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Seeing the Chromium blog post that said it’s going to put a “slow badge” on some sites based on speed and responsiveness measurements, I’d like to see Apple put

by wtmt 7y ago

Seeing the Chromium blog post that said it’s going to put a “slow badge” on some sites based on speed and responsiveness measurements, I’d like to see Apple put an “usually untrusted” or “deeply untrusted” badge that’s shown every time the Facebook, FB Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp and related apps from that company are opened on Apple made devices. There needs to be a lot more mass shaming on Facebook the company and it’s endless loop of “oops, it was a bug, we’re sorry” abominable practices.

scarface74 7y ago
In this case it’s simple. When Facebook asks to have access to either your camera, microphone, or photos library, just say no. You can still use the photo picker to upload pictures without giving FB access to your library.
- wtmt 7y ago
  Yes, I know that, but most users wouldn’t know or wouldn’t follow that because it’s inconvenient. But I don’t agree with this solution for this particular case. It is a good practice in general. In this instance, nobody would expect that an app that you gave camera or microphone access to would be recording video or audio without you explicitly initiating such a recording. Imagine if WhatsApp was found to be recording audio all the time while you were reading chats or responding to chats in text just because you gave the microphone permission to it since you use it occasionally to send voice messages to certain people. Would that be acceptable, bug or otherwise? Why should one’s reaction be any different for the Facebook (or any other) app? What’s happening here is a serious violation of trust and expectations.
  - rapnie 7y ago
    Are WA voice and vid calls also e2e encrypted, or only the text msgs you send?
- blunte 7y ago
  Of course there is a workaround. But why should we give FB any of our attention, knowing that they likely will and previously have intentionally violated our privacy and trust for their financial benefit?
  - scarface74 7y ago
    It’s not a “workaround”. It’s the standard concept of “least privilege” you should give any application - don’t give any app more permission than it absolutely needs. It’s one thing that iOS makes easier than any other operating system at the user level. The one (unrelatedly) thing I still feel is missing is the ability to deny an app any network access. You can deny an app access to the cellular network, but the only types of apps that you can deny any network access are keyboards.
- greggman2 7y ago
  Thanks to your comment I spent a few moments figuring out how to do that. It's not perfect but it's a huge improvement. I've had camera access off but photo access on. I turned it off and then used photos to select pics and then pick share and choose the app. For FB messenger it starts a new thread which works great. If you choose a single user it will add to that thread. For the main FB app it starts a new post. I'm not sure there is a way to add photos to comments or events or albums without photo access.
  - scarface74 7y ago
    Within the app, I don’t believe so. But you can from the website. I use the website mostly for that reason and because when I click on a link, it opens in Safari instead of an embedded web view. Facebook doesn’t use the SafariViewController that can take advantage of content blockers.
- vkizl 7y ago
  That requires personal responsibility, you're asking for too much. We need some big government-like behemoth like Apple to step in and tell people what to do.

by wtmt 7y ago

scarface74 7y ago

In this case it’s simple. When Facebook asks to have access to either your camera, microphone, or photos library, just say no. You can still use the photo picker to upload pictures without giving FB access to your library.

wtmt 7y ago
Yes, I know that, but most users wouldn’t know or wouldn’t follow that because it’s inconvenient. But I don’t agree with this solution for this particular case. It is a good practice in general. In this instance, nobody would expect that an app that you gave camera or microphone access to would be recording video or audio without you explicitly initiating such a recording. Imagine if WhatsApp was found to be recording audio all the time while you were reading chats or responding to chats in text just because you gave the microphone permission to it since you use it occasionally to send voice messages to certain people. Would that be acceptable, bug or otherwise? Why should one’s reaction be any different for the Facebook (or any other) app? What’s happening here is a serious violation of trust and expectations.
- rapnie 7y ago
  Are WA voice and vid calls also e2e encrypted, or only the text msgs you send?
blunte 7y ago
Of course there is a workaround. But why should we give FB any of our attention, knowing that they likely will and previously have intentionally violated our privacy and trust for their financial benefit?
- scarface74 7y ago
  It’s not a “workaround”. It’s the standard concept of “least privilege” you should give any application - don’t give any app more permission than it absolutely needs. It’s one thing that iOS makes easier than any other operating system at the user level. The one (unrelatedly) thing I still feel is missing is the ability to deny an app any network access. You can deny an app access to the cellular network, but the only types of apps that you can deny any network access are keyboards.
greggman2 7y ago
Thanks to your comment I spent a few moments figuring out how to do that. It's not perfect but it's a huge improvement. I've had camera access off but photo access on. I turned it off and then used photos to select pics and then pick share and choose the app. For FB messenger it starts a new thread which works great. If you choose a single user it will add to that thread. For the main FB app it starts a new post. I'm not sure there is a way to add photos to comments or events or albums without photo access.
- scarface74 7y ago
  Within the app, I don’t believe so. But you can from the website. I use the website mostly for that reason and because when I click on a link, it opens in Safari instead of an embedded web view. Facebook doesn’t use the SafariViewController that can take advantage of content blockers.
vkizl 7y ago
That requires personal responsibility, you're asking for too much. We need some big government-like behemoth like Apple to step in and tell people what to do.