Should one fear Facebook Messenger?

[dlalonde]

First off, I'm not a paranoid tinfoil hat type of person. But since I am an IT I'm always cautious when it comes to technology only because I'm aware of how it works, how security is sometimes bypassed and am well aware that everything can be hacked.

No I'm not saying this is reserved to IT's nor being elitist. But it's a professional bias :wink:

Nevertheless, given what we know about Facebook Messenger on Android needing a lot of permissions and how some of these permissions are similar on the Windows Phone app (which is made by Facebook), combined to the fact that Facebook did lie in the past about its use of our personal data, my question to you is: Should one fear Facebook Messenger?

Now I don't want to get into the whole "If you have nothing to hide you shouldn't be afraid" debate as it is a philosophical question that we could discuss in length on another occasion.

But in itself, do you think you should be, if not "afraid" maybe wary about what Facebook really does with those permissions and the data they might collect without you knowing?

Thougths?

 

[James8561]

honestly I'm pretty paranoid about the app. I have it's location permission set to off in settings, but every time I open FB messenger, my location icon shows. At first I thought it was coincidences. now, after hundreds of times, I see that they're very shady.
check it for yourself. open the app, go to settings, turn off location. then close it. then open it again, go to settings, see your location icon lit up.

 

[dlalonde]

honestly I'm pretty paranoid about the app. I have it's location permission set to off in settings, but every time I open FB messenger, my location icon shows. At first I thought it was coincidences. now, after hundreds of times, I see that they're very shady.
check it for yourself. open the app, go to settings, turn off location. then close it. then open it again, go to settings, see your location icon lit up.

I didn't have that problem personally when I had the app.

Is it the only reason you're paranoid about it?

 

[WDavis4692]

One should fear the fact it's sending a ton of users such as myself double notifications as of the latest update and the lazy ****ards at Facebook STILL haven't pushed out a high-priority hotfix to address this glaring oversight. They just don't seem to care, do they?

 

[dlalonde]

One should fear the fact it's sending a ton of users such as myself double notifications as of the latest update and the lazy ****ards at Facebook STILL haven't pushed out a high-priority hotfix to address this glaring oversight. They just don't seem to care, do they?

I do understand your frustration but it's a bit off topic

 

[dlalonde]

Mmm I thought this kind of question would have more responses

 

[dlalonde]

Interesting read from the Sophos website!

Why the Facebook Messenger app is not the privacy nightmare people think it is | Naked Security