The epiphany the author of the article arrive is an useful one but one can wonder if it is really a surprise.
Of course Facebook probably has a lot more information about us than we volunteered to their service.
Be it via other parties (Whatsapp, Instagram), like button, share buttons, Facebook connect, they have a lot other avenues to collect info about us and they do, even if they don't openly use it.
Much like War Games the only winning move would be not playing, although we started playing way before we even understood what the game was.
I do accept it completely. But how can It suggest some other person data for someone else. I might have wondered if they got somehow my number, but i will be shocked if it suggests some other number for me
I think they're banking on user behavior being as follows:
If the correct number is suggested, you get slightly creeped out, but confirm. If the wrong number is suggested, you get slightly outraged or puzzled, fill in the right number, and confirm.
It's sort of a natural A/B test: will people respond better to the correct number, or the wrong number? And they don't even have to control the A/B population, it's just whatever their reverse lookup API returns.
Of course Facebook probably has a lot more information about us than we volunteered to their service.
Be it via other parties (Whatsapp, Instagram), like button, share buttons, Facebook connect, they have a lot other avenues to collect info about us and they do, even if they don't openly use it.
Much like War Games the only winning move would be not playing, although we started playing way before we even understood what the game was.