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Facebook convinced teens to sell their privacy for $20


It’s the Faustian pact for the 21st century, except this time the devil is Facebook. As unearthed by TechCrunch’s Josh Constine, the world’s biggest social network has been paying people (including 13-year-olds) to install a sketchy mobile VPN that spies on everything they do. The VPN app, called Facebook Research, but referred to as “Project Atlas” in company documentation, provides absolute access to a device’s network data. Every packet sent is captured for later analysis, allowing Facebook to glean information on user habits, as well as to see how its competitors are faring. According to Constine, users were also asked…

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