Hiding from Facebook is harder than hiding from a super powered P.I.
Facebook hasn’t had any good press lately. Facebook’s awful reputation even marred the release of a product that should be wildly popular, Facebook’s Portal. They’ve contributed to sexism, racism, genocide, and even helped America elect Donald Trump through the spread of fake news and Russian propaganda. People are concerned about the way that Facebook profits from selling their profiles to advertisers, improving their ad targeting to creepy levels.
Now Facebook has applied for a new patent, and it sets out to out-creep their previous endeavors. Facebook’s latest patent tries to predict where you may be going, even before you’ve decided to head out.
Facebook’s Patent
Facebook’s patent covers a feature they may implement in the future. It would use your location data along with landmark location data to figure out where you’re going at all times. From that, it could create a profile of you, comparing it to the profiles of other people. Using the time of day, your trajectory, your location, and the profile Facebook has built on you, they can figure out where you might go today.
Facebook will take that a step further. Based on where they think you might be going, they’ll see if you’ll have WiFi or not, and the quality of your connection. They can use this to preload your news feed or other features. The app will change behavior based on where you’re going.
If these features creep you out, you can disable location services. However, Facebook can likely figure out your location through other means. They can grab location from your photos, from your friends and your proximity to your friends, and anyone tagging you. You can also delete the app, but this still won’t stop Facebook from finding ways to track you. Really, the only way to prevent Facebook from tracking you would be to delete Facebook.
And even then, Facebook would still keep a profile on you.
Is this Really Creepy?
Apple’s iOS can do something similar, telling you how the traffic will be on your commute before you head out. Google Maps can do this as well. However, in Apple’s case, the processing is all done locally. Apple doesn’t care where you’re going or where you live. They don’t market to you, sell your profile to advertisers, or even collect this information. It’s all basic machine learning on device. If you use Apple’s Maps often, you likely already stored your home and work address, which is how they know where you’re going on a week day. At least Google has addresses from your searches and destinations, even if they are using that data to sell to advertisers.
However, Facebook is in the business of selling your profile. They want to grab as much information on you as they can. When they show what they can do with the insane amount of information they’ve collected, it’s reasonable if you feel a little creeped out.
Furthermore, Facebook’s not just predicting when you’re going to work. They’re figuring out your favorite restaurants, the gas stations you go to on your way to work, where you get groceries, and where you go on Friday after you get your paycheck. They’re building profiles on you and predicting what you’ll do. It would be one thing if this was just to help you, but it’s not. Instead, Facebook is building this up to sell.
That’s what makes this creepy. Facebook is learning as much as they can about you not to help you, but to sell you. Facebook hasn’t put this patent into use yet, but they gave no reason to believe they won’t.
Source: Betsy Mikel, Inc