Vanity Fair's Maya Kosodd points out the consequences of tapping or clicking through the little popups when you sign up for Facebook: these are contracts that let Facebook do everything that you're now complaining about.
In its current iteration, Facebook’s Messenger application requests that those who download it give it permission to access incoming and outgoing call and text logs. But, as users discovered when prompted to download a copy of their personal data before permanently deleting their Facebook accounts, a certain amount of data was covertly siphoned without explicit permissions.
But, as Facebook responds:
You may have seen some recent reports that Facebook has been logging people’s call and SMS (text) history without their permission.
This is not the case.
...
People have to expressly agree to use this feature. If, at any time, they no longer wish to use this feature they can turn it off
In other words, he's calling you a dumb fuck again.
Here's the screen where they trick people into giving them their call history. The contrast ratio of the silvertext is, according to WebAIM, 2:32 to 1, which fails the applicable accessibility standards for readable text.
Here you're agreeing to "text anyone in your phone," as far as you're concerned, which of course you want to be able to do--and can already do without letting Facebook track your calls and messages. Not only is this fact in small print silvertext, it's parked in an eyes-glaze-over paragraph about "continuous uploads" that uses superficially simple and approachable language to conceal what it's really about: letting Facebook track your calls and messages.
Yesterday Bytedance, the company that acquired the tween-centric app Musica.ly and relaunched it as Tiktok, was been sued by a parents' group for violating the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act by gathering, storing, and selling private information about their children. Today, they settled the case on terms that have not been disclosed.
Reps Anna Eshoo [D-CA] and Zoe Lofgren [D-CA] have introduced HR 4978, the "Online Privacy Act," which is a comprehensive set of federal rules for privacy, interoperability, and protection from algorithmic discrimination and manipulation.
Chrome’s incognito mode is useful if you don’t want your browsing history saved to your account, don’t want websites to access your cookies, or if you want to troubleshoot your browser. But it doesn’t do much to protect your privacy. Your ISP can see what websites you visit, and services like Twitter can figure out […]
The bummers of adulthood are too many to count, but one of our least favorites is the inability to sit down and enjoy a nice bowl of cereal. When you’ve got a long commute ahead, let’s face it: That extra time it takes to pour the milk and chow down is too precious to spare. […]
Who are these people that have time for a job, social life, and actual healthy meals? With a nutrition segment on seemingly every talk show and entire networks devoted to food, it can sometimes seem like we’ve never left our mother’s house and her constant admonitions to “eat your vegetables!” And okay, she was right. […]
Every Christmas list has names you dread buying for. But hold up: Before you wave the white flag and get them yet another gift card, scroll down a few. We’ve got 15 items that run the gamut from stylish old-school lighters to cutting-edge audio tech, enough variety to please any Scrooge. And the best part? […]
