Our online privacy is sacred, unless we can get free stuff

The findings of a new Pew study on privacy in the digital age belabor the obvious.

Americans think the government may be spying on them and Internet companies are using their personal information.

What’s interesting is that the Internet has thrown the spotlight on privacy, even though in some ways, people have more privacy now than they had half a century ago.

[...] in many homes, folks still had party lines, which let them snoop on their neighbors’ phone calls.

Today, the government can appropriate your e-mail and mobile phone records — modern incarnations of phone tapping — but technology also has made it possible for online merchants to use your shopping history to tailor ads for you, or social networking sites to exploit your phone’s address book to expand their business.

The Gay Blade: You know, as the Alcalde’s wife, I must play many, many, many roles, but the people only see the part I play in public.

[...] Facebook recently disabled messaging on its mobile website and told me that if I want to use my phone to send a message, I must download the Facebook Messenger app.

The list of permissions required by Facebook Messenger is long, but it’s consistent with what other messaging apps want — like access to your contacts and calendar, photos and media files, as well as your identify, location and device ID.

Keep in mind that many apps seek permissions they don't actually use (the whole permissions thing is a bit arcane and at some point should go away).

Facebook dropped its mobile messaging feature in favor of a dedicated app because it wants to become the default messaging service for the entire universe.

If you regularly exchange text messages with Facebook friends, go ahead and install Facebook Messenger.