Techdirt
Just about a year ago we noted how Facebook was taking some heat on the security and privacy fronts for pitching a "privacy protecting" VPN to consumers that actually violated consumer privacy. Based on the Onavo platform acquired by Facebook back in 2013, the company's "Onavo Protect – VPN Security" app informed users that the product would "keep you and your data safe when you browse and share information on the web" and that the "app helps keep your details secure when you login to websites or enter personal information such as bank accounts and credit card numbers."
It didn't take long before many began to notice those claims weren't, well, true.
A wide variety of different news outlets were quick to point out that Facebook was actually using the "privacy" app to track users around the internet when they wandered away from Facebook, then using that data to its own competitive advantage:
Just about a year ago we noted how Facebook was taking some heat on the security and privacy fronts for pitching a "privacy protecting" VPN to consumers that actually violated consumer privacy. Based on the Onavo platform acquired by Facebook back in 2013, the company's "Onavo Protect – VPN Security" app informed users that the product would "keep you and your data safe when you browse and share information on the web" and that the "app helps keep your details secure when you login to websites or enter personal information such as bank accounts and credit card numbers."
It didn't take long before many began to notice those claims weren't, well, true.
A wide variety of different news outlets were quick to point out that Facebook was actually using the "privacy" app to track users around the internet when they wandered away from Facebook, then using that data to its own competitive advantage:
"Interviews with more than a dozen people familiar with Facebook’s use of Onavo data show in detail how the social-media giant employs it to measure what people do on their phones beyond Facebook’s own suite of apps. That information shapes Facebook’s product and acquisition strategy—furthering its already formidable competitive edge, the people said."Read more
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