It is very clear that at some point in the not-so-distant past, a group of friends on Facebook devised a plan to attack users who want better mobile security, but who can not bother with the fine print.
For the second time in a month, the company launched an application that, at first glance, seems to help keep users safe, but actually absorbs large amounts of data from consumers' cell phones and Facebook messages do what let it be hell, that wants
The last application, first reported by TechCrunch, is called Bolt App Lock, and the claim that there is a PIN code; The idea is that your phone is stolen in a way that is unlocked, the thief can not open your banking application or email and the other application that contains confidential information that you would not want others to see.
It's not an original idea (see: AppLock) and, frankly, the whole concept seems a bit excessive.
The problem is that although Bolt App Lock can do exactly what it says, the user seems to be collecting data about its users to further satiate Facebook's eerie desire to know what everyone is doing at all times.
According to its listing on Google Play, the application is a product of Onavo, the VPN service owned and operated by Facebook.
Onavo's ridiculous misnomer of a "privacy policy" details Facebook's simple English argument: if you use Onavo's applications, Facebook will collect your personal information, including the applications you have installed and the websites you visit. In fact, Onavo seems to gather data about its users even when the damn device is turned off. (Gizmodo contacted Facebook on Wednesday about Onavo's privacy policy, we have not received a response).
In addition, Facebook tells us explicitly what it intends to do with these data, basically, however it may be, among others, to share it with affiliates, service providers and police authorities; use it to "provide, analyze, improve and develop new and innovative services" for third parties and others; and to "provide market analysis and other services" to third parties and others.
Even the listing of Bolt App Lock on Google Play is quite simple:
We collect information about your mobile device and the applications installed on it. This includes information about when those applications are used and the information on the device and red. We use and analyze this information to help us operate Bolt App Lock, an Onavo application, and improve the service. As we are on Facebook, we also use this information to improve Facebook products and services, obtain information about the products and services that people value and create better experiences.
This is a situation in which Facebook is removing your name and other personal details about you before using the data as a whole. Your website clearly states that your "personally identifiable information" is being compiled and can provide a kind of external entities. This violates a fairly basic rule: any application that purports to offer "security" should avoid collecting unnecessary data about each pass and clicking.
There is a word for that. It's called "surveillance."
If Facebook was doing this with a mobile game or an Internet application or something silly, well, it would still be screwed, but at least only half treacherous. Pass an application as a tool to keep users safe, while personal data over the Internet and handing them over, my God, my God.
Such a day of Facebook users can be lost, shake and disconnect your rear connivente. But until then, it seems that all we can do is keep our eyes closed for this kind of predatory shit and sound the alarm as far as possible.