Yet another headline has been made this week as two users of apps belonging to Facebook claim that their data and calling information were collected without their own consent for such matters. A complaint was filed in a California Court on March 27, citing a violation of the California Consumers Legal Remedies Act, the Unfair Competition Law in California, as well as the Computer Data Access Fraud Act.
The complaint states, among other things, that the permissions settings features a vulnerability of which Facebook took advantage in retrieving information they really had no right to. This covers both the Facebook Lite and Facebook messenger apps on the Android OS.
They went on to say that when the app asks for permission to “access your contact list”, Facebook can then use that loophole to gather years worth of information regarding all text data and calls, no matter whether it was a call that was outgoing, incoming, or even a missed call.
Furthermore, the information and data collected can include both the number and the person who was called or who called you, how long the call lasted, the time and day the call was made and more. The information is then placed in the user profile and monetizes it for “better advertising”.
The ones bringing the suit have said that Facebook, as a company, is responsible for the breach because they knew very well what they were accessing, what it would be used for but that they also knew they did not have the express permission to do so.
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