Facebook phone contact list isn't new, can be deleted

[Shawn Knight]

While many of us were busy checking out Facebook’s new Messenger app earlier this week, a new privacy scare has been spreading like wildfire since its release. It seems that someone was digging through their profile’s privacy settings and noticed that all of the numbers in their phone's address book had been imported into Facebook.

The message that I saw no less than five times since yesterday reads something like this:

“ALL THE PHONE NUMBERS IN YOUR PHONE are now on Facebook! Go to the top right of the screen, click on Account, then click on Edit Friends, go left on the screen and click on Contacts. All phone numbers from your phone (FB friends or not) are published!! Please repost this on your Status, so your friends can remove their numbers and thus prevent abuse if they do not want them published.”

I followed the steps in the above message and found several phone numbers listed in my contact phone book, although many were not people from my phone’s address book.

The only problem is that this isn’t anything new, and it isn’t related to Facebook Messenger.

Many of my Facebook friends have added their phone number to their Facebook profile on their own free will. As such, all of these volunteered numbers will show up in your Facebook contact list.

If you use a Facebook smartphone app and have enabled Facebook Contact Sync, all of the numbers stored on your phone will be synched to Facebook. Furthermore, this feature will attempt to sync your friends’ Facebook profile picture with the matching contact entry in your phone’s address book.

The catch is that all of these imported numbers are private and you are the only one that can see them. Of course this doesn’t mean they aren’t prone to hacking attempts.

There are steps that can be taken to delete these contacts.

First, if you don’t want your number publicly available, delete it from your profile. To do so, navigate to your profile, click “Edit Profile” and then “Contact Information” on the left.

To delete the entire contact list, click “Account” at the top right of the screen, then “Edit Friends”. Click “Contacts” on the left then read the warning message on the right and click “this page” to follow the necessary steps.

Finally, on your smartphone’s Facebook app, disable Contact Sync which can be found under the "Friends" menu.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/45046-facebook-phone-contact-list-isnt-new-can-be-deleted.html

 

[matrix86]

THANK YOU!!! Geeze, my news feed was filled with people screaming about how these number are available for all to see. And when I tried to talk common sense into them, they just tried to argue about it. I knew you were the only person who could see them, and I tried to explain that if you could see the numbers in that list, that you could also see it on your friend's profile.

My mom doesn't own a smartphone, and even she can see these numbers, so it's not completely dedicated to the smartphone app. I have 192 friends, only 55 of them are on that list and only 1 of them are actually in my phone.

 

[Guest]

Not the point !

The point is any user of the messenger phone app that syncs their contacts (whether anyone else can see them or not) All end up on a FB server and in todays day and age that might aswell be
published publicly as far as security concerns are concerned !

This is a crazy violation of rights ! If I give my number to a friend I give it to a friend... I do NOT !
I REPEAT NOT give that person the permission to upload my private number to FB

End of, there will be hell to pay for FB .......Erights Orgs and other groups I can think of are going to fsck their **** bad....I can see it coming.

 

[matrix86]

Technically, FB CAN do this. When you download the app and you enable syncing, you're telling FB they can do what they want with your info. I'm sorry to say it, but people set themselves up for stuff like this. Don't want it to happen? Don't put your number on your profile, and don't sync your phone with facebook. Always keep an eye on your security settings. Facebook ticks me off as much as the next guy, but YOU are responsible for YOU. Stop blaming FB for your own laziness and stupidity.

And to end it all, I say, "Google +, +1" Sorry FB, but when you keep pulling stunts like these, you're only running off your members and sending them into the arms of your competitor...which is better than you are, lol.

 

[Guest]

Anyone stupid enough to use facebook and then complain about privacy needs mental help.

Try and create and delete an account as an example.

 

[matrix86]

Guest said:
Anyone stupid enough to use facebook and then complain about privacy needs mental help.

Try and create and delete an account as an example.

Agreed. Let's face it, folks. FB isn't what it used to be. It went from private, to them deciding what you share and making it a pain in the butt to find that info and change how it's shared. I complained during the first few updates, but once I figured out they didn't care and it wasn't going to change, I just shut my mouth and watched over my privacy settings, just in case.

 

[Guest]

My thing is I have never put my phone number on FB... I don't have the app on my phone yet my friends can see it. I don't mind so much that my friends see it as they already have my number but if someone decides to hack this new system my number is out there through no fault of my own?

 

[Guest]

Hi Matrix, I have never enabled syncing and yet my numbers were on FB, when i read this i went into my phone app and found the slider and it was in the off position so how did and why did FB do it on my phone? I think that is what most people are so mad at weather is is a flaw in the app or a FB "glitch" (yeah right) i'm pretty sure most people would not sync their phone books with Fb given choice.

 

[Guest]

The point is that these numbers shouldn't be there without your consent. My phone has "sync contacts" disabled, yet all my contact numbers are still there. That means that it had to have sync'ed my contacts at the point I installed Facebook's mobile app and before I could change the preferences on the initial application launch.

Furthermore, it shouldn't take a news story to make me aware that certain information is being unscrupulously uploaded, despite the fact that I have the feature disabled. Facebook's trampling of users' privacy rights knows no boundaries. The press makes a big deal about Kissmetrics tracking, but Facebook is a far worse villain when it comes to privacy. Here's to hoping that a class action lawsuit gives them something to think about and Google+ erodes away market share.

 

[Guest]

LOL, like Google has any better track record when it comes to privacy. Don't delude yourselves. Bottom line, any one expecting privacy anywhere on the internet is a fool. Old advice is good advice....don't do or say anything online you wouldn't want your momma to read on the front page of the newspaper about you. No worries that way.

 

[Guest]

My app was never set to sync on my BB and yet all of my address book (about 2400 names and numners) were on my FB list when I looked. So don't tell me that it only does this when sync is turned on. Mine was off and has always been off. At some point in time the FB app must have done the sync but I certainly did nothing to allow it. Also, several other people I know had the same thing happen and they had never turned on the sync feature either.

 

[Guest]

Silly people...

 

[Guest]

One more thing that is much more concerning is that when I checked the contact list, I saw names *and numbers* of people who were neither in my facebook friends list, nor in my smartphone contact list. There was also an option of 'Add as Friend' for them. So as far as what I saw, it meant that my number (if I have one on my facebook profile) could be published to people who are not my friends on facebook, or in my smartphone contact list. Scary!

 

[Guest]

Just tell you what scares me the most from Facebook. Even the contact list with phone numbers is private and only I can see it, that doesn't mean that accessing some application on facebook doesn't get that info as part of the permission system. On top of this, why wouldn't facebook sell this info to telemarketers, collection agencies, premium text message company, or just whoever pays enough. So the fact that its private, doesn't change the fact that facebook has my number, only because a friend of mine added me in his phone contact list and can sell it to whoever it wants.

 

[Guest]

It shows me a couple people whose numbers were in my phone(or were once in my phone), but they were people who I maybe met in a bar and never got a last name for. Yet now facebook filled it in for me.

 

[RH00D]

Facebook is only as invading as you allow it to be. Don't be silly.
Don't want Facebook to have information on you and still want to use their service?

1. Create a new email only to be used for Facebook registration.
2. Use a fake name, or nickname that real life friends know you by.
3. Use a slightly altered birth date.
4. Don't upload any *real* pictures of you.
5. Don't fill in any personal information, or if you do, use fake information.
6. Lock down privacy settings just because it's better than not locking them down.
7. Yay!! You have done it! Now you can use Facebook with no *easily* traceable route back to you. Notice I put emphasis on the word *easily*.

Now if you're really paranoid, enable HTTPS secure browsing in Facebook settings and use a VPN on top of that.

 

[Guest]

The point is that it doesn't matter what you do, even if you're not on facebook, they will still get your phone number via someone else, and you have no control over it. That's genuinely concerning.

 

[Guest]

The process of finding the phonebook doesn't work because of the new layout. If Facebook wants us to have our own thoughts about having our numbers posted they shouldn't have a vague place for it. People who don't use the phonebook hardly at all need to know where it LITERALLY is. Like myself, I've been trying to find it but haven't been able to. At this one time, I need to know a number and I can not find the phonebook. What's with that?

 

[Devlin]

Then why even be friends with someone on facebook then???

Not the point !

The point is any user of the messenger phone app that syncs their contacts (whether anyone else can see them or not) All end up on a FB server and in todays day and age that might aswell be
published publicly as far as security concerns are concerned !

This is a crazy violation of rights ! If I give my number to a friend I give it to a friend... I do NOT !
I REPEAT NOT give that person the permission to upload my private number to FB

End of, there will be hell to pay for FB .......Erights Orgs and other groups I can think of are going to fsck their **** bad....I can see it coming.

 

[Devlin]

I am actually friends with people that I went to school with. If a friend and I are talking on facebook and wants to be able to talk on the phone she or I have that option. Depending if the phone numbers are of course up to date. I see it this way. If you are friends with someone that you hardly even know or don't know at all then then that is on you.