The required permissions of Facebook's new messenger app has raised a host of concerns about the amount of data Facebook is collecting and what the company is doing with it.

The new messenger app, which is required to download if you want to access to private messages from a smart phone, requests to sync with your contacts, read your text messages and record your voice through use of the phone's microphone, among other permissions. Facebook says these permissions make sense when you consider the functional ability of the app, including sharing videos or pictures with your friends. The company defends its requested access to text messages because the app confirms new contacts via text.

Facebook's rationalizations aside, many users are unhappy with the perceived infringement on their privacy.

A Daily Mail article on the controversy noted that 90 of the first 100 reviews of the app on Play Store rated required download as poorly as possible, with several comments elaborating on privacy concerns:

Reviews on the store include: ‘I DO NOT want this messenger. Seriously. Why is Facebook forcing this on everyone? This application sucks. Bigtime.’

Another reads: ‘Why does it need to have access to your phone data, audio, USB files, and network when you're not even using it. Oh and it can listen to your conversations and turn on your camera/recorder even when you're not using it. Uninstalling immediately. Big brother!’

Despite the concerns, Facebook shows no signs of scaling back its accumulation of data, or its dissemination of it. A recent Bloomberg article noted that Facebook was using much of the personal data it acquired from users to inform advertisers when and where ads were first viewed as part of its efforts to increase the value and effectiveness of its mobile ads.