Facebook Messenger Adds New Admin Privileges Amid Backlash Over Company's Mishandling of User Data

[EdT]

As far as we know, Apple Co. has not done something like this. All we can do is hope that they don't change their "Terms of Service."

My fear is as Apple changes from primary a hardware company to a software and service provider that Apple’s commitments to privacy will also change. There is obviously a lot of money to be made by collecting and selling other people’s browsing patterns.

 

[toph2toast]

...

And vendors willingly supply game for the hunters.... Haven't you noticed the level of detail now provided in your routine emails or texts about your next invoice from your regular suppliers of goods and services? Time was you signed up for an "invoice available" notice and the thing was generic and the only thing tagging you in the document was your email address or phone number. "Dear customer your utility bill is available for viewing."

Now the notice has our name, address, phone number, what we bought or used, date of prior bill, when we paid, how much we owe, next payment date, and of course a convenient link to check our credit score if we (or the hacker) wishes.

Honestly, I haven't noticed this, and actually went back through my emails of my monthly bills to verify. All of them are a generic way of saying "Mr. So and So, your bill is ready, click here to view.

 

[CrystalQuest76]

I don't care about FB surviving, but I'd rather see the media outlets become worthless. They've all turned to crap anyway, if they ever were good.

Does anyone remember the Max Headroom TV series? Those networks and their executives were really evil. They forced deadly advertisements onto theier consumers. They collected massive amounts of data on their consumers. They had powers that were typically reserved for governments. That is a series that should get a re-boot.
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There is obviously a lot of money to be made by collecting and selling other people’s browsing patterns.

There was a time i was a developer and the organization that i worked for had just subscribed to a new service call Omniture (now owned by Adobe). At the time we thought it was great. We could see where our visitors were coming from. We could see what search terms they were using to go to our pages and what pages they went to within our site. The goal was to improve our search terms and improve how we created link titles so that our visitors could have a better experience. We created educational materials for the general public, free of charge (your tax dollars at work). The goal was to make things better for the end-user. The very idea of collecting data for the purposes of monetizing never entered out minds. We were all so young and naive.

 

[LizKat]

Honestly, I haven't noticed this, and actually went back through my emails of my monthly bills to verify. All of them are a generic way of saying "Mr. So and So, your bill is ready, click here to view.

Really? The message body of my cell bill has details in it like my first name, username needed to log into the setup, last four digits of the account number, last four digits of the cell phone number, amount due, date due. The confirmation advice is similar, adding that I paid by bank draft and giving the last four of my checking account number.

Even the subject lines of some emails from vendors identify stuff we've purchased, or give away info that's no one else's business. What, you never ordered anything from Amazon and got an email saying

"Your order of Very Special Chocolate and 7 other items has shipped"​

Every bit of data counts when you're trying to construct a profile.

My utility bill heads-up email has this

full name
full account number
full address of where the service is delivered
amount due
payment due date
“view and pay bill by clicking here, verify balance click here, payment option click here”
​

I don't use autopay and do want the reminders so I put up with the too-much-info they spray into the net every month. I'd rather they really were very generic reminders. "Your bill is ready for review and payment" would suffice as message body in its entirety for my purposes.

 

[fairuz]

My fear is as Apple changes from primary a hardware company to a software and service provider that Apple’s commitments to privacy will also change. There is obviously a lot of money to be made by collecting and selling other people’s browsing patterns.

I think they're not competent enough in that area. Google, FB, and others have invested a lot there and will beat Apple at that game, and even they can get blindsided by some startup like Snapchat. Hardware and platforms are comparably devoid of competition, and they've got nice profit margins.

 

[stylinexpat]

Too frigging unnecessarily complicated.

When I use Facebook, I get paranoid as to what exactly will be published to the timeline and ultimately shared. So I am afraid to change even a small things like where I live.

So I use Facebook more as a lurker.

And what will pop up in all Google searches lol..

 

[toph2toast]

Really? The message body of my cell bill has details in it like my first name, username needed to log into the setup, last four digits of the account number, last four digits of the cell phone number, amount due, date due. The confirmation advice is similar, adding that I paid by bank draft and giving the last four of my checking account number.

Even the subject lines of some emails from vendors identify stuff we've purchased, or give away info that's no one else's business. What, you never ordered anything from Amazon and got an email saying

"Your order of Very Special Chocolate and 7 other items has shipped"​

Every bit of data counts when you're trying to construct a profile.

My utility bill heads-up email has this

full name
full account number
full address of where the service is delivered
amount due
payment due date
“view and pay bill by clicking here, verify balance click here, payment option click here”
​

I don't use autopay and do want the reminders so I put up with the too-much-info they spray into the net every month. I'd rather they really were very generic reminders. "Your bill is ready for review and payment" would suffice as message body in its entirety for my purposes.

That's crazy and I completely understand your point. I'm like you and don't use autopay for anything. I just need an email saying that my bill is ready and the due date is XX/XX.

 

[stylinexpat]

No more Facebook for Tesla

https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/23/...a-and-spacex-facebook-pages-twitter-challenge