Privacy

As our lives become increasingly inseparable from the internet, concerns about privacy and data security intensify. Numerous companies have fallen short of user expectations in recent years, from the widely publicized Ashley Madison hack in 2015 to the seemingly endless controversies surrounding Facebook in 2018.

Artist and researcher Joana Moll teamed up with Berlin-based NGO Tactical Tech to shed light on data collection in the digital age. Their recent project, titled The Dating Brokers: An autopsy of online love, exposed the shady world of data brokers who sell information from online dating profiles. In May 2017, Moll and Tactical Tech purchased one million profiles from USDate, a company that sells user data to dating services looking to artificially augment their user base, for just $153.

“Purchasing this data exposed a vast network of companies that are capitalising on this information without the conscious consent of the users, whom ultimately are the ones being exploited,” explains the project’s website. “This project attempts to make parts of that network, and how it works, visible to everyone.”

Tinder users can breathe easier this week. Following the Facebook hack that compromised 50 million user accounts, Tinder has announced there is "no evidence” to suggest its own accounts have been breached as a result.

On Friday, September 28, news of the hack broke. An unknown attacker, or attackers, exploited a weakness in the social network’s systems to take over millions of accounts, gaining access to their profiles, photos, friend lists and, possibly, private messages. More than 90 million users were logged out of their accounts by Facebook as a precaution, including the accounts of company CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg. It is one of the most significant cyber attacks in Facebook’s history.

"We do not yet know whether these accounts were misused but we are continuing to look into this and will update when we learn more," Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a blog post published on Friday.

Facebook Dating recently launched in Colombia, months after the company announced the new service at its developer conference in May. There’s been a lot of speculation, but now the first users are getting a taste of how the service will work.

According to Mashable, Facebook Dating is completely separate from your traditional Facebook profile, so you can feel free to search for potential dates without your activity showing up on your main Facebook page. Users can opt-in from the main menu where you find groups, Marketplace, and events. Then you can create a profile by adding photos and information, like where you went to school.

One of the main differences of Facebook’s service (as pointed out by Business Insider), is that Facebook is not matching people within their social media circle like other apps, so there’s no concern you’ll be matched directly with your online friends, which was an initial concern among users. Instead, Facebook Dating is connecting users according to interests and activities. Based on these attributes, Facebook by default will include friends-of-friends as well as strangers unless you only want to see people with no mutual connections.

Facebook has officially entered the dating app game, launching its new feature Facebook Dating exclusively for users in Colombia. Since the announcement of the new service in May at the company’s annual developers conference, the online dating industry has been anxious for how Facebook might upend the market.

Facebook chose Colombia because online dating is a “pervasive behavior” there according to Nathan Sharp, product manager for Facebook Dating. The country has a population of 48.6 million, giving Facebook the opportunity to see how people use it and how it compares to other dating apps. There are about 200 million single Facebook users globally, according to Sharp, a huge population to reach.

The service is currently available only through the social media giant’s mobile app, and users have to opt in to the service to use it. Also, Facebook Dating is separate from the regular Facebook service, so a user’s dating activity will not be visible to friends on social media. Facebook intends to compete directly with dating apps, but the company’s focus is on connecting people to form relationships, moving away from superficial swiping that’s popular on apps like Tinder.

Tinder swiping sessions are more secure than ever and there’s an unlikely hero to thank: 69-year-old U.S. Senator Rob Wyden.

Wyden made news earlier this year when he released a letter demanding that Tinder resolve security issues exposed by a report from Checkmarx, a Tel Aviv-based security firm. Months later, Tinder has responded with good news for both singles and the senator, revealing recent changes to the app’s handling of images and swipe data that make it harder for sensitive information to fall into criminal hands.

Checkmarx noted two “disturbing vulnerabilities” in its original report, dated January 23, 2018:

Did you eat at a new neighborhood cafe for lunch? Do you want to share this over Tinder? There’s a new feature the dating app is testing called “Places,” which lets potential matches know where you’ve been.

Website The Verge broke the story with screenshots of the new feature, showing how GPS tracking can now be used as a way to connect with your dates. The idea behind Places is similar to dating app Happn, where users can see if they had any missed connections during the day, depending on where they’d been. Let’s say you stopped for morning coffee at your local shop and one of your potential matches also happened to be there. Places will alert you so that you can message your match to let her know you were there too, and start a conversation.

Image: Verge

A concerning issue with the new feature is that Tinder is in charge of documenting and revealing your locations to other users. Instead of allowing users to “check in” when they want to share their location, Tinder automatically chooses to reveal or hide the location. For example, you might go to your dentist appointment and then stop for coffee on the way back to work. Tinder won’t report that you’ve been to the dentist, but it might choose to reveal the coffee shop you visited.