from RT news

http://rt.com/news/263189-facebook-messenger-location-data/

Marauders Map': App exposes ease of tracking Facebook Messenger users

Published time: May 29, 2015 15:18

If you value privacy, you may want to think twice before using Facebook Messenger. A new extension for Chrome has revealed just how much location data is shared through the app – and it's enough to track someone down with almost perfect accuracy.

The extension - called the 'Marauder's Map,' after the magical map in Harry Potter – pinpoints the locations of a person's Facebook friends. It allows a person to track their movements, learning about their routines and weekly schedules.

Though some may view the information as useful, others think it is downright creepy, as it hands over a person's movements on a silver platter to any potential stalkers.



But the tool's creator, Harvard computer science and mathematics student Aran Khanna, isn't aiming to add to the internet's creep factor. Instead, he wants to raise awareness about just how much information gets shared on Facebook.

"I decided to write this extension, because we are constantly being told how we are losing privacy with the increasing digitization of our lives, however the consequences never seem tangible," he wrote in a Medium post.

He added the extension allows Facebook users to see the “potentially invasive usage” of the information they share, and decide for themselves if it's something they should worry about.

Khanna developed the extension after noticing that Facebook Messenger locations had more than five decimal points of precision – meaning the sender's location was pinpointed within three feet (one meter) of accuracy.

By testing his map on a group of Facebook friends who posted on chat at least once a day, Khanna realized he could see where one of them lived – even down to the exact location of his dorm room.

After chatting frequently to one friend, he discovered he could track the friend's hourly movements. The person's location history was mapped out at the end of the day.



Khanna then examined two weeks of chat data, managing to work out a student's weekly schedule – even though that person was on the other side of the country at Stanford University. He was able to predict when the person would arrive and leave certain buildings on campus.

Taking it up another notch, Khanna realized he could do the same thing for those who weren't his friends on Facebook. For example, he could track the locations of people taking part in a large group message, which was created to organize poker games.

Khanna stressed how easy it is for people to forget about the information that automatically gets shared on Facebook Messenger.

“The main problem is that every time you open your phone and send a single message it’s so easy to forget about your location data being attached to it. Furthermore, it seems so harmless to attach a location with a single message, but the problem is, over time the information from these messages adds up,” he said.

Facebook's default setting is to include location information with all messages. Location data can be turned off, but it's an opt-out that never occurs to many people.



“Everyone I have shown this extension to has been anywhere from surprised to appalled that this much of their very personal data is online for their friends (and even complete strangers) to access. So it is seems that there is an issue,” Khanna said.

He said he has been told Facebook is working on a fix to disable the tracking extension, “so don’t expect this code to be functional for long.”

if you value privacy at all, GET RID OF FACEBOOK! zuckerburg works with the CIA and lets intelligence agencys and law enforcement use facebook to track everything you do. i never even made a facebook, i wanted to, to keep in touch with friends and family. but i decided against it, i dont like being spied on. hopefully they're not spying on the mingle community. alot of people i know have deleted their facebook accounts, and if you value privacy at all, i suggest you do the same.

they can watch me if they want
if i want to know where some one is i call them and ask : )
most of my friends just share there location to me on Waze <shrug> (kinda off topic but still a great app)
and yes i agree its sad that even if you make a private facebook there are still ways in to it

anything you put on the net , stays on the net
most people forget this simple thing

and if someone wants to know where you are there is all ways the gps in your cell
just like it said in this news article

me myself , i dont really care if they spy on me
wish i knew when they where looking , cause i would moon them : )

well me personally, i do care if they spy on me, because its illegal. you can say "i have nothing to hide so i dont care" and to each his own but even if i have nothing to hide i still dont want strangers poking around MY private information. even if you have nothing to hide, you should care that you're being spied on. thats a slippery slope to go down. it shouldnt matter you have nothing to hide, what should matter is you have the right to privacy and these people are violating your rights. i dont mean to sound like an @$$, but i really get disturbed when people say "go ahead spy on me i have nothing to hide" because that isnt the point. government is the last thing you should want poking around your privacy. its not a matter of IF they will abuse this at some point, its only a matter of WHEN.

simple rule
if its on the net , its not private
just like if you walk outside , its not private
prob i have is don't look threw my walls in to my house or us drones to peek in my windows
i have a door come knock on it
i will let you in <shrug>

yes it is illegal for them to do it
but just cause they say they are not doing it or are going to stop doing it to make you feel better
do you really think they stop ? ?

welcome to the new age

your point is well made as well as taken though

I agree with tomato86.

ok so you dont know me, and have never met me. if i said to you "hey can i put a GPS in your pocket and track everywhere you go? and also can i bug your phone and listen to all your phone calls? and can i bug your computer and have access to everything you do on your computer in the privacy of your home? and do you mind if i can remotely turn your speaker on your smartphone on to listen to what your saying, even if your phone is off? do you mind if i remotely turn on your webcam and watch you in your home?"

what would you say to me? probably something along the lines oF "HELL NO". and im just one innocent person. but yet you would allow the government to do all this and not care because "you have nothing to hide". im sorry but IMO you have way way too much faith in your government. in its current state our government is an overgrown machine that does what it wants and answers to noone. its just a revolving door dictatorship for wealthy american familys (clintons, bush's). Our government in the present is more corrupt than it has ever been and yet people have this idea that "government is my friend". look at these fake @$$ politicians that all do the same exact thing, tell the people what they (the people) want to hear, get in office and do what THEY (the politicians) want or what special interest groups pay them to do.

And you trust these people to be involved in your right to privacy?

thank you catinidaho, i dont get people to agree with me very often! haha

Tomato86
i never said you where wrong
or that they should be doing it

but they will do what they want to

do i believe it is right , no i don't

and i never said i was disagreeing with you

just said i don't care if they do or not
(thats a persons right as well dont get bent its there choice)

they have been doing it since soon after tv's came out
you can reverce feed the speakers , i was all so told you can reverse the tv tube and make it a camara (not sure never tryed but i can tell you the speaker one works cause i have done it with speakers before)

phone's have been tapped shortly after they came out
they have key words they listen for , it gets recorded
hard line phones not cells was way before cells where well known

see but thats the whole thing, "they will do what they want to do"

not if we as americans stand up to them and tell them WE WILL NOT STAND FOR IT. people have become so complacent and lazy now a days that they think that we the people have no say in what goes on. actually we do have a say but it will take people getting off their @$$es and actually voicing their opinions. this $h1t only happens because WE LET it happen. it doesnt have to be like this, its only like this because the people have become too complacent and let the government do whatever they want.

I left Facebook years ago.
I know very very few people that still use it.

And keep in mind, they now OWN Whatapp ... which now has the web & a phone system now...
* So they can hear as well as read & track... yes,the track feature can be turned on, with your location, without your consent*

and BTW i wasnt trying to be confrontational about it and im not saying whos right and wrong. just voicing my opinion. but as citizens of this country we need to stand up and tell them enough is enough, or its only going to continue to get worse.

no worries : ) i just could tell i upset you about it
wasnt meaning to

just this sums it up for me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWiBt-pqp0E

YOU HAVE NO RIGHTS - George Carlin


its nothing new

they can crack in to anything they want
they employee computer experts

anything man made can be cracked : (
that's if they just don't scare the company in to giving the stuff to them

yea i hear ya, i feel we have no rights though because we just accept it instead of gettin off our @$$es and actually trying to change it.

wouldn't do any good
they would say they are not
but still keep doing it
it shows over and over again
they get caught doing bad stuff they get a slap on the wrists and off they go to do it again
i just don't see it changing really

I think it is what I call...
" Father Knows Best Theory "

Most people want to be lead. And believe that some guy is taking care of them & protecting & providing & knows what's best ,so they don't have to think about it...& they can just go play, in their cardboard BOX. .

you got a cardboard BOX : (
i didnt get mine in the mail : (

I think you & I " Burned the box " & are just waiting for everyone else to.
* tapping fingers & holding a flame thrower *

cant argue there : )