS
Allows application to receive and process SMS messages. Malicious applications may monitor your messages or delete them without showing them to you.

- Modify/Delete SD card contents

- Change network connectivity

- Display system level alerts
Allows application to show system alert windows. Malicious applications can take over the entire screen of the phone.

-Coarse (network based) location
Access coarse location sources, such as cellular network database to determine an approximate location, where available. Malicious application can use this to determine approximately where you are.

- Fine (GPS) location
Access fine location sources, such as the global positioning system on the phone, where available. Malicious application can use this to determine where you are.

- Directly call phone numbers
Allows application to call phone numbers without your intervention. Malicious application can cause unexpected calls on your phone bill.

- Send SMS messages
Allows application to send SMS messages. Malicious application may cost you money by sending messages without your confirmation.


- Change audio settings
Allows application to modify global audio settings, such as volume and routing.

- Record audio
Allows application to access audio record path.

- Take pictures and video
Allows application to take pictures and videos with the camera. This allows the application at any time to collect images the camera is seeing.

- Read contact data
Allows application to read all of the contact data stored on your phone. Malicious application can use this to send data to other people.

- Phone calls.
Allows the application to access the phone features of the device. An application with this permission can determine the phone number and serial number of this phone, whether a call is active, the number that the call is connected to and the like.

- Full internet access
Allows application to create network sockets.

- Download files without notification
Allows application to download files through the download manager without any notification being shown to the user.

- Receive data from internet
Allows the application to accept cloud to device messages sent by the application service. Using this service will incur data usage. Malicious applications may cause excess data usage.

And there's a few more aswel.

I've never seen an application that requires so much access to the functions and privacy contained in your phone. There's enough access to functions and data there to put police out of business, or at least make their jobs a lot easier.

Why would a simple private messaging service need access to all these functions?

Maybe I'm being paranoid, but I'm not downloading it!

I was not happy about this to begin with.

But i have an Iphone... So im pretty sure all my privacy is breached anyhow.

Yet another reason I refuse to create a FB account.

I had an account a few years ago and even then I found it to be more of a pain in the ass than what it was worth.

Why they make it so difficult to delete an account is ridiculous.

Never again!!!!

It worried me as well, which is why I won't download it.

I will say in it's defense though that these are permissions the app needs to have to do it's job. Since it's unifying you're facebook messages with your text messages, it will need permission to write messages, send/receive etc. It will also need full internet access (like many other apps) to run it's advertisements and send messages online.

It is painful to read but at least they're telling us the dangers beforehand.

Hope this clears it up a little!

All the things I already came to expect while owning a smart phone regardless of App. Nothing new but it's nice that they put it in print now.

a reply to: KingWhat

Yea I thought the app may need some of these accesses too. It's just quite scary when you realise how much power and trust that you're giving over to them.

Do people still use Facebook ?

a reply to: gortex
Only a few hundred million, excluding me.

I ain't had a mobile phone for 10 years..

Face2Face.

ATS>>>>>>Facebook/Twitter/Instagram combined
ATS stars & flags>>>>>>>>>Facebook likes

My obsession for obtaining knowledge>>>>>>>becoming a social media zombie

I hate stupid ass Facebook. Unfortunately I sell a lot of crap on there so what can I do? Sucks...

I use facebook almost exclusively on my phone, for another line of communication/networking...the Messenger app has been around for a good while now. It essentially lets you access your messages without the need to open the standard facebook app.

While it suggests I install this Messenger each time I open the messages tab, it has yet to deny me from viewing personal messages without it. I'm actually on the facebook app as we speak talking a friend down from a spider-induced freakout hahaha.

a reply to: DAZ21
We've been saying and sayin for a long time about FB. No one was listening when we said it would come to no good. It has...now do you believe?

originally posted by: DAZ21
I've never seen an application that requires so much access to the functions and privacy contained in your phone. There's enough access to functions and data there to put police out of business, or at least make their jobs a lot easier.

Why would a simple private messaging service need access to all these functions?

Just because its not a simple messaging service. The way facebook works, it integrates all of these allowances for full functionality of the messenger service. Albeit, there's no guarantee that that's all that they use that information for.

The only suspicious one I saw was, "change network connectivity". Idk why they would need to do that.

a reply to: DAZ21

Does this mean that FB can send messages etc. and you / we so kindly Pay for such ?????

I hate Facebook. Like most I have it, and use it to keep in contact with family across the pond. I almost updated it on my phone until I read the small print. It angered me so much I tried to remove facebook from my phone completely and guess what? No can do. Even have tried to root my phone and apparently it is unrootable. So here I am stuck with a stupid app on my phone that i cannot get rid off. I just fed it BS instead until I can dig out a Nokia 3310 again.

I'm glad I don't use fb on my phone. Is there a social media site like fb but without all the NSA spying b.s? I want to join it & slowly get my family onto it as well. The only reason I'm still on fb is because I have such a large extended family, pretty much everyone is on fb & it's the easiest way for everyone to stay in touch.

originally posted by: Margana
I'm glad I don't use fb on my phone. Is there a social media site like fb but without all the NSA spying b.s? I want to join it & slowly get my family onto it as well. The only reason I'm still on fb is because I have such a large extended family, pretty much everyone is on fb & it's the easiest way for everyone to stay in touch.

There is a more private social network called Diaspora

a reply to: DAZ21

More spying by Facebook! No surprise; this seems to fit right in with their standard policies, that were discussed on ATS some time back.

Personally, I will never, EVER, put anything Facebook on my cell phone. I am waiting for someone to suggest it, so I can educate them on the danger.

I recall one person from that older thread talking about battery usage going way up after a FB update, and figuring out it was likely FB accessing their mic and camera. If I were you, I'd delete the whole thing, if you have any other way (computer) to use the site.