Facebook Accused of Data Gathering and Mass Surveillance

A California lawsuit has accused Facebook of using its apps to gather data on users and their connections—including people who don’t have accounts. Facebook is accused of reading private messages, as well as accessing locations and photos from users’ mobile devices.

A spokesperson from Facebook has stated that the claims “have no merit, and we will continue to defend ourselves vigorously.”

The lawsuit was brought forward by former startup Six4Three just over two years ago. The documents filed for the court case includes personal conversations between the company’s senior executives (those are currently sealed).

The accusations of surveillance were presented during the startup’s fifth case filing in January. They stated their belief that the information gathered by Facebook was intended to be used for commercial purposes. They presented several different methods for gathering the data, some of which have been adapted for the users’ mobile devices. Among the techniques, Six4Three stated the use of location tracking, as well as the use of the devices’ microphones to record audio.

Even so, all arguments and claims related to the fifth filing have been censored and edited under Facebook’s request—under the belief that these are confidential matters, related to their business.

Facebook is alleged to have collected metadata and messages from users with Android phones, and photos (both the ones uploaded to their profile and the ones on the device) from iPhone users. Other alleged strategies include Bluetooth remote activation, which provided users’ locations, and the creation of an early expiration date for privacy settings, (without any user notification).

The Guardian reported that, after a submission to the court in which Six4Three displayed an “anti-SLAPP motion,” Facebook stated: “Six4Three is taking its fifth shot at an ever-expanding set of claims and all of its claim turn on one decision, which is absolutely protected: Facebook’s editorial decision to stop publishing certain user-generated content via its Platform to third-party app developer.”

Another court filing by the Six4Three developer stated that Facebook had not fully-disclosed that some of their privacy settings were set to expire after a period of time. The lawsuit also claims that the procedure for access to the user’s messages was presented to them as an alternative for easier login, yet was used to gather other messages and data. Six4Three argues that “Facebook used this data to give certain Facebook products and features an unfair competitive advantage over other social applications on Facebook Platform.”

The company has admitted to having collected data from calls and text messages, yet it specified that this was only done after the users’ consent was expressed.

On the other hand, the Guardian has reported that Facebook gained access to said messages without complete consent. In a similar manner, the company has allegedly accessed the iOS’ Camera Roll, meaning that this would give them access to pictures shared in the users’ accounts, the ones stored in their devices, and the ones used under the “sync” option.

Featured Image via: Flickr/Stock Catalog