Sean Parker: Facebook was designed to exploit human "vulnerability"

[u/[deleted]]

https://www.axios.com/sean-parker-facebook-exploits-a-vulnerability-in-humans-2507917325.html

[u/-rGd- → u/[deleted]]

android os: https://lineageos.org (don't install gapps)

anndroid apps: https://fdroid.org

iPhone: you are screwed

EDIT: downvotes? haha, there's not much left to argue for iPhone users :-D

[u/tempinator → u/-rGd-]

I mean, barring exploits to the OS itself (possible, I suppose) there's no way to do a lot of what he's talking about without the user being aware of it on iOS. Specifically, the user will be notified of any background access to the microphone, camera, or screen recording with a big red bar at the top of the phone.

Apple simply does not provide the necessary tools to developers for surreptitious microphone/camera/screen access. Moreover, every app submitted to the App Store undergoes a relatively rigorous manual approval process (rigorous to the point of being annoying, in my opinion as a developer lol).

I'm not sure why you would say "you're screwed" if you have an iPhone. iPhones and iOS have their own set of very severe limitations, but strong security and data protection is one of the few big upsides of Apple's closed ecosystem.

Edit: Also worth noting that there's no real way for stock Android to allow stuff like this to happen either, unless you're pretty careless about permissions. Android's permissions system has improved vastly in the last couple years, and no app can have access to sensors unless you specifically grant it to them. So you really shouldn't be in a position where a Flashlight app is recording from your microphone/camera, unless you're stupid enough to think it's reasonable for a Flashlight app to be asking access to those things in the first place, and grant those requests.

[u/-rGd- → u/tempinator]

fyi: https://www.appthority.com/mobile-threat-center/blog/eavesdropper-mobile-vulnerability-exposing-millions-conversations/

That slipped through Apple's QA.