[ad_1]
Advertisers have long been able to target their Facebook marketing using lists of phone numbers and can get these numbers from legitimate business interactions with existing customers or by renting or purchasing lists of numbers from brokers. (This is one of the reasons stores ask for your number when you make a purchase.)
On Wednesday, Facebook phone numbers provided on the social network for additional security purposes on user accounts, often referred to as two-factor authentication (2FA), can be used to target advertising, even if that phone number previously disclosed to the company in another way.
In addition, Facebook can also target ads for a user if his phone number only exists in a friend's downloaded contacts list. Gizmodo described this method of using undisclosed phone numbers in his story as revealing "hidden contact information". Facebook does not offer a setting to disable or block the use of your number if it appears in the Fortune asked Facebook if another privacy or ad setting would include it and did not immediately receive a response.
However, you can prevent the "fictitious" use of your number, as long as you want to stop using your phone number for 2FA.
"We clearly know how we use the information we collect, including the contact information that people upload or add to their own accounts," a Facebook representative told TechCrunch on Thursday. "You can manage and delete the contact information you have downloaded at any time."
With 2FA, Facebook and many other companies make entering a password the first step of a connection. After successfully entering an account name and password, you receive or generate a "second factor", a short code linked to the same account. Only the person who has configured 2FA and has access to the account can receive or generate this code.
A second factor proves that you do not only know something (the password), but that you also have something (a phone or an application registered on the account). This physical component deters account cracking even if passwords are disclosed, guessed, or broken.
These second factor codes, often consisting of six digits, can occur in different ways. The method varies by service. A code can be sent as a text message to a telephone number or generated by an authentication application whose secret is initially provided by the service. Some companies also allow you to check a connection elsewhere in an installed smartphone app. Apple, on the other hand, takes a proprietary approach to its computers and mobile devices, as well as the use of text and voice messages. The use of phone numbers and text messages is a preferred method of 2FA for most users because of its convenience.
Facebook still required a phone number as a second factor, even if it added an application-based check. A few months ago, he lifted the phone number requirement.
To change your Facebook 2FA settings, select the down triangle at the top right of any Facebook page, choose Settings, then Security & Sign In, and finally Two-Factor Authentication. If you have assigned a phone number, click or tap Delete Number and confirm with Delete. Facebook has stated that this would disable its ability to market your phone number (unless one of your contacts has your number in his address book, which is probably the case).
Source link
