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Facebook security app used to 'spy' on competitors (2019)
- Pick-A-Hill2019 6y agoShould be marked as (2019) and while interesting, Onavo was shut down in Feb 2019 [1] " Since the acquisition, Onavo was frequently classified as being spyware, as the VPN was used to monetize application usage data collected within an allegedly privacy-focused environment. In August 2018, Facebook pulled Onavo Protect from the iOS App Store due to violations of Apple's policy forbidding apps from collecting data on the usage of other apps. In February 2019, in response to criticism over a Facebook market research program employing similar techniques (including, in particular, being targeted towards teens), Onavo announced that it would sunset the Android version of Protect as well. " [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onavo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onavo
- s09dfhks 6y agopretty sure everyone knew this was coming. I could sense every hackernews' eyeballs rolling in unison when facebook announced they were offering a VPN
- Shared404 6y agoOff topic, but I love your phrasing.
- vijaybritto 6y agoI was joking to my friends that FB was offering a VPN only to spy on connections to other companies so that they can acquire them after a certain level. But its shocking to see that this actually happened
- neilalexander 6y agoIt's just another day in Facebook.
- Lammy 6y agoThey knew exactly what they were doing. Notice how Onavo Protect's (the VPN product's name at the time) Google Play store listing didn't mention "Facebook" at all, and you wouldn't have known there was any association unless you searched for the 2013 announcement of FB's Onavo acquisition: https://i.imgur.com/iUrvBqx.jpg https://i.imgur.com/iUrvBqx.jpg It was eventually changed to "Onavo Protect, from Facebook" a few years later: https://i.imgur.com/wSZwc8i.jpg https://i.imgur.com/wSZwc8i.jpg Then they even later tried paying teenagers to be spied on and had Apple shut down their enterprise app-provisioning certificate which was pretty amusing.
- llimos 6y agoIt's an old article. From my point of view I'm interested in hearing the story of the developers tasked to work on this kind of thing. Do they know what they're building and do it anyway because their manager told them to? Or are they kept in the dark and each build a small part so they can't tell what it's going to be? Or does the company estimate which teams would be ok with building something a little shifty and give it to them? I'd be especially interested to hear any insider perspectives, from any $bigcorp
- im3w1l 6y agoLikely internal propaganda. About how this doesn't really harm the consumer. About how you protect them from worse things. And that its all laid out in the EULA.
- marcinzm 6y agoSome people just don't care and are proud of the technical challenge irrespective of ethics. I once had a CTO candidate boast about writing desktop spyware back in the day and how he'd hacked all our families (his words, not mine, he brought up the topic).
- Lammy 6y ago> Do they know what they're building and do it anyway because their manager told them to? Apologies for steering your thread into charged political territory, but this is one of the biggest reasons I think Zuck and other Valley CEO-types love the H-1B system so much and constantly seek to expand the H-1B cap, e.g. Zuck's "FWD.us" PAC: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FWD.us https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FWD.us Disagreeing with one's boss will always have a "filter" when it can mean having to leave the country if tensions escalate into something employment-ending. Why risk it when you can just write the code, collect your pay, and get to live another day in the country you call home? I could never blame someone for making that safe choice. Disclaimer: this is not a criticism of any H-1B individuals, many of whom I am lucky to count as my inspirations, peers, and friends :)
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- Magnets 6y agoDidn't google get caught doing this recently?
- lmilcin 6y agoNothing about FB is surprising anymore. These are not accidents but signs of systemic problem.
- Sz3k 6y agoI remember seeing (maybe hearing in their recent hearing?) this is how they knew to buy WhatsApp. They saw how much traffic went through their VPN from it. Exactly why no privacy-focused individual should touch something Facebook made under pretenses of privacy with a ten-foot pole.