Robert Siciliano explains how Facebook stores everything you provide, including contacts, emails, and phone call logs on Android. Since social media is free, users are the product being sold to advertisers. He recommends downloading your Facebook archive from settings to see what data the company holds.
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After Facebook admitted that a company linked to Donald Trump's campaign improperly accessed and stored data on tens of millions of its users, you may be wondering what the social media company knows about you. Well, the short answer: everything you give them.
Anything and everything you plug in right now, in the past, and in the future can and will be used against you in some way, shape, or form.
Robert Siciliano is a security analyst with Hotspot Shield, an internet security app. He called the breach a wake-up call.
If you've ever had a conversation with somebody about, you know, something that showed up on Facebook and you say, "Wow, isn't it weird how they know that?" Well, that's how they know that, because you're giving them all that information.
You can find out what's in your history by going to Facebook settings. There's an option to download your archives. Be warned, you might find some stops on memory lane that you don't really want to revisit. Pictures, posts, messages, even ones you thought that you deleted live on here. But what has surprised users the most is what's in your stored contact information—numbers and emails of everyone stored in your phone, and in some cases, a running log of every text and phone call you make. It's a feature on Android phones. If you downloaded Messenger on the Facebook Lite app, you were sent this message to opt in. A news release from Facebook said this helps you find and stay connected with the people that you care about and provides you with a better experience across Facebook.
What people don't understand is that while social media is free, we, the user, we are the product and we are what's being sold.
If you need some help with it, there's more information on Boston25News.com. I'm Alicia Rodriguez, Boston 25 News.
