Meta Sued For Skirting Apple Privacy Rules To Snoop On Users (bloomberg.com) 36
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: Meta was sued for allegedly building a secret work-around to safeguards that Apple launched last year to protect iPhone users from having their internet activity tracked. In a proposed class-action complaint filed Wednesday in San Francisco federal court, two Facebook users accused the company of skirting Apple's 2021 privacy rules and violating state and federal laws limiting the unauthorized collection of personal data. A similar complaint was filed in the same court last week. The suits are based on a report by data privacy researcher Felix Krause, who said that Meta's Facebook and Instagram apps for Apple's iOS inject JavaScript code onto websites visited by users. Krause said the code allowed the apps to track "anything you do on any website," including typing passwords.
According to the suits, Meta's collection of user data from the Facebook app helps it circumvent rules instituted by Apple in 2021 requiring all third-party apps to obtain consent from users before tracking their activities, online or off. Meta has said it expected to miss out on $10 billion in ad revenue in 2022 because of Apple's changes. The Facebook app gets around Apple privacy rules by opening web links in an in-app browser, rather than the user's default browser, according to Wednesday's complaint. "This allows Meta to intercept, monitor and record its users' interactions and communications with third parties, providing data to Meta that it aggregates, analyzes, and uses to boost its advertising revenue," according to the suit. A Meta spokesperson said the allegations are "without merit" and the company will defend itself. "We have designed our in-app browser to respect users' privacy choices, including how data may be used for ads," the company said in an emailed statement.
According to the suits, Meta's collection of user data from the Facebook app helps it circumvent rules instituted by Apple in 2021 requiring all third-party apps to obtain consent from users before tracking their activities, online or off. Meta has said it expected to miss out on $10 billion in ad revenue in 2022 because of Apple's changes. The Facebook app gets around Apple privacy rules by opening web links in an in-app browser, rather than the user's default browser, according to Wednesday's complaint. "This allows Meta to intercept, monitor and record its users' interactions and communications with third parties, providing data to Meta that it aggregates, analyzes, and uses to boost its advertising revenue," according to the suit. A Meta spokesperson said the allegations are "without merit" and the company will defend itself. "We have designed our in-app browser to respect users' privacy choices, including how data may be used for ads," the company said in an emailed statement.
Facebook is in the data mining business (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Facebook is in the data mining business (Score:5, Funny)
We're sorry we were caught. Our apologies. We'll try harder to hide what we're doing next time. Promise!
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Not to defend Meta here, because you're probably right, but there is always the possibility that the advertisers have found a way around the blocks themselves, like they have here on Slashdot recently with these stupid ad slide-outs in the bottom right corner of the page when you scroll down too far.
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Disable Javascript. Slashdot works fine in classic mode without Javascript.
Meta Privacy Best Privacy. (Score:4, Funny)
All those other websites can't keep up with Meta Privacy (TM), so we at Meta decided that Meta Privacy (TM) should be applied to all other websites, so you can enjoy Meta Privacy (TM) without having to think of your own privacy rules!
Choices (Score:5, Insightful)
"We have designed our in-app browser to respect users' privacy choices, including how data may be used for ads,"
I'm guessing that most users have never even seen those "choices" and that everything is enabled by default.
I love it that Fecesbook is being sued but... (Score:3)
We're long, long past the point where personal responsibility should have kicked in. Anyone who is just browsing the web and being tracked by FB pixels has a legitimate beef. But those who are knowingly using the scandal-ridden service have only themselves to blame for Meta tracking them and invading their privacy.
If you insist on sleeping with the Devil, you're gonna get burned regardless of whatever promises he makes, and you're probably gonna get fucked up the ass too. So stop sleeping with the Devil!
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Re: I love it that Fecesbook is being sued but... (Score:2)
stop sleeping with the Devil!
She keeps crawling into bed with me after I doze off. And she has cold feet.
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You are arguing for personal responsibility in _this_ human race?
Facebook is not credible (Score:1)
Re: Ban Facebook and the google. (Score:3)
Apple doesn't want to do social networking, it's brand poison.
How does meta insert javascript code in other apps (Score:1)
I mean, unless they are talking about using some web browser functionality *within* their own app, I'm entirely unsure how something like this would be technologically possible, given the way that each app is sandboxed in iOS.
In ordinary circumstances, how does facebook track what people do in Safari, for instance?
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That's exactly what they're talking about.
You use the Facebook app, the Facebook app has its own built-in web browser, which the Facebook app uses to open all links you use from within the Facebook app, so your Safari isn't ever being used, at any point.
This way the app can modify each and every page you view the way they want.
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That might work, no clue. It might still just redirect you through Facebook with a custom link, although at least you won't have the added javascript.
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And last I knew, regardless of the web browser used, Apple requires all of them to use WebKit for the browser. So regardless if you're using Chrome, FireFox, etc., they're all just a custom UI over WebKit.
So it would seem that part of this should fall on Apple's shoulders since it's their WebKit that's being hacked as an in-app browser.
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I think they only redirect the links clicked inside the Facebook app.
Re: How does meta insert javascript code in other (Score:2)
Apps are poison. If I can't access something with Firefox, I'm not interested.
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The root tracking mechanisms are multi-layer. Your clicks on a link are the simplest. Opening links within the app allow all traffic and keystrokes to pass thru FB's capture systems for later customer segmentation for advertisers. Plus:
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tl;dr: "The Minority Report" was supposed to be a cautionary tale, not a requirements document.
Nope (Score:2)
"respect users' privacy choices" does not equal "obtain consent from users before tracking their activities, online or off"
All you have to do to create the divide is limit the specificity of the data being collected and limited the choices you make available to users. Even a default on data collection with an option to disable (opt-out) violates that requirement... and should.
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So was it authorised? (Score:2)
The browser is part of the app, so was the data collection really unauthorised? Seems unlikely.
Really?!? (Score:4, Interesting)
Facebook is a criminal enterprise (Score:2)
Apple should ban their app (Score:2)
Choose your mobile OS (Score:2)
Be under surveillance by Facebook and Apple, or by Facebook and Google. Ah, the agony of choice...
Incidentally, it's FACEBOOK, not Meta. Meta is the name of the holding company Facebook created to hide its name and its earnings behind.
What did the users expect? (Score:5, Insightful)
Suing Meta because Facebook tracks you is like suing Marlboro because cigarettes give you cancer. It's an endemic feature of the product. If you care about lung cancer, stop smoking. If you care about privacy, stop installing Facebook.
I'm not forgiving Meta for what they are doing -- but I just don't understand the mindset of someone who uses Facebook and expects privacy.
How dare you build a gated garden in my walled gar (Score:1)