If you are upset about the whole Facebook messenger permissions or generally curious about data on the web, read on. Theres no such thing as a free lunch. Facebook is no different, as this talk says, you are not Facebooks customer, you are their product. Over the past years, as social media has grown exponentially, so has our data. This data comes from everything we do online. This goes well beyond cookies, cookies are thing of the past. This data is collected (among other methods) by scripts that run in the background of every site you visit. Companies buy, sell and trade your data, in every way. The chance to advertise to you personally is sold in tiny micro auctions when your browser arrives on a page. This data describes you, better than you yourself could ever describe you. The data is owned by the sites you visit, not by you. This data is saved (among other places) in giant warehouses by the government. There is no privacy online. That said, every app you use asks for the same general permissions Facebook messenger does. And all those apps you think run innocuously on your phone are tracking your every move and selling your footsteps, as well as what you do on your phone. You think Zynga makes money off in app purchases? No, they make money off following you around the internet and selling your data. And so does Facebook, Twitter, Google, OkCupid, Foursquare, Apple, everyone does it. It is ubiquitous. Your data is the currency of the internet. Little bread crumb trails that can be followed and reconstructed into full loaves. The only way to keep these loaves from being split up and profited on is full withdrawal from the World Wide Web, and lets be honest, thats not going to happen. So what can you do short of total internet blackout? Use the web wisely, always keep in mind every thing you do, say and look at can be used to sell to you, to understand you, to judge you. Be knowledgeable of what apps you use, of what permissions they ask you for, of all those terms and conditions. And yes, Facebook messenger could use your cell phone microphone at any time, but so could the government. And no, they dont need your permission.
Posted on: Mon, 11 Aug 2014 15:55:24 +0000
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