Facebook Denies 'listening' to Conversations

DooKey

DooKey

[H]F Junkie
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A Facebook executive has denied the social network uses a device's microphone to listen to what users are saying and then send them relevant ads. However, there have been anecdotal accounts of people saying they were recently talking about a particular subject and the next thing they knew Facebook ads popped up about the same subject. Facebook might be telling the truth or they might not. Considering past history it wouldn't surprise me if they were using the microphone without disclosing that fact.

"I run ads product at Facebook. We don't - and have never - used your microphone for ads. Just not true," Rob Goldman, Facebook's vice-president of ads, posted on Twitter. Facebook managers have taken to the rival site in recent weeks in an apparently attempt to head off criticism, including over the election.
 
The funny thing is that many times people look at web pages on a particular subject, around the same time that they're talking about the particular subject. And Facebook, Google, et al have tracking cookies all over the web that know exactly what you're looking at (no secret there - everyone should know this by now.)
But no, clearly Facebook is listening to your conversations instead, and showing you product placement on that instead of your browsing history. :rolleyes:
 
That wording in quotes sounds just vague enough. "ads product" does not use microphone. That's not the same as saying the Facebook app only ever uses the mic when you invoke it for only the task you specified...
 
I stopped using all Facebook related apps on my phone a long time ago for this very reason. My girlfriend still uses the app, and it never fails that she will see an advertisement for something she was talking about the next time she opens the app. I suppose it doesn't necessarily mean that it's the Facebook app, but I don't receive any ads about the things I talk about on my Facebook with the app uninstalled, though I do receive them based on what I searched through Google, so I suppose it could be Google feeding information to the app for relevance. Good time for this also "
Leela: Didn't you have ads in the 21st century?"
Fry: Well sure, but not in our dreams. Only on TV and radio, and in magazines, and movies, and at ball games... and on buses and milk cartons and t-shirts, and bananas and written on the sky. But not in dreams, no siree."
 
Facebook is evil.


I noticed this shit (ads being displayed after talking about certain subjects) about a year back and have since deleted my account and taken steps to better protect my privacy. No more social media or google and started used Brave+DuckDuckGo.

And a nice little aside, it somewhat restored my faith in humanity not having to read about everyones drama day in and day out.
 
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My wife complained of this when using facebook messenger. Oddly, the app has an option to disable the mic. Also oddly, she seems to think it stopped after turning off access to the mic.

She could be wrong, but given the pretty much every time Facebook says they aren't doing something, it turns out they are doing it, just maybe sliiiiiightly differently than accused of.

A possible example of such

"But senior members of its ads team have said that it never listens in to its users without asking them." from the article.

9 out of 10 Facebook senior members probably agree that burying the fact your mic is spying on you on page 9476 of the 22000 page EULA in white text on a white background equates to asking the user for permission. The 10th one probably doesn't think you have to specifically mention the microphone but cna call it an anonymized ad metric or something because they could be wrong about who is speaking.
 
I have to kind of call bull on this. Rather it's them directly or an ad partner though them, I think it has happened to me. One night I was at bar trivia and I was discussing, umm, boobs sort of. We got into a conversation about bindings, and I brought up my favorite example of Christina Ricci and that she wore bindings for one of the Adams Family movies.

Well, the next day or so up in my feed pops an add for bindings. As a guy, I don't need nor have I ever wanted them. The people I were talking to weren't actually connected to me on the service nor did I search for it on my phone or post about it. Just a coincidence right?

This was when I used the actual client and it was taking up the biggest percentage of battery of my phone even when I hardly used it.
 
bigstusexy said:
I have to kind of call bull on this. Rather it's them directly or an ad partner though them, I think it has happened to me. One night I was at bar trivia and I was discussing, umm, boobs sort of. We got into a conversation about bindings, and I brought up my favorite example of Christina Ricci and that she wore bindings for one of the Adams Family movies.

Well, the next day or so up in my feed pops an add for bindings. As a guy, I don't need nor have I ever wanted them. The people I were talking to weren't actually connected to me on the service nor did I search for it on my phone or post about it. Just a coincidence right?

This was when I used the actual client and it was taking up the biggest percentage of battery of my phone even when I hardly used it.
Click to expand...

I'm not necessarily worried about smartphones, but the other technology around me.

*Tinfoil Crew*
 
Even though it is anecdotal, my wife and I have experienced some extremely specific ads from Facebook. One example is we were discussing a very specific type of garden mulch that we just heard about (interesting conversation I know) and within a few minutes I was served a Facebook ad for the exact type of mulch. Nothing remotely similar had been searched on my device/accounts prior to that discussion. It's very hard to see where else they would have acquired that information. Needless to say, how we manage and interact with Facebook is very different now.
 
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I nuked the FB app off my phone a few days ago. Will be nuking my FB profile completely here very soon. After that, I will be nuking my GMail and ALL Google services shortly after that. I'm sick of these fucking rich assholes and their brazen and deliberate underhanded tactics to inflate their bottom lines. Enough is enough.
 
I don't install any Facebook stuff on my phone. I do use it through Chrome however.
 
However, there have been anecdotal accounts of people saying they were recently talking about a particular subject and the next thing they knew Facebook ads popped up about the same subject.
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It's cause you basic you're not unique and they can tell what you want and thinking by your browsing history alone
 
i remembered someone tried placing their phone next to spanish tv channel overnight, and every ad became spanish the day after.
any one want to experiment?
 
I check my FB on the throne in the morning and I started getting ads for all kinds of shit.
 
the-more-of-your-data-i-gather-the-more-i-21522864.png
 
They don't need your microphone to figure out what you are interested in. Put the tinfoil hat away.
 
This happens to me on websites on my iPhone 7 all the time. And it's random stuff, my buddy was talking about weight lifting, explaining the methods he uses and all of a sudden 5 hours later I'm on a website and it's "Do you want to deadlift your body weight in 2 weeks?", during the same conversation I was explaining how I had to replace the shocks in my car...guess what, ad shows up with a list of EXACTLY the parts needed for my car. So yes, SOMETHING is listening. It's happened to many times to me, with too random of items to be coincidence.
 
I’ve been screaming gay porn at my BiL’s phone since August. No dice.

Dragon Dildo will start next month.
 
Guys, you're thinking about it all wrong. Facebook is right. They don't use your mic to listen in on you. Apple and Google do that for them, and they just use the data collected.
 
gunbust3r said:
That wording in quotes sounds just vague enough. "ads product" does not use microphone. That's not the same as saying the Facebook app only ever uses the mic when you invoke it for only the task you specified...
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This. It's called Conniving, which is a form of lying through the omission of information, and is the regular speak for corporations. Microsoft does it all the time, and Microsoft's Privacy Statement and descriptions of its data collection are exemplary examples of corporate conniving.


Facebook does it, too: [link not working - giving a 'page doesn't exist' error]

Hahaha, The Guardian removed the above article of an ex Facebook-exec telling The Guardian about how Facebook brags to political interests about its ability to swing elections, and sells the ability to do so.

Here's a cached version of the article: https://webcache.googleusercontent....tising-data-comment+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ca

The Guardian is mostly a 2-bit propaganda outlet these days. It's a shame that they'd start removing the few bits of integrity that exist on their site.


Edit: The original link is back up again.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/may/02/facebook-executive-advertising-data-comment
 
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My friend and I were talking about Reece's Crispy Crunch candy bars last night and then today an ad for Reece's Crispy Crunch candy bars pops up on my facebook feed. I was like, WTF!!!.
 
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