A new investigation byMusk,to whom we already owe explosive revelations on the clipboard, was able to demonstrate that Facebook uses the data collected by the accelerometer of your iPhone to measure your behavior discreetly. And this even though the social network had recently confirmed toForbescollect data such as geolocation despite ATT*.
What possible uses?
Thanks to the accelerometer, an iPhone in your pocket can tell potential advertisers whether you are lying down, sitting in a chair in front of your computer or playing sports. Cycling and walking in fact cause repetitive movements that are easily detectable, which then simply need to be transcribed into refined profiling to catch the eye of services such as Strava and the apps associated with it.
The accelerometer is also capable of playing the role of a pedometer thanks to some rather clever algorithmic calculations, even though the sensor specifically dedicated to step counting is nevertheless protected. Perfect for an app like PeakVisor, which seeks to identify targets used to hiking.
Position GPS
Worse: the investigation report also ensures that via an ingenious comparison system with other Internet users, your iPhone is able to communicate the exact location of your presence to Facebook. The following scenario clearly illustrates the process in question:
- you board a train, at the same time as several other passengers
- you open Facebook, but still prohibiting it from accessing your GPS location
- some passengers grant the reading of their GPS position to Facebook
- at each stop and each change in speed of the train, their accelerometer measures the same statistics
- when these are compared by Facebook to its global user base, your accelerometer data then matches and the app knows you're on the same train!
Health too…
Finally, still according to information fromMyst, other advanced operations carried out in the background make it possible to convert the figures recorded by the accelerometer into real medical indices. This is for example the case of the frequency of heartbeats or human breathing.
Par : Facebook, Inc.
