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Facebook Phone Intrusions

Discussion in 'General Discussions' started by Lish, Dec 21, 2012.

Page 1 of 2
  1. Lish

    Lish Very Tilted

    Location:
    Im here, but heart is somewhere else
    I recently was having trouble with my Samsung S2 so i decided to back up my contacts on the computer. I vaguely remember being asked if i wanted to backup/sync my contacts, to which i obliged.

    to my surprise, contacts i had in my phone who have a facebook account now have their facebook photo attached to the number i have in my phone. WTF?

    i never asked to sync my facebook or online contacts with my real life contacts. Not only that, now ive just realised that people who i am friends with online, but dont have their number, are now in my phone contacts. Baraka_Guru and cynthetiq are a classic examples. Although ive got their numbers, i dont have them in my phone, so i was surprised to see their names, FB profile pictures and numbers when it came up.

    whats the go with the Facebook intrusions? are my FB details available to anyone else? Am i on someone elses phone? i havent shared my number on facebook, but i remember FB asking me to confirm my phone number a few weeks ago, even though i never entered my number no confirmed it.


    whats going on?
     
    Lish, Dec 21, 2012
    #1
  2. mixedmedia

    mixedmedia ...

    Location:
    Florida
    i dunno, you're not in my phone.
    But I do see the facebook photos of folks who are both in my phone and my facebook friends. Can't remember when or how that came about, but it's been like that for a long time.
     
    mixedmedia, Dec 21, 2012
    #2
  3. Baraka_Guru

    Baraka_Guru Möderätor Staff Member

    Location:
    Toronto
    Smart phone OSes now have increased Facebook integration. The phone will basically log you into Facebook and use the information you have access to through Facebook normally. This means that any of your contacts that have their contact information either public or viewable to Friends (in this case, you specifically) is accessible and therefore added to your contact list this way.

    So to answer your question, your contact information may be on others' phones if you have them available to them in Facebook itself. This isn't an intrusion, really, just an automated copying of details. These same people could have done it manually.

    If you don't want your contact information used this way, remove it or set it to private. I think you can choose certain groups of people who can view it like close friends or family, but you'll have to set that up.

    For the record, I have you in my phone's contact list, but it only lists your birthdate, your Facebook name, and your IM contact (through Facebook).
     
    Last edited: Dec 21, 2012
    Baraka_Guru, Dec 21, 2012
    #3
  4. snowy

    snowy so kawaii Staff Member

    Hah, you're in my phone too, but as BG said, what it lists is limited.

    On the one hand, I don't like it because it bloats my contact list. On the other hand, I like it because it adds pictures to my contacts.
     
    snowy, Dec 21, 2012
    #4
  5. Freetofly

    Freetofly Diving deep into the abyss

    Location:
    From Philly USA, living in London UK
    I will have to take a look and see what's on my Iphone.
     
    Freetofly, Dec 21, 2012
    #5
  6. Lish

    Lish Very Tilted

    Location:
    Im here, but heart is somewhere else
    interesting...and for the record snowy, yes i have your number in my phone!

    mixedmedia ditto, you're not in my phone and your picture is not there either.

    The thing is, i never gave facebook my number. One day i got a FB popup asking," Please confirm your number xxx xxx xxx xxxx" so i cancelled the request.

    For those that agreed to confirm their numbers with FB. Do you trust what FB will do with your information? DO you even care?

    I have no issues with people from TFP having my number. I dont necessarily want everyone on FB having my number. Some are acquaintences rather than "friends". does that make sense?
     
    Lish, Dec 21, 2012
    #6
    • Like Like x 2
  7. snowy

    snowy so kawaii Staff Member

    Well, because of my job, lots of people have my number, and it's relatively publicly accessible in a directory available to a couple hundred people that I don't know (and more, if we spread out into the conference). Everyone I'm friends with on Facebook, I do know, comparatively speaking. Access to my phone number on Facebook is friends-only, so it's not as if it's public information for the taking in that venue. Perhaps I'm hopeful that my overseas friends would call or text me should they arrive in the United States unexpectedly :)
     
    snowy, Dec 21, 2012
    #7
  8. cynthetiq

    cynthetiq Administrator Staff Member Donor

    Location:
    New York City
    integration isn't via the phone number it is via the email.

    I find it handy, but i also made it so that not everyone has access to my phone number that has access to my facebook. Just to check, lish, send me a PM with what it says for my phone number.
     
    cynthetiq, Dec 21, 2012
    #8
  9. Zweiblumen

    Zweiblumen Slightly Tilted

    Location:
    Iceland
    I can tell you it's 1 ..... :)
     
    Zweiblumen, Dec 21, 2012
    #9
  10. snowy

    snowy so kawaii Staff Member

    I have a phone number for you. I wonder if it's the right one, lol!
     
    snowy, Dec 21, 2012
    #10
  11. Craven Morehead

    Craven Morehead Very Tilted

    Location:
    third rock from the sun
    On a related subject....

    $850 Million Scheme Exploited Facebook - BankInfoSecurity

    Be careful what you click.
     
    Craven Morehead, Dec 21, 2012
    #11
  12. martian

    martian Server Monkey Staff Member

    Location:
    Mars
    As others have said, this is entirely normal. I can't speak for iOS, but Android will pull data from various locations and aggregate it. So you can have a phone number pulled from Facebook, a contact picture pulled from Google+, and a current status from Twitter, etc. This behaviour can be customized, and you can hide or remove contacts in your contact list that you don't want there. You can also merge contacts, so if the system doesn't automatically figure out that Joe Bob on Facebook is the same one as in your phone, you can tell it that.

    It's not using any extra information you haven't already given it access to, and it's not sharing your information with anyone you haven't told it to. There's nothing nefarious here.
     
    martian, Dec 21, 2012
    #12
  13. Lish

    Lish Very Tilted

    Location:
    Im here, but heart is somewhere else
    so how can facebook acquire my phone number without my approval? i know i didnt click to agree to that.
     
    Lish, Dec 22, 2012
    #13
  14. martian

    martian Server Monkey Staff Member

    Location:
    Mars

    Actually, you did.

    Check under the Permissions tab:


    Gotta read that stuff, man.
     
    martian, Dec 22, 2012
    #14
  15. Wulfgate

    Wulfgate New Member

    With all of the privacy issues that facebook has had I, along with many of you feel I don't want it reading all of my data on my phone. In addition, I have noticed many background processes running on my phone from Facebook. I decided to kick it to the curb and if I ever needed it, I'll use the mobile page on the browser of my choice.
     
    Wulfgate, Dec 22, 2012
    #15
  16. cynthetiq

    cynthetiq Administrator Staff Member Donor

    Location:
    New York City
    If its the one that Lish sent me check it and then sing the song.
     
    cynthetiq, Dec 23, 2012
    #16
    • Like Like x 2
  17. MSD

    MSD Very Tilted

    Location:
    CT
    When I got my Droid X, it took me several hours to figure out where Google was pulling my information from and delete old stuff. Turns out my Orkut account was linked because the backup email address I gave Orkut before Google bought them was the same one I gave Google when I signed up for Gmail. My brother still has a linked email account from when he was in high school with a particularly offensive name that he can't unlink from his Android contact because he can't figure out where it's linked from. I also signed into Facebook with the built-in Android app then immediately signed back out because I don't want most of my Facebook friend list in my address book.
     
    MSD, Dec 25, 2012
    #17
  18. Daniel_

    Daniel_ The devil made me do it...

    Location:
    The United Kingdom, naturally
    Do any of you have my number, via FB? That would be a reasonable test for Lish, as I have set FB to KNOW my number, but not SHARE my number.
     
    Daniel_, Jan 3, 2013
    #18
  19. cynthetiq

    cynthetiq Administrator Staff Member Donor

    Location:
    New York City
    I don't see you anymore, so no phone number XD
     
    cynthetiq, Jan 3, 2013
    #19
  20. Daniel_

    Daniel_ The devil made me do it...

    Location:
    The United Kingdom, naturally
    You don't? :-/
     
    Daniel_, Jan 3, 2013
    #20
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