In the past few years, Facebook was noticed in scandals related to violation of users’ privacy. Now, the Facebook application has been convicted of collecting information about users’ system libraries and uploading it to the company’s servers. Additionally, experts blame the Chinese face-changing application Zao for manipulating users’ data.
Hong Kong security researcher Jane Manchun Wong drew attention to the problem with Facebook. She noticed that the Android version of the application scans the smartphone, indexes the system libraries and uploads them to Facebook server.“Facebook scans the system libraries on user’s Android smartphone and uploads them to the server. On Facebook, this is called the Global Library Collector, and appears in the application code as GLC. It periodically uploads the metadata of the system libraries to the server and, apparently, it is impossible to disable the Global Library Collector, as well as to see what exactly is going on the devices. I’m not sure what the GLC task is, but it seems to me that it is used to determine the integrity and compatibility of the system”, – Wong wrote in a message on Twitter.
In addition, the application compresses each file before downloading, minimizing traffic, and collects user-specific files. It is currently unclear why data is being collected. Facebook has not yet clarified the situation.
Over the past few days, the Chinese Zao face changer has become the leader in the number of downloads in app stores, but many users have begun to express concern about the program’s privacy policy.
The application allows to upload photos and exchange faces with popular movie stars and others. To create an image, users can upload an existing photo or, following the on-screen prompts, take a series of new pictures. However, users noticed a nuance in the Zao privacy policy, according to which it has “free, irrevocable, permanent, transferable and licensed” rights to all user content.
The reaction of users was not long in coming, and a wave of negative reviews fell on Zao, reports The Japan Times. His App Store rating is now 1.9 out of 5 stars.
“We care about privacy. We considered users’ feedback and fixed problems that are not taken into account. It will take a little more time”, – said Zao in an official message on the social network Weibo.
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