
Facebook is pushing its data-tracking Onavo VPN within its main mobile app - evo_9
https://techcrunch.com/2018/02/12/facebook-starts-pushing-its-data-tracking-onavo-vpn-within-its-main-mobile-app/
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omarforgotpwd
It feels like Orwellian level double-speak to market an app that is designed
to allow Facebook to monitor at your mobile traffic as "protecting" your phone
and "securing" your connection.

They say a good salesman can sell ice to an eskimo. Well, today we found out a
great marketing person can sell spyware as security software.

~~~
RasputinsBro
This comment reminded of this clip of Chris Hitchens about North Korea

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8-Vr_r36Fg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8-Vr_r36Fg)

(paraphrasing:) "Going in, I knew I wouldn't call them Orwellian. But
eventually they make you do it"

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tardygrad
>This past fall, Facebook snatched up the teen compliment app tbh, and quickly
integrated a similar Q&A feature into its social network soon after. This all
took place before Tbh had truly established itself as a new social network. It
wasn’t clear at the time if it was the next big thing, or just a flash in the
pan. (It appears to have been the latter.) Onavo’s insights into Tbh’s fast
rise and heavy engagement likely gave Facebook a heads-up. >it’s not likely
that all Onavo users understand they’re actually feeding Facebook the
information that allows it to take on any challenger to its social networking
empire.

I wonder if it's be possible to make a social networking startup, optimise
solely for Onavo metrics, and get bought out by Facebook.

~~~
RikNieu
All you have to do is create a social/chat app and get most teens and young
adults to start using it. Piece of cake. Profit train here we come!

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peterkelly
_" Like other VPNs, it acts as a secure connection to protect people from
potentially harmful sites."_

Ah, no... that's not what a VPN is for

 _" The app may collect your mobile data traffic to help us recognize tactics
that bad actors use"_

So, competitors?

~~~
RandomCSGeek
VPN has always been marketed as a silver bullet that protects you from all the
evil that exists on the Internet. Only if people were little more aware about
how it works, they'd not fall prey to such tricks.

That said, as we discuss this of HN, there will be millions out there falling
prey to FB.

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williamscales
This is how Facebook always manages to buy those up-and-coming social network
apps approximately 2 weeks after they launch.

It sees all the apps folks are using and buys and kills the ones that look
threatening.

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tehlike
Fb keeps many things within its own app - all links clicked inside the app
never goes to browser.this is a very big security risk, imo.

Controlling webview means they can even see your password and all.

~~~
Larrikin
I hate this trend. I think all the major messenger apps do this now, it was an
awful surprise in LINE. The yelp app is basically unusable now for researching
new restaurants since they go so far as to prevent people from popping out
into a real browser, and now the Gmail app attempts to lock you in now too.

~~~
huntermeyer
I hate it too. Mainly because my behavior - especially on Yelp - is to open
multiple restaurants in tabs in my browser. Even on mobile. Then I can compare
the ones I like.

This is impossible within their tabless "embedded" browser. So I end up using
my laptop.

~~~
diogenescynic
Yelp has one of the worst and most spiteful mobile websites, too. Most of the
features are removed, you’re limited to a handful of pictures and I don’t
think you can even read all the reviews. It’s enough to make me not want to
use them at all.

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TYPE_FASTER
The FB mobile site works really well on my iPhone.

~~~
kevingrahl
Not sure if you know but just in case; you can use mbasic.facebook.com to save
some data (and I found it to be much easier to use, less clutter).

~~~
thirdsun
Plus, it offers messaging without the Messenger app.

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zimpenfish
How does something like this interact with the GDPR? Like Art 5, 1b,
"collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes and not further
processed in a manner that is incompatible with those purposes" \- I'm not
sure that "analysing VPN traffic to find out what apps people are using"
qualifies.

Or even Art 5, 1c, "adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary in
relation to the purposes for which they are processed".

Art 9, 1, "Processing of personal data revealing [anything uniquely personal]
shall be prohibited." Knowing that someone is launching Grindr, for example,
is a partial clue to their sexual identity. etc.etc.

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narrator
What is it about Facebook these days that every new thing they try is evil?

~~~
sAbakumoff
It's not about what Facebook is doing, it's about how it's perceived. Many
blame Facebook for the Brexit/Trump/ultra-right rise and see any step of the
social media giant as evil. You know how they say...if a man connects lives of
a billion people and fucks up one democracy, they don't call him a visionary,
they call him evil.

~~~
RasputinsBro
In my opinion Brexit/Trump go back way before Facebook. Facebook was just
another tool to be exploited for those with the agenda.

~~~
sAbakumoff
Indeed, there is a lot more in brexit/trump story, but not everything causes
the Congressional Hearing on the foreign hostile state meddling in the 2016
election.

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jokoon
Facebook releasing a VPN app, hard to say how ironic that is.

Seems to be some sort of communication strategy to show they care about
privacy or something, to consumers who understand nothing about computers.

~~~
mcintyre1994
It's not really them releasing one, they bought one that was established and
then just started siphoning user data. For a long time there was no obvious
link in the App Store from Onavo to Facebook.

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tomrod
Brave browser + mobile website. Brave supports "Desktop Site", at least on
Android, so you can get your messenging in too.

~~~
ulucs
Messaging on facebook works on the lite website too. I2d recommend you to try
it if the giant bloat bothers you

~~~
Double_a_92
Last time I tried it didn't work with the lite app.

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plorg
Is this a new or different presentation of Onavo in the FB app? I've seen this
menu item in the Android app for probably 2 years or more.

