Is Facebook Messenger Worth the Download?

If you use Facebook, you started getting messages telling you that a new app, Messenger, was about to be launched.  For weeks these messages would appear and for weeks I would ignore them.  Why would I need another app?  I get my private messages from Facebook, so what’s the big deal?  Well, the “big deal” came when Messenger was the only way I could access my private messages on my phone.  I clicked on the “download app” box and saw all the information it wanted and I decided that there was no way I would be downloading this.  That lasted about three weeks.  It turned out that it wasn’t as easy to just get to a computer every time I needed to read a message, so, I put on my big girl panties and hit “download”.

When I really gave it some thought, I realized that the only reason I didn’t want the Messenger app was because I felt it was asking for too much information.  Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who felt this way.  Seeing that Messenger wants to access your phone, your phone’s camera and see your geo-location, it all seemed a bit much….at first.  But, I had to face facts:  Messenger wasn’t asking for any more information than other apps that I have.  And, giving it even more thought, I understand why it needs the information it’s asking for.  Of course it wants to access your phone because that is how you are going to be getting your message.  It needs access to your camera because that is how you will be sending pictures through the app.  Geo-location?  Of course!  Without it, how will it know which of your friends is near you and available for messaging?

I then realized that I was just making excuses not to download Messenger and it was becoming an inconvenience to me.  Besides, I have quite a few apps already that need the same information that Messenger needs.  GasBuddy uses geo-location to tell me which gas stations are close to where I am and needs access to the phone’s camera so that users can post pictures of the gas stations and the price boards.  The Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks apps use my geo-location so that I can get a current list of nearby stores where I could get my caffeine fix.  They also need access to my phone to keep track of my purchases and send me coupons whenever I reach my “bonus point” goal.  Then, there’s Swarm (which used to be FourSquare).  I can check in anywhere I visit and with geo-location, it will tell me if any of my friends are at the same mall I’m at.  It will also give me a list of my “favorite” spots so check-ins are a breeze.  Candy Crush, Words with Friends, Scramble with Friends, and any other games you have on your phone all need access to your phone and geo-location.  So, if I don’t mind giving these apps access, why do I mind giving access to Messenger when this would actually be the app I would use the most?

Facebook already knows all about me, and since Messenger is a Facebook app, what would be the difference if I allowed this to have my information?  After all, it’s not asking for my Social Security number or banking information.  It started to make less sense to NOT download Messenger, so, I caved.

Is Your Smart TV Spying on You?

New York State Senator Chuck Schumer recently issued a warning to all smart TV owners:  If your TV is equipped with a camera and can connect to the Internet, it could be used to spy on you.  Yes, your smart TV is capable of allowing a hacker to steal your credit card information, or worse, your identity.  Not only that, but a hacker can remote-access your TV’s camera and watch everything you do in the room that the smart TV is in.  To make matters worse, these TVs don’t have much in the way of security settings. 

Researchers Aaron Grattafiori and Josh Yavor were at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas, Nevada recently and showed how a smart TV can be hacked.  During the demonstration, they were able to control social media and any other application installed on the TV, they accessed files and even turned on the camera.  If they were able to do this, anyone else can do it too.  It’s like giving up your remote control to a hacker.

Mr. Grattafiori spoke with Mashable regarding this issue (Your Smart TV Can Be Hacked to Spy on You).  He said, “Because the TV only has a single user, any type of compromise into an application or into Smart Hub, which is the operating system – the smarts of the TV – has the same permission as every user, which is, you can do everything and anything.”

Grattafiori and Yavor, who work for iSEC Partners, a security firm, began looking into the issues with smart TVs in December of 2012.  They notified Samsung about this security breach in January 2013.  Samsung issued a statement to CNN shortly after claiming that “patches” have been issued to plug up the holes in security (Your TV Might be Watching You), which now makes it difficult for hackers to break into your smart TV.

Are Our Privacy Rules Changing?

Do you realize how much information is gathered from your smartphone?  This is something most people use every day, but not just to make calls.  It is also used to surf the Internet, send e-mails and update social networking.  Many people even use their smartphones as a GPS.  Because of its many functions, your smartphone holds information on your location, your e-mail contacts and your favorite Internet sites.   In other words, your smartphone is yet another way you can be tracked on-line. 

It seems like every month new apps are being developed for smartphones and tablets.  In fact, the smartphone is probably used less to make calls than to surf the Internet.  You can use Google Maps to find any location in the world, you can keep up with your office e-mail and you can even use GasBuddy to find the least expensive gas in the area.  When you’re ready for a break, you can play your favorite on-line games!  All this can be done with one device.  You can be traveling, yet you’ll never be far from your office or home.  You can even access sites that can help you out with a solution if you don’t know how to handle your two-year-old’s tantrums or medical sites that can tell you what that strange rash on your leg is.

Yes, these apps are a fantastic convenience, but they also leave us open for tracking.  Many people find that the convenience far out-weighs the risk of being tracked.  After all, isn’t it better to have access to all of these great sites if it means all you have to do is enter your zip code and your birth date?  There are thousands of people in that zip code with the same birth date, so what could be the harm?  Well, thousands of people aren’t using YOUR smartphone!

With this information, you are opening yourself up to being tracked by advertisers.  This can happen because many sites share the gathered information with others. They know your location from your GPS, so with your zip code, birth date and the knowledge of what sites you visit on-line added in with your e-mail address, you are going to get a whole lot of targeted advertisements in your inbox.  You could also be given suggestions for even more apps to either purchase or download for free.

These app developers claim that in order to get the full benefits, some personal information is needed.  Congress has discussed the issue of these apps as a privacy risk.  It has also been discussed that consumers should be allowed to opt out of being tracked, but so far, not much has been done to remedy this.

Which Would You Choose: Privacy or Security?

Carnegie Mellon University’s Pedo-Biometrics Lab in Pittsburgh, PA has a joint project with a Canadian company, Autonomous ID.  The project is a security scanner that is built into the in-soles of shoes.  These in-soles will be used at high security companies, power plants and military bases to screen employees attempting to gain access to high risk areas.

The idea for this type of device came to Todd Gray, President of Autonomous ID, when he visited his daughter right after she gave birth.  Gray noticed that the walls of the maternity ward were decorated with the footprints of all the babies who were born there.  When he saw this, he realized that each person’s footprints were as unique as their fingerprints.  To start the project, Gray paid $1.5 million to Pedo-Biometrics Lab.  

Security or privacy?  The choice is yours.

These special in-soles will have sensors that measure the amount of pressure each step places on specific areas.   Height, weight and gait are all factors used to make these measurements.   When an employee is fitted with these in-soles, he or she will walk around so his or her data can be stored in a master file located in microcomputers.  From this master file, security clearance level will be confirmed.  If confirmed, access to the area will be granted; a silent alarm will be triggered if the employee does not have clearance.   

Preliminary tests that were run on in-sole samples demonstrated that there is an accuracy rate of 99% after only three steps.  Further tests are taking place that will take such factors as dieting, athleticism and nationality into account.  Tests will also be done on fraternal and identical twins.  Mr. Gray is of the opinion that there is less of a privacy risk to these in-soles as opposed to eye scans. 

Attorney Lee Tien of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) doesn’t fully agree with that opinion.    “Every biometric capture device is a potential tracking device, just like every iPhone is a potential tracking device.  That’s just the way things are.” is the statement made by Mr. Tien.  He did, however, feel that the in-soles “might make a person feel a little bit better” about their security.  Another positive point Tien made was that the identification accuracy rate of 99% after merely three steps is “pretty impressive”.

Can you be tracked without consent?

There was a negative side that Tien saw:  these in-soles could be inserted into an employee’s shoes without his knowledge or consent.  In this respect, they could be considered a “spy tool”.

Thinking about all the pros and cons, I can’t imagine allowing my employer to know everywhere I go, even on my time off from work.  I would simply feel like I was being stalked.  I’m not willing to give up my privacy like that.

Privacy is our greatest asset and we should not be willing to risk it.  Learn how to protect yourself both on line and off by taking a few minutes to download the free Internet Privacy Guide at the top of this page.  Isn’t it worth a few minutes to learn how to keep your privacy safe?