Uninstalling Facebook Messenger is as effective as a tinfoil hat.

Tinfoil protection against Facebook

This article has been gaining popularity and has been reposted on facebook numerous times.  Claims that Facebook Messenger can spy on you. I've seen my friends re-post this and try to uninstall the application.  I have seen comments from many cursing Facebook and a few others commenting that it is completely inaccurate.  I finally could not take any more and had to blog in response to this article which is inaccurate and full of conjecture.  It is time to stop this hoax in its tracks.

I have been working in IT over 20 years.  Sam Fiorella (the articles author) from what I can tell from his biography has no real experience in IT.  What his bio claims he does have experience in is Influence Marketing.  Clearly his article proves that he is able to influence a lot of people through conjecture and scare tactics.  I don't claim to know anything about Marketing but I can say I know a lot about IT and software development.  I also like to think I know when someone is trying to pull one over on you. 

Sam's article is completely preposterous.  Sam states, "Facebook Messenger's attempt to collect so much information and take control of our devices is unprecedented and, quite frankly, frightening". First, none of this is unprecedented.  This is all based on some permission settings which authorizes the application to control your phones camera, audio, text messaging and calling functions.  He states that 1,000,000,000 users have downloaded the app and it is "alarming insight into the future of mobile apps".  This really is nothing new in the mobile world.  

Let me explain quite simply why Sam's article has no substance to it.  We will put the article aside for now and we will presume for a minute that this nefarious application is  hell bent to steal your information.  First lets figure out why we would want your personal information.  The only purpose I can see for any of your personal information is for marketing & sales.  Your phone could in theory report stores you went to, people you socialize with and interests you and your friends have.  However you give all this information up freely to Facebook all the time.  Through posts, likes and your biography , Facebook already has the information it needs and it uses it to target you with relevant advertisements.  Tracking cookies contain far more information about you.  I am sure that you have noticed that when you visit a blog like this after doing some shopping the sidebar fills with ads from that store you last visited.  It's not magic is tracking cookies and remarketing.  The Messenger application is not involved in any of this.  Yet this seems to be of little concern in the article.  

Actual photo from inside my pocket

Application permissions are used to grant the application access to many things.  Android is good at telling you what you are letting an application do to your phone.  If you happen to have an iPhone, don't expect the same treatment.  Sam completely missed that point and indeed iPhone users have been having their data used by Apple and other partners without consent for some time now.  Facebook Messenger may have the ability to record audio, video, SMS and make phone calls but the bottom line is that it doesn't.  How do I know you ask?  Very simply it is too much information for even Facebook and Google to process.  1 Billion downloads of messenger right?  Let us cut that in half to 500 million.  1 minute of HD video is approximately 60MB.  1 Minute of audio at 160Kbps is approximately 1MB in size.  So for just 1 user, for 1 minute you're looking at 60MB of data.  Now multiply that by the 500 million users for a grand total of 30,000,000,000,000,000 bytes per minute.  Or roughly 30 Petabytes of information every minute.  This much information in one minute would not only crush every server Facebook owns but it would likely crash every cell carrier on the planet.  This becomes even more insane when you think about 24 hours in a day.  I can tell you that my phone personally is looking at a ceiling or a nightstand for 8 hours a night.  Then for another good 8 it is on my desk at work.  So for 16 hours a day all you would record is blackness or a ceiling.  Then the 8 I sleep you can hear me snore.  The other 8 you can listen to me at work.  We shouldn't forget all that time my phone is in my pocket either. I frankly am honored that Mark Zuckerberg finds me that interesting.  If you still think Facebook is using your camera, audio, SMS and phone then you probably put on the tinfoil hat.  The lawsuits that would be generated by gathering this information would put Facebook out of business.  Here is another thought, if all this information was being sent to Facebook wouldn't your data usage be off the chart?  

Image: wikimedia/Jangelo9397

Your privacy is important.  I am in no way minimizing privacy for individuals.  You should have privacy but expecting it on a social media platform is ridiculous.  I am surprised that the Huffington Post article gained so much attention.  The news has had far more interesting privacy issues.  Hold Security reported 1 Billion passwords have been hacked.  This barely hit the radar with most people.  What is amazing is that most people have maybe one or two passwords.  Instead of focusing on real threats to your privacy we have an article that bashes Facebook.  Seriously?  

If the fact that Russian hackers likely have your password doesn't scare you then you should stop over at Packet Storm Security and read some articles there.  This is where the real news is regarding your privacy.  Facebook is protecting your data far more than it is using it.  If you are still concerned by all means stop using Facebook Messenger.  You might also want to stop using your phone all together.  All those pre-installed apps that you have on your phone have the same permissions as Facebook.  Oh yeah and the phone manufacturer can do even more. 

The media is not helping anyone by creating sensationalism and using conjecture to scare the public.  People without IT backgrounds certainly should not be suggesting that we uninstall applications to protect ourselves.  Uninstalling Facebook Messenger in no way is going to make you more secure on the internet.