Facebook is apparently mining your phone records and/or text messages

[LouisEly]

Early last summer I briefly dated a girl down in Chicago; met her late spring and we went out a couple of times, but then she pulled a Houdini and disappeared, never to be heard from again. We had talked and texted a fair amount, but never connected on Facebook. Hell, I never even knew her last name. Last I heard from her was a little over a year ago.

 

So this morning I hop on FB, and under the "People You May Know" feed, there she is. We have no mutual friends. How the hell would they know to suggest her as someone I may know if they aren't mining my (or her) phone or text records? I don't even have my phone number on my FB account, but they did recently "suggest" my phone number to me (while logging on they asked, "Is this your phone number", and it was, but I have deliberately not added it to my FB account for privacy reasons). We never emailed (don't have an email address for her), so she couldn't have uploaded a contact list/address book from an email client.

 

I think this crosses the line. Or is there something about their privacy/data policy that I'm not aware of? I don't recall giving them permission to search my phone outside of the app. [sarcasm]Any attorneys want to start a class action lawsuit?[/sarcasm]

[DocLuna7]

This should absolutely not be a surprise to anyone. FB was not started as a beneficent charity to allow you to reconnect with old classmates. It is data mining pure and simple and it is a HUGE business. Anyone who posts anything online with any expectation of privacy has been sorely misled.

[FVBrewerFan]

It is spooky, but I just accept the fact whatever goes to the cloud can be used by anyone at all. Our government, other governments, hackers in Russia, Google, Amazon, whatever. It's probably how companies get away with it, enough people like me that don't get upset about it- and probably should.

[DuWayne Steurer]

If someone searches you on facebook, they can show up on your "people you may know" feed. That could be how she ended up there.

 

It's possible she was facebook stalking you, and that's how she ended up on your "PYMK" feed

[1992casey]

With Facebook and Google, keep in mind that the advertisers are the customers and the users are the product.

 

Have you given Facebook access to your Contacts? You might want to check your privacy settings, both in your phone settings and for any Facebook apps you might have.

[logan82]

It is spooky, but I just accept the fact whatever goes to the cloud can be used by anyone at all. Our government, other governments, hackers in Russia, Google, Amazon, whatever. It's probably how companies get away with it, enough people like me that don't get upset about it- and probably should.

China is also very very big into hacking. State sponsored.

[TURBO]

China is also very very big into hacking.

 

So are the St Louis Cardinals...

 

[LouisEly]

With Facebook and Google, keep in mind that the advertisers are the customers and the users are the product.

 

Have you given Facebook access to your Contacts? You might want to check your privacy settings, both in your phone settings and for any Facebook apps you might have.

Nope, have not given FB permission to access to my contacts or uploaded my contacts. None of my professional contacts or former co-workers in my phone have showed up as "People You May Know" except for ones with mutual friends I'm already connected to. I doubt she could search for me either because I never told her my last name and my phone number is not on my account. Hell, I called her and she never called back, texted her and never got a response, and that was over a year ago - why the hell would she be searching for me now, and how would she find me if my phone number is not on my account?

 

I know very well how FB works and I fully expect them to mine anything I post or put in my account (which is why I have deliberately not added my phone number, an up-to-date location, my past schools/education, occupation, relationship status, and have very limited connections with family members). But I do not expect them, nor think they should be allowed, to mine other parts of my phone or someone else's phone.

[jerichoholicninja]

I've had people I've met in person but had no digital/recorded contact with and no common Facebook friends show up as "people I may know" before. I don't think there is anything heinous going on there.

[JimH5]

If she did a Facebook search of you, then she might turn up as a People You Might Know. That's a possible explanation.

 

Though I wouldn't put it past any online company to be data mining.

[Godspeed]

I assume she had you in her phone contacts and (inadvertently or not) shared that with Facebook.

[LouisEly]

But I (deliberately) don't have my phone number attached to my Facebook account. Pretty sure she doesn't have/know my last name. And my FB account (deliberately) still has me living in LA, and I don't have a picture of me as my profile pic (deliberately). How would she search for me if my phone number isn't on my account, she doesn't know my last name, I don't live where it says I live, and I have no picture of me on my profile? Extremely unlikely she was searching for me or that her contacts would pull me up.

 

But... I do believe I have evidence that FB is searching your phone and text messages... because the settings of the app say that they can. Yep, when I go into Settings on my (Android) phone, go to Apps, click on Facebook, and scroll down, sure enough it says that by using the app FB has permission to read your text messages, both the ones you send and the ones stored in your phone. Yes, FB can read all of your text messages.

[DuWayne Steurer]

My guess is that she somehow learned your last name. You must have told her and forgot or she learned it in some other fashion.

[1992casey]

But... I do believe I have evidence that FB is searching your phone and text messages... because the settings of the app say that they can.

 

Well it appears to me that you've found some pretty clear evidence.

 

Android allows pretty deep access to the operating system by users and developers. So I guess it's not surprising that Facebook is able to get to this stuff. I recall Facebook coming out with an app a few years ago that they characterized as much more cool on Android vs. its counterpart for Apple devices. The reason for the coolness, of course, would have been the level of OS access that Android allows.

 

I also recall reading that on Android devices, Google has access to the user's phone log, although I can't find anything recent that confirms that. If it's true that Google can access phone logs, it wouldn't be surprising that other apps could.

[Point Beer Is Best]

I had a similar phenomenon the past couple of weeks. An old coworker, who I haven't spoken with in a couple of years, suddenly showed up in my PYMK feed as the top result twice (and was using her first & middle name, not her last name). I have not searched for her, and I haven't exchanged texts with her since the last time I've purchased a new phone, and she's not in my contacts either. Yet there she was, with no mutual friends. I had no explanation for that, but if what others are suggesting is true (that these suggestions may appear if they searched for you), well then I'm going to be more flattered than upset.

[hawing]

Rick Schlesinger (of the Brewers) was in my PYMK feed for a while last year. I couldn't fathom why. He kept popping up, so I sent him a friend request to see what happened. Nothing did.

 

I remember having an email exchange with him early in the MP era, but that was well before I was a Facebook user (probably well before he was too). I have not shared my email contacts with Facebook.

[Raw Biz]

[1992casey]

I found this article, dated about a year and a half ago.

 

Why Facebook's Android App Wants to Read Your Text Messages

 

Facebook Android engineer Franci Penov addressed the concerns of users on Reddit saying:

 

"We require [the READ_SMS permission] so we can automatically intercept login approvals SMS messages for people that have turned on 2-factor authentication for their accounts, or for phone confirmation messages when you add a phone number to your Facebook account."

 

The reason Facebook needs access to all your messages rather than just from a specific number, is that Android's permissions system does not allow for it to do that.

 

Penov adds that Facebook "would love to be able to ask only for the permissions we need for the specific features particular users uses."

 

The communication between the Facebook app and your messages is local and data isn't sent back to the company's servers, which means it could not be used to help put adverts in your timeline based on what you have written in your messages.

I would think that there'd be a better way for Facebook to do this, even if it involves a bit more work on the part of the user. Even if messages supposedly aren't being shared, the fact that they can be accessed opens up a potential security hole.