While most are aware that Facebook Messenger tracks a user's movements, the frequency in which that happens is a little more secret.
In reality, Messenger pings users location every single time they send a message to someone else. This lends to some creepy possibilities as far as tracking goes. Like this new Google Chrome extension, which enables users to see exactly where their friends are messaging them from, without the knowledge of the person sending the message.
In fact, the app takes things a step further by allowing users to track people who aren't friends, as long as the user has received a message from them. So, for example, if a user receives a message from someone in a group thread, the user will be able to track him or her.
The app is called Marauders Map, and it's important to mention that the app only works for those who have location tracking enabled. It's easy to turn location services off, simply by heading to your settings in the Messenger app and unchecking the box that says "location."
So why create the app in the first place? Well, according to Aran Khanna, a Harvard student studying computer science and mathematics, it was to help making people more aware.
"I decided to write this extension, because we are constantly being told how we are losing privacy with the increasing digitization of our lives, however the consequences never seem tangible," said Khanna. "With this code you can see for yourself the potentially invasive usage of the information you share, and decide for yourself if this is something you should worry about."
The app can be downloaded from the Chrome Web store. Once installed users will need to authorize it to access data from their Facebook account and head to www.facebook.com/messages to see a list of their past messages; a blue screen with a map should appear in the bottom left-hand corner of the screen. The map can be minimized, but when shown, it will provide chat bubbles showing where users were located while chatting. Clicking on one of the chat bubbles will give all the locations where the other user has been during the chat conversations.
Khanna continues his blog post to say that by tracking a user's chat history for a few weeks, a person could even figure out that user's daily schedule, which is certainly a scary prospect.
While there is a way to stop people the tracking, the idea that it's even possible to track a user at all times is scary; however, it highlights the fact that awareness is extremely important when it comes to technology.
