7 ms·

This is tangentially related to this, but apparently their mobile app now automatically downloads all the photos on your phone if you give permissions to access

This is tangentially related to this, but apparently their mobile app now automatically downloads all the photos on your phone if you give permissions to access photos? My wife and I recently had a child, and when I opened up the app to post one single photo of our child, Facebook was showing in my newsfeed a video they made with all of my photos I had taken. This seems like a gross violation of my privacy. Is there any way to prevent this aside from deleting the app and no longer sharing photos with family and friends via FB?

Tharkun 10y ago
You're using FB. Talking about a 'gross violation of privacy' is almost laughable.
icebraining 10y ago
https://www.facebook.com/help/409007099162779/ https://www.facebook.com/help/409007099162779/ Apparently the feature is opt-in and will be sunsetted soon anyway, but you can disable it.
- bsbechtel 10y ago
  I think what I'm talking about is something different. I never opted in, and I also can't adjust the settings at the location the help page directed me to.
danfromberlin 10y ago
If you care at all about maintaining control over this kind of data, consider abstaining from facebook and running your own service e.g. owncloud or nextcloud.
philh 10y ago
On android, there are unofficial apps which act as shells on the mobile web interface (the ones I have are "Tinfoil for Facebook" and "Swype"). IIRC these are capable of uploading photos, but they won't upload any that you don't explicitly choose to upload.
nickcw 10y ago
Delete the app and just use the mobile website. That is what I did, and it works pretty well in general. It also has the advantage (for me) that you don't get any notifications.
- bsbechtel 10y ago
  That's probably what I'm going to have to do. Thanks for mentioning this!
  - hollander 10y ago
    Plus this works without uploading your contacts to FB.
- roninb 10y ago
  You're not redirected to use the Messenger app when trying to check messages on mobile. For a bit, while on the B side, I could request a desktop site on Chrome for Android and then still use the m.facebook.com subdomain. Now that I'm on the A side, I can't use that workaround. I've been told other m.facebook.com wrappers like Tinfoil were affected by this as well.
  - srathi 10y ago
    Use mbasic.facebook.com. Works like a charm! (so far)
    - hollander 10y ago
      That's even an option on the laptop!
  - Spivak 10y ago
    FaceSlim currently works great as a Tinfoil replacement until they work around redirect.
mattzito 10y ago
So - what you saw was automatically generated on your phone, and not uploaded to facebook. It's just displayed on your phone in the newsfeed view, and you can opt-in to having it posted. This happened to a friend of mine who is an ex-FBer, and he posted on FB about it, and a number of people from the FB team who worked on the mobile app piece of it confirmed that indeed no data had left his phone without him requesting that it be posted, but that they were going to make that behavior more clear in an upcoming release.
- colinbartlett 10y ago
  That's crazy, does that rendering happen in the background while the phone is in your pocket?
  - cbhl 10y ago
    It's all just slides and pans -- stuff that can be previewed in real-time locally on your phone. Stuff that would run on a computer with 1/10th the compute/graphics/memory in 1998.
- bsbechtel 10y ago
  Yeah, it's happened in the past where they show you little thumbnails of your photos album to encourage you to share/post, but the fact that they created a video (during an eventful, emotional, and exciting but very private time) was a bit much. Your comment is a little reassuring, but the fact that FB doesn't have the greatest track record, and this is hearsay on HN, I'm still concerned/annoyed.
_RPM 10y ago
Should you be using the mobile application if _you_ care about privacy?
brightball 10y ago
I use the mobile web now instead of the phone app now. I realize it's probably paranoia but there have been far too many times when I've talked about something and a related ad magically appears in my news feed. Hasn't been a problem since I deleted the app.
- leovander 10y ago
  Reminds of these ads. http://ghostinfluence.com/the-ultimate-retaliation-pranking-my-roommate-with-targeted-facebook-ads http://ghostinfluence.com/the-ultimate-retaliation-pranking-...
- enobrev 10y ago
  Doing so has also saved me a considerable amount of battery. I delete the app before any travel to ensure battery drain isn't as much of an issue.
- linkregister 10y ago
  I'm not sure if the option is there on iOS, but on Android N, you can revoke the Microphone permission. I use the web app on Chrome but relented on installing the Messenger application ever since they crammed using that on mobile users. Yes, I admit defeat.
spriggan3 10y ago
You're using Facebook and linked Facebook to your phone. You shouldn't do that unless you want all your private data to go to Facebook servers.

Tharkun 10y ago

You're using FB. Talking about a 'gross violation of privacy' is almost laughable.

icebraining 10y ago

https://www.facebook.com/help/409007099162779/ https://www.facebook.com/help/409007099162779/ Apparently the feature is opt-in and will be sunsetted soon anyway, but you can disable it.

bsbechtel 10y ago
I think what I'm talking about is something different. I never opted in, and I also can't adjust the settings at the location the help page directed me to.

danfromberlin 10y ago

If you care at all about maintaining control over this kind of data, consider abstaining from facebook and running your own service e.g. owncloud or nextcloud.

philh 10y ago

On android, there are unofficial apps which act as shells on the mobile web interface (the ones I have are "Tinfoil for Facebook" and "Swype"). IIRC these are capable of uploading photos, but they won't upload any that you don't explicitly choose to upload.

nickcw 10y ago

Delete the app and just use the mobile website. That is what I did, and it works pretty well in general. It also has the advantage (for me) that you don't get any notifications.

bsbechtel 10y ago
That's probably what I'm going to have to do. Thanks for mentioning this!
- hollander 10y ago
  Plus this works without uploading your contacts to FB.
roninb 10y ago
You're not redirected to use the Messenger app when trying to check messages on mobile. For a bit, while on the B side, I could request a desktop site on Chrome for Android and then still use the m.facebook.com subdomain. Now that I'm on the A side, I can't use that workaround. I've been told other m.facebook.com wrappers like Tinfoil were affected by this as well.
- srathi 10y ago
  Use mbasic.facebook.com. Works like a charm! (so far)
  - hollander 10y ago
    That's even an option on the laptop!
- Spivak 10y ago
  FaceSlim currently works great as a Tinfoil replacement until they work around redirect.

mattzito 10y ago

So - what you saw was automatically generated on your phone, and not uploaded to facebook. It's just displayed on your phone in the newsfeed view, and you can opt-in to having it posted. This happened to a friend of mine who is an ex-FBer, and he posted on FB about it, and a number of people from the FB team who worked on the mobile app piece of it confirmed that indeed no data had left his phone without him requesting that it be posted, but that they were going to make that behavior more clear in an upcoming release.

colinbartlett 10y ago
That's crazy, does that rendering happen in the background while the phone is in your pocket?
- cbhl 10y ago
  It's all just slides and pans -- stuff that can be previewed in real-time locally on your phone. Stuff that would run on a computer with 1/10th the compute/graphics/memory in 1998.
bsbechtel 10y ago
Yeah, it's happened in the past where they show you little thumbnails of your photos album to encourage you to share/post, but the fact that they created a video (during an eventful, emotional, and exciting but very private time) was a bit much. Your comment is a little reassuring, but the fact that FB doesn't have the greatest track record, and this is hearsay on HN, I'm still concerned/annoyed.

_RPM 10y ago

Should you be using the mobile application if _you_ care about privacy?

brightball 10y ago

I use the mobile web now instead of the phone app now. I realize it's probably paranoia but there have been far too many times when I've talked about something and a related ad magically appears in my news feed. Hasn't been a problem since I deleted the app.

leovander 10y ago
Reminds of these ads. http://ghostinfluence.com/the-ultimate-retaliation-pranking-my-roommate-with-targeted-facebook-ads http://ghostinfluence.com/the-ultimate-retaliation-pranking-...
enobrev 10y ago
Doing so has also saved me a considerable amount of battery. I delete the app before any travel to ensure battery drain isn't as much of an issue.
linkregister 10y ago
I'm not sure if the option is there on iOS, but on Android N, you can revoke the Microphone permission. I use the web app on Chrome but relented on installing the Messenger application ever since they crammed using that on mobile users. Yes, I admit defeat.

spriggan3 10y ago

You're using Facebook and linked Facebook to your phone. You shouldn't do that unless you want all your private data to go to Facebook servers.