Facebook simply doesn't have an ethical central core. They've shown over and over that when user privacy or security conflict with facebook's goals, they'll choose facebook over the user. It's always relatively subtle; they strive to only do what they can get away with...but it's always pushing the line, and is never based on trying to do what's right, merely avoiding backlash. Facebook, the company, is kind of a sociopath.
I wish it weren't this way. I have several friends within facebook whom I like and respect, and they produce a lot of great technology. But, I fear facebook having more power than they already have. It can only end badly for the user.
Facebook really needs a "don't be evil" moment, but I suspect it's too late, and I suspect that Zuckerberg simply doesn't think that way.
> I have several friends within facebook whom I like and respect, and they produce a lot of great technology.
I find this idea interesting. Can an entity like a corporation have a life beyond that which is given to it by its employees? Like the ship of theseus, can you replace all employees and still have a business that "feels" the same?
About an year ago, when the story blew up about the Facebook app sneaking through your phone contacts and adding friends numbers' to your Facebook account. I instantly deleted the Facebook app from my Android, and told my friends Facebook was clearly not reliable to have an app privilege on your phone. I called it that they would eventually do even worse, if you let them have an app in your phone. The general consensus was that I was an alarmist doomsayer extremist exaggerating over nothing.
Well, who is crazy now? :) And I repeat what I said before. If you don't delete your Facebook app. They'll keep pulling stunts like these over and over again. It's very clear from their history that they have extremely little care for customer interests.
The part about "Facebook sneaking through contacts and adding friends' numbers" isn't correct: the Facebook app has always had a pretty clear description about what would happen if contact sync (an optional feature) is enabled.
This is about the other side of things. Everyone who had you as a Facebook friend and does still have the app, is now sending you emails that you're possibly not receiving. The problem is worse than you make it out to be. Deleting your whole account and manually telling people your email address was the only way to prevent this.
Well, this is my gripe with their "go fast and break things" mantra. It works as long as you have such a highly desirable product that your users just don't care if you're doing everything right. (Or maybe you're in a non-mission-critical business, or better yet, your customers are a bunch of kids!)
I'm all for going fast and sincerely believe in "A sense of urgency", but Facebook is really lucky they're not serving more serious/demanding customers.
It works on facebook because no one uses facebook for anything important. But messing with iOS contacts... that's reaching out and breaking things that aren't on facebook.
Facebook is serving shareholders now. I'm hoping there are some serious repercussions internally at FB for this, because as a shareholder, I'm pissed they messed this up because the user base is upset and will continue to stop trusting Facebook.
Can any attorneys out there explain how altering computing devices to redirect and intercept email is not a criminal act when done without the knowledge or consent of the owner?
If any of us pulled the same stunt, even if authorized to access the system for other reasons, would we not be subject to prosecution? Hopefully, the same will happen to FB.
In addition to the Federal communications and cybercrime statutes, there is California Penal Code 502:
(c) Except as provided in subdivision (h), any person who commits any of the following acts is guilty of a public offense:
(1) Knowingly accesses and without permission alters, damages,
deletes, destroys, or otherwise uses any data, computer, computer
system, or computer network in order to either (A) devise or execute
any scheme or artifice to defraud, deceive, or extort, or (B)
wrongfully control or obtain money, property, or data.
...
(4) Knowingly accesses and without permission adds, alters,
damages, deletes, or destroys any data, computer software, or
computer programs which reside or exist internal or external to a
computer, computer system, or computer network.
(5) Knowingly and without permission disrupts or causes the
disruption of computer services or denies or causes the denial of
computer services to an authorized user of a computer, computer
system, or computer network.
...
etc.
It remains to be seen if there is a prosecutor with the backbone to go after this.
Well, "Knowingly accesses and without permission... uses any data" would make the accessing and transmission of contacts (a la Path and many other apps) illegal. Except there's probably a clause somewhere that you agreed to without reading which lets them do that, and the same may be true here.
Don't know in the US, but in Germany it is a criminal act afaik (ianal). Looking forward to the EU investigation into this. Maybe Facebook soon joins Microsoft in having to pay a billion euro fine?
As I understand it, when an email address on Facebook gets synced to a phone, that's just a cache. Any updates to the email address on Facebook automatically update the cache. When friends update their email addresses, the cache gets overwritten and you don't have their old addresses anymore.
But now, Facebook changed people's email addresses without their permission. The cache gets updated, and boom, the old address is gone.
But what makes it more scary is that people don't actually remember that they originally got the address from Facebook and they don't understand the caching behavior. All they know is that the old address is gone. So they think that email addresses that they didn't get from Facebook are also at risk.
The workaround is to manually copy email addresses from Facebook to some other system. Any email addresses you get from Facebook by automatically syncing aren't safe.
It's a pity; after all, most of the point of the system is that you shouldn't have to manually update your address book when your friends change their contact info.
That's an excellent explanation. It also fits the mold of just about every other "service X broke into service Y and stole my info" story, wherein people forget lots of other plausible explanations.
The more important question is, what are Apple and Google doing allowing apps write access to a user's address book??
I can't believe anyone at Facebook was dumb enough to think this was a good idea. But at the same time, I can't believe some "rogue engineer" did this by accident. I'm curious to see what Facebook says about it.
They have to allow write access to some applications otherwise there can be no third-party address book apps. If there was such a permission, you can bet that facebook would have asked for it by default. You can also be sure that hundreds of millions of people would have granted it and we would be seeing the exact same problem.
The root of the problem is facebook. The important questions should be directed at facebook. We can look to Apple or Google for help, but ultimately when we install an application, we grant it our trust and Facebook routinely tramples all over it. Turns out that it's a winning strategy.
Android has a feature where you can indicate that contacts from disparate services are actually the same person. For example, I have my friend Chris in my Android directory, my Gmail directory, on Facebook and on Twitter. Within my contact list, I am able to specify that these are actually all the same person. They're still separate contacts from each service though, they're just grouped together in my phone's directory.
I suspect that the problem being described happens when the only source of someone's email address was the Facebook contact, as I doubt that, e.g., a Facebook contact would overwrite someone Gmail contacts. At this point it's not clear, however.
As someone who quit facebook a while back, I can't help but feel that this kind of event vindicates me. Sometimes I'm tempted to re-create a minimal account on the service just for findability, but even that small step would have been enough for facebook to hijack my contact info in a friend's phone. There really is no way to have a facebook account at all, no matter how infrequently you use it, without getting screwed over.
I just deleted the Facebook app from my iPhone. I have no idea if it altered any of my contacts, but this certainly does scare me enough to warrant deletion.
I really don't understand this - FB has repeatedly shown they don't give a shit about users' privacy etc. They also don't care about breaking stuff. This is not the first time it is happening, and won't be the last. So, Why are people putting their work email ids on their FB account???
You probably already know this but just to confirm, emails dont show up in messages. Instead they go to 'other' in messages, which no one checks anyways.
I've been complaining for ages that Facebook's contact sync was broken in Ice Cream Sandwich. I only had the app installed so I could sync my friend's contacts details with Facebook anyway, and every update I'd check to see whether they'd fixed it. But it was still broken, even after dozens of updates.
Just in case you were being serious...
Facebook sync wasn't broken in ICS. Google intentionally disabled the feature in Gingerbread.
"Google says it is removing Facebook contacts because they are not stored locally on the phone like other contacts. This means that, unlike your Google contacts, the Facebook listings aren’t exportable so, if users decide to close their Facebook accounts, those contacts will disappear from the address book, something which violates Google’s notions of data portability."
Agreed. I paid a buck for HaxSync to get sync working on ICS, looks like it wasn't able to overwrite the email addresses I had for people. I just disabled contact sync for HaxSync and Facebook (in case they actually decide to get it working with ICS)
The funny part is my friends thought I was crazy NOT to sync my Facebook contacts with my gmail contact list.
This is a great example of why I continue to keep my information segregated across different networks. For all of the nonsense Facebook keeps pulling, I continue to have a healthy does of scepticism when allowing them access to ANY of my information - let alone letting these networks interact with each other.
Losing emails and user dissatisfaction is just a bug. Making their email addy the primary specifically to seed everyone's contacts with it via sync-enabled apps was the feature.
[+] [-] SwellJoe|13 years ago|reply
I wish it weren't this way. I have several friends within facebook whom I like and respect, and they produce a lot of great technology. But, I fear facebook having more power than they already have. It can only end badly for the user.
Facebook really needs a "don't be evil" moment, but I suspect it's too late, and I suspect that Zuckerberg simply doesn't think that way.
[+] [-] carsongross|13 years ago|reply
I mean the advertisers.
[+] [-] Splines|13 years ago|reply
I find this idea interesting. Can an entity like a corporation have a life beyond that which is given to it by its employees? Like the ship of theseus, can you replace all employees and still have a business that "feels" the same?
[+] [-] alttab|13 years ago|reply
To me, this is essentially theft.
[+] [-] orijing|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] vibrunazo|13 years ago|reply
Well, who is crazy now? :) And I repeat what I said before. If you don't delete your Facebook app. They'll keep pulling stunts like these over and over again. It's very clear from their history that they have extremely little care for customer interests.
[+] [-] Xuzz|13 years ago|reply
For example, on iOS, it looked like this almost two years back: http://www.neowin.net/images/uploaded/iPhoneNumber.png (as seen on this page from October 2010: http://www.marismith.com/facebook-phonebook-how-safe-your-ce...) I don't have any old screenshots of the Android version, but the current app is similar to the iOS screenshots above.
[+] [-] antidoh|13 years ago|reply
And they'll still call you that. Facebook's hold is too great.
[+] [-] unknown|13 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] threejay|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] drivebyacct2|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ozataman|13 years ago|reply
I'm all for going fast and sincerely believe in "A sense of urgency", but Facebook is really lucky they're not serving more serious/demanding customers.
[+] [-] chrischen|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gee_totes|13 years ago|reply
How's the stock supposed to get back to 38 now?
[+] [-] matthew-wegner|13 years ago|reply
(Granted, a LOT of Facebook touches personal information, but something like this is pretty tendril-y in its reach).
[+] [-] sugarmountain|13 years ago|reply
If any of us pulled the same stunt, even if authorized to access the system for other reasons, would we not be subject to prosecution? Hopefully, the same will happen to FB.
In addition to the Federal communications and cybercrime statutes, there is California Penal Code 502:
(c) Except as provided in subdivision (h), any person who commits any of the following acts is guilty of a public offense: (1) Knowingly accesses and without permission alters, damages, deletes, destroys, or otherwise uses any data, computer, computer system, or computer network in order to either (A) devise or execute any scheme or artifice to defraud, deceive, or extort, or (B) wrongfully control or obtain money, property, or data. ... (4) Knowingly accesses and without permission adds, alters, damages, deletes, or destroys any data, computer software, or computer programs which reside or exist internal or external to a computer, computer system, or computer network. (5) Knowingly and without permission disrupts or causes the disruption of computer services or denies or causes the denial of computer services to an authorized user of a computer, computer system, or computer network. ... etc.
It remains to be seen if there is a prosecutor with the backbone to go after this.
[+] [-] fl3tch|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] yaix|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] skybrian|13 years ago|reply
But now, Facebook changed people's email addresses without their permission. The cache gets updated, and boom, the old address is gone.
But what makes it more scary is that people don't actually remember that they originally got the address from Facebook and they don't understand the caching behavior. All they know is that the old address is gone. So they think that email addresses that they didn't get from Facebook are also at risk.
The workaround is to manually copy email addresses from Facebook to some other system. Any email addresses you get from Facebook by automatically syncing aren't safe.
It's a pity; after all, most of the point of the system is that you shouldn't have to manually update your address book when your friends change their contact info.
[+] [-] tedunangst|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] crazygringo|13 years ago|reply
I can't believe anyone at Facebook was dumb enough to think this was a good idea. But at the same time, I can't believe some "rogue engineer" did this by accident. I'm curious to see what Facebook says about it.
[+] [-] po|13 years ago|reply
The root of the problem is facebook. The important questions should be directed at facebook. We can look to Apple or Google for help, but ultimately when we install an application, we grant it our trust and Facebook routinely tramples all over it. Turns out that it's a winning strategy.
[+] [-] notJim|13 years ago|reply
I suspect that the problem being described happens when the only source of someone's email address was the Facebook contact, as I doubt that, e.g., a Facebook contact would overwrite someone Gmail contacts. At this point it's not clear, however.
[+] [-] wtallis|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|13 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] graue|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] grourk|13 years ago|reply
They'll tell you.
[+] [-] raganwald|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kmfrk|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nphase|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kmm|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] samstave|13 years ago|reply
Words to live by.
[+] [-] vijayr|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pkulak|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Achshar|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Fargren|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jarek|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wikkiwa|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jfoutz|13 years ago|reply
I think this is just incompetence. hopefully, it's coupled with a little incontinence.
[+] [-] sp332|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] codeka|13 years ago|reply
Now I'm glad it's broken!
[+] [-] californian|13 years ago|reply
"Google says it is removing Facebook contacts because they are not stored locally on the phone like other contacts. This means that, unlike your Google contacts, the Facebook listings aren’t exportable so, if users decide to close their Facebook accounts, those contacts will disappear from the address book, something which violates Google’s notions of data portability."
http://blog.laptopmag.com/google-removes-facebook-contacts-f...
[+] [-] cjdavis|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] arihant|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] at-fates-hands|13 years ago|reply
This is a great example of why I continue to keep my information segregated across different networks. For all of the nonsense Facebook keeps pulling, I continue to have a healthy does of scepticism when allowing them access to ANY of my information - let alone letting these networks interact with each other.
[+] [-] spinchange|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] emeraldd|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] daeken|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rdl|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] robomartin|13 years ago|reply
Value of Zuck's shares post-IPO: $19 Billion
Pissing off 800 million users with a forced email change: PRICELESS
There are some things money can't buy. For gut-wrenching invasion of privacy there's Facebook.