3 ms·
>Facebook is advertising products to me based on conversations I've had in bars ... Is there any evidence that Facebook surreptitiously listens to conversation
by rl3 10y ago
>Facebook is advertising products to me based on conversations I've had in bars ...
Is there any evidence that Facebook surreptitiously listens to conversations? I could see mining the ambient content of any Facebook video/VOIP sessions, but beyond that I can't see it being true.
Facebook location services can be genuinely creepy though. Earlier this year I enabled location services on the app (while keeping location history disabled), and it would suggest anyone in my phone's proximity using Facebook. It even suggested the attendants at my local gas station, and nurses at my doctor's office. Neighbors too, but only the ones in the same building (~75ft). I suspect this was due to my friends list numbering in the single digits at the time, since I'd otherwise neglected Facebook since its inception.
Then, I took a brief vacation and added a bunch of new people. The creepy location telepathy suddenly vanished. Ever since, all it's been suggesting is acquaintances of said people, despite the fact I live thousands of miles away with location services enabled 24/7. So, I guess Facebook can be as dumb as it is smart sometimes.
The notion of a private investigator (or psychotic stalker) buying a cheap smartphone, installing FB on it with a clean account, enabling location services, muting it, attaching an external battery and dumping it in a bush somewhere unfortunately seems feasible. It strikes me as a good experiment for a security researcher to conduct.
- matt4077 10y agoHe must be spending time in awfully boring bars if Facebook can do speech-to-text on sound captured while his phone is in his pocket.
- k_bx 10y agoVoice is pretty good target for being separated from everything else. My "ok google" recognizes my voice pretty good even if loud music is playing, for example.
- bpchaps 10y agoSurreptitiously, not really. Obscurely? Kinda: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13252761 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13252761 It wouldn't surprise me if they had some decent fudging to match most conversations to TV quotes. I'll be taking off my tinfoil hat now.