The Sunday Times reports that Facebook had admitted to reading text messages belonging to smartphone users who'd downloaded the Facebook app for Android smartphones, saying that it had accessed the text messages as part of a trial ahead of launching its own messaging service.
According to technology site Cnet, Facebook has since reportedly denied reading people's texts. It said it was running "a limited test of mobile features which integrate with SMS functionality", but that the ability to read and write text messages "is not currently implemented for most users of the mobile app".
"As part of this test, we declared the presence of that functionality within our app store permissions starting with the 1.7 version of our application. If Facebook ultimately launches any feature that makes use of these permissions, we will ensure that this is accompanied by appropriate guidance and/or educational materials."
Concerns around smartphones and privacy are nothing new. iPhone users were shocked to discover last year that Apple was recording location data and storing it in an easily accessible file on the phone and in iTunes.
The Sunday Times is also claiming apps such as Flickr and Yahoo Messenger can also access users' personal data, and that some even allow companies to intercept phone calls whilst others (the YouTube app was quoted as an example), could remotely access and operate a user's smartphone camera to take photographs (or videos).
As marketers seek ever-increasing levels of detail about the day-to-day lives of smartphone-toting potential customers in an attempt to develop highly targeted advertising, personal information is becoming a highly prized commodity. Leveraging a smartphone application to gather information such as frequently used words, websites visited and topics discussed online (or in calls), means that the erosion of privacy is almost inevitable.
The Sunday Times reports there are over 400,000 apps able be downloaded onto Android phones, with 500,000 available for iPhones, amd cites a poll showing that at least 70 per cent of smartphone users admit to not reading the terms and conditions of an app before installing it on their smartphones. Whether or not its latest claims are true, smartphone apps and privacy is a huge - and growing - issue.
