3 ms·

I had it happen to me too. Why would I lie about something like this? This is my real account, I'm a real guy. My wife and I were talking about celebrating my

I had it happen to me too. Why would I lie about something like this? This is my real account, I'm a real guy. My wife and I were talking about celebrating my kids birthday party at Arcade Foobar. A day later she started seeing ads on Facebook about Arcade Foobar. It's grotesque and one of the many reasons why my wife and I no longer have facebook accounts.

Sacho 9y ago
You don't have to be lying about it, but consider that we often incorrectly detect patterns where none exist.
dx034 9y ago
Probably because people in your area often celebrate birthdays there. You would've seen it without the conversation as well. And it was one of probably 100 ads you and your wife saw over the days, you didn't notice the ones that were targeted badly.
Kiro 9y ago
Complete nonsense. That you actually believe this instead of the much more plausible explanations are beyond me.
- colordrops 9y ago
  Why is it not plausible?
  - Kiro 9y ago
    Because if Facebook was actually listening to your mic we would know it. They wouldn't be able to hide and it would be a massive scandal. It's simply too conspiratorial to take seriously when there is no evidence other than anecdotal stories like this.
    - colordrops 9y ago
      Is this non-anecdotal enough for you? I'm tired of using the "conspiracy" label to shut down valid discussion. https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=786909 https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=786909 https://www.cnet.com/news/samsungs-warning-our-smart-tvs-record-your-living-room-chatter/ https://www.cnet.com/news/samsungs-warning-our-smart-tvs-rec... https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2017/03/09/can-amazon-echo-help-solve-a-murder-police-will-soon-find-out/?utm_term=.a2d72ff05c6e https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2017/03/09...
      - Kiro 9y ago
        You don't see any difference between Alexa (which wouldn't work without listening to everything) and Facebook secretly listening without your consent to use it for ad targeting? None of your links provide any evidence this would be the case, or even mention Facebook.
adrow 9y ago
Two words, "lookalike modelling", or as FB calls it Lookalike Audiences: https://www.facebook.com/business/help/164749007013531 https://www.facebook.com/business/help/164749007013531 Arcade Foobar want to draw in new customers, and so generate a lookalike audience based on data they have from existing customers. The modelling algo then compares data points for people who 'look like' their customers, and those people can then be targeted with a high probability that they will also be interested in the same thing. This is a perfectly plausible explanation that doesn't require FB to be listening to you through your phone mic.

Sacho 9y ago

You don't have to be lying about it, but consider that we often incorrectly detect patterns where none exist.

dx034 9y ago

Probably because people in your area often celebrate birthdays there. You would've seen it without the conversation as well. And it was one of probably 100 ads you and your wife saw over the days, you didn't notice the ones that were targeted badly.

Kiro 9y ago

Complete nonsense. That you actually believe this instead of the much more plausible explanations are beyond me.

colordrops 9y ago
Why is it not plausible?
- Kiro 9y ago
  Because if Facebook was actually listening to your mic we would know it. They wouldn't be able to hide and it would be a massive scandal. It's simply too conspiratorial to take seriously when there is no evidence other than anecdotal stories like this.
  - colordrops 9y ago
    Is this non-anecdotal enough for you? I'm tired of using the "conspiracy" label to shut down valid discussion. https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=786909 https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=786909 https://www.cnet.com/news/samsungs-warning-our-smart-tvs-record-your-living-room-chatter/ https://www.cnet.com/news/samsungs-warning-our-smart-tvs-rec... https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2017/03/09/can-amazon-echo-help-solve-a-murder-police-will-soon-find-out/?utm_term=.a2d72ff05c6e https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2017/03/09...
    - Kiro 9y ago
      You don't see any difference between Alexa (which wouldn't work without listening to everything) and Facebook secretly listening without your consent to use it for ad targeting? None of your links provide any evidence this would be the case, or even mention Facebook.

adrow 9y ago

Two words, "lookalike modelling", or as FB calls it Lookalike Audiences: https://www.facebook.com/business/help/164749007013531 https://www.facebook.com/business/help/164749007013531 Arcade Foobar want to draw in new customers, and so generate a lookalike audience based on data they have from existing customers. The modelling algo then compares data points for people who 'look like' their customers, and those people can then be targeted with a high probability that they will also be interested in the same thing. This is a perfectly plausible explanation that doesn't require FB to be listening to you through your phone mic.