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These subpoenas...
(www.rawstory.com)
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this post was submitted on 18 Feb 2026
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Privacy
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Which is why I don't give anyone my phone number.
Once again, that never happened, you just made it up, and I don't appreciate it.
fun fact: its worse than that! its not only about your phone number. signal and almost every chat app exposes your chat partners in the system contacts database. It's handy for the contacts app to be showing the list of chat apps usable for someone you know. at the minimum your name and profile picture that you set for yourself will be there and accessible to any apps with contacts permission, and in signal (even the molly fork) if that partner has made their phone number visible, that will be saved here too. and you can't really turn it off for others.
You are misinformed. Signal has your phone number and that's it. This has been demonstrated time and time again with legal documents.
check your contacts app before stating such things. I'm not stating that signal sends your data to facebook and such, but that signal is registering info into the OS for convenience, that will also he visible to other apps with the privilege granted, including those of facebook
Check my contacts app for what, exactly?
sorry, I think I was wrong. signal/molly only attaches that information to a contact when it already has the phone number that they use for signal.
so unless you keep your phone number visible on signal, or you share your phone number in another way, this shouldn't be a problem.
Happy for you, chief. I'm sure that makes it real useful to have, then, since no one knows it to call you.
Cool, how am I supposed to read this, then?
Does that not read "if they have your data, you're the one who gave it to them"? Explain it to me, because I'm clearly not understanding
I meant I don't give it to companies, because I know that's why they want it.
How about exactly how it's fucking written? Without making shit up? Do you think you can do that? Telling you how to prevent something is not the same thing as blaming you for it.
If you have given it to a person who has any account anywhere that has anything remotely to do with meta-owned entities, and they did not explicitly say no to sharing contacts info (basically just one person giving FB messenger access to their phone contacts), then meta has your phone number, name and a whole bunch of scarily accurate extrapolated data on you and other sources they correlate that with.
They might have my name and number. They don't have anything to connect that information to, because I don't give it.
You'd be surprised. If you have ever ordered, or booked, something online, they will absolutely have something to connect that to and from there they keep pulling.
I would not be surprised, I've investigated this pretty thoroughly. I've blocked all Meta domains from my network and devices. I dont give any of those stores my phone # or real name, and I use a virtual credit card that doesn't have my name or real address. All items are shipped to a PO box.
So you use cash to get a burner phone for any online purchases or sites which need them? You kept your phone turned off and away from you when you bought that burner? You only carry the burner when entering large corporate store chains which are fingerprinting the devices inside? You have gone through all databrokers to see who is aggregating information and device ids on you? You magically know every single big techs obfuscated domains for tracking cookies and block them the moment they are registered?
I think you are extremely naive about how easy it is to tie this information together by a databroker who is not restricted on what information they can aggregate and sell back to companies like meta. Sure meta may be blocked direct access on your network but they are buying that information from another data broker and tieing directly to you based on the contact information thats been gleemed from others who shared contact information with a meta product.
Why would I need a phone for that? I just told you I use a virtual CC.
I use GrapheneOS, which has mitigations for that sort of tracking. But Meta isn't tracking me at the grocery store, regardless.
I don't allow access to any cookies. As I already said, I use an ad-blocker, of course, that tracks, updates, and blocks thousands of tracking domains.
I think you know absolutely nothing about me, what I know, and what my data protection practices are.
I don't think you understand. Even if someone sends Meta my phone number, they cannot associate my phone number to any other online activity because that would ALSO require my phone number, which they do not have, because I do not give it to them. Also gleaned* and tying*.
they have. they are mapping your social graph and with that the places you are possibly frequenting
They haven't.
living in denial does not help mutch.
Agreed
Dude, I told you I don't understand how what you've written is different from what I've said, so maybe start there? I can see the literal words you wrote, thanks. I'm trying to get to the meaning you're attempting to convey, dude.
Like are you saying "people shouldn't have given their data to these companies", then my entire argument until now applies. It's not really an opt-out situation, unless you refuse to play ball with these companies.
Are you saying "companies shouldn't have this data"? Like, fair, but I'm not certain how what you're saying conveys this point.
What are attempting to say because I clearly don't understand it with those words in that order. Give more context to what you mean, please. I genuinely want to understand but I can't parse what you're trying to say beyond what I parroted back at you. And it's not some failure on your part, I am a certifiable idiot sometimes when it comes to this shit.