I recently read an article in the paper calling the Facebook Messenger app “Orwellian.” This opinion can be traced back to an article published in the Huffington Post in December by someone who is not in the tech industry, but in the marketing industry. As someone who plans on spending her entire career in the tech industry and has been using and learning the ins and outs of Android for years, I’d like to dispel a few of the myths perpetuated in this article.
The biggest error I noted was claiming Facebook has access to large amounts of personal data because of app permissions. Allow me to explain how app permissions work.
When you are writing an app for Android, you are required to write a file called AndroidManifest.xml. This file tells, among other things, what permissions the app requires to execute every single function the app has. Say you’re writing an SMS replacement app. If you want your app to be able to send SMS messages, you must include the phrase “android.permission.SEND_SMS” in the permissions portion. If you don’t include this line, your app will not be allowed to send SMS at all, as it does not have the permissions to, meaning it will not function properly. Now, why is Messenger asking for all those crazy permissions? Let’s take a look at app functionality.
You can make phone calls through the app if someone has their number posted on Facebook. This is why it asks for permission to make phone calls.
You can use Messenger to send and receive SMS and MMS messages to people that aren’t on Messenger yet, allowing you to use it as your main texting app. This is why it asks for permissions related to sending, receiving, editing and the like.
The Messenger has the ability to take photos in the app itself. Therefore, it asks for permission to use the camera.
The app also has the ability to send voice clips to your friends. This is why it asks to record audio.
You are able to send your GPS location with messages so your friends know where you are. Especially helpful if you are trying to meet up and one person has no idea where they are going. This is why it asks to access your location data.
I believe this covers most of the permissions people are worried about and explains very clearly what Facebook’s intentions are. If you look at apps with similar functionality, you will find the very same permissions for the same intentions. Now, on to the second part: Facebook is spying on you, collecting all your data, and sending it all to the government.
Mark Zuckerberg has spoken out against the NSA since the beginning of the Snowden reveal. He and tech giants like Google have denied giving the NSA access to their servers. He has been pushing for more transparency, and even said the government “blew it” when it came to balancing protecting people and preserving freedom. He’s even called Obama over his frustration with how badly our government has damaged the reputation of the internet and countless internet-based companies based in America. If anything, Facebook is doing the best they can to prevent spying.
As for the data aspect, look at it like this: stop and think for a moment just how much data you use per day. Not just mobile data, I’m talking how many text messages you send, phone calls you make, photos you take, how much you use your phone in general. Now try multiplying that by the over one billion Facebook users. That amount of data is astronomical. Their servers simply could not handle that amount of data being recorded. Not only that, but I’m sure most of you know about data limits put in place by your phone plan. Your carrier keeps track of how much data you use. If Messenger were indeed sending all of your data to their servers, you would reach your data limit ridiculously quickly. If you go and check your data usage (it’s under settings) you can see just how much you have transmitted. If they were collecting your data at all, these numbers would be much higher than before. And don’t forget about how quickly your battery would drain. Transmitting that much data constantly would take a lot of energy. The app does increase your battery usage, but only slightly compared to if it were collecting all your information.
Hopefully this rundown of how apps work will help you understand better why Messenger asks for the things it does. Whether or not you use the app is up to you, but hopefully now you know it is safer than you once believed. The permissions make sense based on functionality, and if Facebook were collecting all your information, you would notice pretty quickly.
Meagan Brown
Computer science major
