Here's how Facebook's terms and conditions could be seriously compromising your privacy

It’s not just your text messages that Facebook can read. Here’s the lowdown on what else you might have handed over:

Do you remember the last time you read the small print? It’s way easier to close those T&Cs pop-ups and hurry your way into a vague contract with a service provider than it is to actually take the time to read what it all means. But in light of the colossal storm that Facebook is currently facing after those Cambridge Analytica investigations, it might be time to revisit the things we incidentally agreed to all that time ago.

For many of us, we’ve had a sneaking suspicion that Facebook has been gathering data about us for a while now. From those weird moments when you’ll have vaguely mentioned wanting to learn a new language to then seeing ads for DuoLingo pop up in your feed. And then there are those too-close-to-home friend suggestions! We’ve all been a bit concerned about how much Facebook can actually listen in on our lives.

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In the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, people have been downloading the data that Facebook has of them (Hint: just go to facebook.com/settings on your desktop and you’ll be able to download from there) and noticed logs of phone calls, text messages and contact details of people they’ve had exchanges with away from the Facebook app.

Much of this stems from agreeing to upload your contact information at the same time as creating an account (it’s the default Facebook likes to use, not that we understand why), but in investigating it a little bit further, there’s actually a whole lot more Facebook can access (and modify) on your smartphone. Full warning for you Android users, it seems you are most vulnerable to Facebook’s data access.

Scroll below to find out the scary stuff you agreed to when you created your Facebook account as quoted from the Facebook terms and conditions and their full Data policy:

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Accessing your contacts

When you sign up, by default you’ll be prompted to create your account and upload your database of contacts at the same time. However beneath the sign up button you’re given the option of creating an account without uploading any of your contacts. We’d recommend this if you want the creepy suggested friends algorithm work a bit harder for its access.

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Sharing your content

Subject to how you’ve set your app and privacy settings, you’ll have agreed to give Facebook a “non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensably, royalty-free, worldwide license to use an IP content that you post on or in connection with Facebook”. Obviously, that agreement ends whenever you take down a picture but that’s only if one of your friends hasn’t shared it and kept it up on Facebook too.

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Monitoring your behaviour

Worried about how much Facebook knows and how it finds all of that information? Well, it comes from pretty much anything you do with or in relation to the app – even in the most indirect ways. The ata policy says, “We collect the content and other information that you provide when you use our Services including when you sign up for an account, create or share, and message or communicate with others”. So…yeah. Every which way you do anything on your phone, Facebook can probably learn more about you.

The policy continues stating that, “this can include information in or about the content you provide, such as the location of a photo or the date a file was created. We also collect information about how you use our Services such as the types of content you view or engage with or the frequency and duration of your activities”. Of course, all of this information can also be gathered from anyone who tags you in a photo or mentions you in a comment.

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Storing your banking details

Have you ever purchased anything through Facebook? Or perhaps you’ve been playing a game that’s required you to pay a few extra dollars? Or maybe you use Facebook Marketplace? If so, Facebook may have your payment information. It says in their T&Cs that, “if you use our Services for purchases or financial transactions (e.g. when you buy something on Facebook, make a purchase in a game or make a donation), we collect information about the purchase or transaction. This includes your payment information, such as your credit or debit card number, other card details and other account an authentication information, as well as billing, shipping and contact details”.

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And the rest…

If you use a website that interacts with Facebook, i.e. when they offer the like button, Facebook log in or use Facebook’s measurement or advertising services, Facebook will also collect information about theses websites and apps that you visit. Not to mention the other Facebook-owned companies including Instagram, Whatsapp and Crowd Tangle.

Eek! Here’s how Facebook’s terms and conditions could be seriously compromising your privacy

4 April 2018