Facebook adds new background privacy controls to its Android app – TechCrunch



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Facebook is updating its privacy settings on Android to make it easier for users to control the location data that is sent to and stored by the company.

In his announcement, Facebook acknowledged that Android users were concerned about the application's ability to continuously record location data in the background. Due to Android's all-or-nothing location licensing system compared to iOS, the Facebook app has always been given the go-ahead to collect location data, as a user there either actively or not.

While the company has not confessed to its practice, Facebook for Android users with previously activated location services can probably assume that Facebook was following their position closely even though they were not actively using the app. Facebook describes the choice to switch the location history to "[allowing] Facebook must create a history of specific locations received via location services on your devices. "

Android users who previously allowed Facebook to access their location data will still have these settings, even if they will receive an alert about new location controls. For users who have turned off location settings for Facebook, these permissions will remain disabled. Although these changes only affect Android users, Facebook also indicated that it would send an alert to iOS users to remind them to re-evaluate their location history settings.

If you have not thought much about the history of your positions, it's worth taking the time to think about how comfortable you are with the depth of this personal data constantly being passed on to a company with Facebook's reputation. in terms of confidentiality. Do not forget: once this information is out of your reach, you have little or no control over what is happening with it.

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