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While I applaud any attempt to gather real and first-person observations... > I don't see any evidence of any mic uploads. ... I am somewhat concerned at what

by pdkl95 9y ago

While I applaud any attempt to gather real and first-person observations... > I don't see any evidence of any mic uploads. ... I am somewhat concerned at what seems to be a common assumption that Facebook (or any other remote server) is sending the same software to everybody. I find that unlikely when "AB testing" and similar practices are are commonly used. Facebook is very strongly involved with "targeted" services which suggests they are more likely than most to send different versions to different audiences. Obviously that isn't proof, but it's a good reason to extrapolating from a single example. Version numbers and hashes of the installer or binaries from all parties would help a lot. > I encourage those curious to try it and see for themselves That's always good advice.

goldfire 9y ago
If we're talking about mobile apps, it seems more likely that they would send the same software to everyone and just turn on these features being tested by sending some activation signal from a central coordinating service, or perhaps including it in some web content that the app might use. That seems much easier than actually distributing different apps.
- pdkl95 9y ago
  > more likely My point is that guessing without actual data isn't evidence. It's easy to speculate and guess at what we think is going on, but it's a bad idea to assume any particular speculation is right in the best situations. It's foolish when the subject of the investigation's core business model is based on sending different things to specifically targeted groups. > just turn on these features Perhaps. There are many ways a feature like this could be implemented. See the various obfuscated code contests for extreme examples of how functionality can be hidden in a program. This just means network logs from different clients are also needed, in addition to hashes of binaries.

by pdkl95 9y ago

goldfire 9y ago

If we're talking about mobile apps, it seems more likely that they would send the same software to everyone and just turn on these features being tested by sending some activation signal from a central coordinating service, or perhaps including it in some web content that the app might use. That seems much easier than actually distributing different apps.

pdkl95 9y ago
> more likely My point is that guessing without actual data isn't evidence. It's easy to speculate and guess at what we think is going on, but it's a bad idea to assume any particular speculation is right in the best situations. It's foolish when the subject of the investigation's core business model is based on sending different things to specifically targeted groups. > just turn on these features Perhaps. There are many ways a feature like this could be implemented. See the various obfuscated code contests for extreme examples of how functionality can be hidden in a program. This just means network logs from different clients are also needed, in addition to hashes of binaries.