A small tool to show the potential privacy implications modern social media have. By tracking online/offline status of people on Facebook, it is possible to get an accurate image of their sleep pattern.
Read the blog post: https://medium.com/@sqrendk/how-you-can-use-facebook-to-track-your-friends-sleeping-habits-505ace7fffb6
Prerequisites
- Git (how to install)
- Node.js (how to install)
Clone repository
git clone https://github.com/sqren/fb-sleep-stats.git
Configuration
Open the source code folder:
cd fb-sleep-stats
Copy the default config file:
cp config/default.json config/development.json
Update the following values in config/development.json
- "c_user": your numeric Facebook user id
- "xs": xs value from Facebook cookie
- "appId": Facebook App Id
Make sure there are no trailing tabs or spaces in the config file!
Install dependencies
npm install
Build browser dependencies
npm run webpack
You need to have two processes running simultaniously: the scraper and the webserver. Therefore, you must run the following two commands in separate windows/tabs.
Start scraping
This will run continously, polling Facebook every 10 minutes. Keep it running for as long as you want to track sleep.
npm run scrape
Start server
npm start
See the result in the browser: http://localhost:3000
#Troubleshooting
I get an error when running "npm run webpack"
Try re-installing the node-modules:
rm -rf node_modules
npm install
npm run webpack
No users show up
- If you have an ad-blocker, you must disable it for the site.
- You need to run
npm run scrapeand keep it running. When you stop it, it will stop tracking.
Changes to development.json are not picked up
- You have to run
npm run webpack
How do I update to the latest version?
After pulling the latest version, you must rebuild the dependencies:
git pull
rm -rf node_modules
npm install
npm run webpack
ReferenceError: Promise is not defined
Update Node.js to the latest stable version of the branch you are on (v5.7.1, v4.3.2 or v0.12.11). After that rebuild dependencies:
rm -rf node_modules
npm install
npm run webpack
Cannot parse config file
Your config file contains invalid json. Find the errors by using a tool like http://jsonlint.com/
Where is the data stored?
You can find the data in JSON-format here: src/server/services/db.json.
Other issues
If you encounter a bug or have a problem, please go to Issues and use the search functionality, in case someone else already asked the question. If you can't find anything helpful you are very welcome to create a new issue
Facebook reached out to me and informed me, that it is against their terms to access their website by automated means. Additionally I am not allowed to urge anyone to do so. Therefore: I urge you to use this project for educational purpose only, and not use it to access Facebook.
