3 ms·

The "Reply All" podcast had a fantastic episode on this. https://gimletmedia.com/episode/109-facebook-spying/ https://gimletmedia.com/episode/109-facebook-spyin

The "Reply All" podcast had a fantastic episode on this. https://gimletmedia.com/episode/109-facebook-spying/ https://gimletmedia.com/episode/109-facebook-spying/ (Click the "show transcript" link to see the transcript.) One thing they realized is that it was impossible to convince anybody that Facebook doesn't listen in on microphone conversations, even given all of the facts. One of the co-hosts, Alex, gets on the phone with five people to try to convince each of them that Facebook doesn't use the microphone. He's unable to convince even one of them.

MarkMc 9y ago
I suppose it would be good for Facebook if Android had the capacity to show a log of which apps used which phone features when. eg. 12:36pm Google Maps used the location feature 12:48pm Instagram used the camera 1:16pm WhatsApp used the microphone for 34 seconds etc.
- mikeash 9y ago
  iOS doesn't have a log, but it does have a really obvious visual indicator (in the form of a fat red status bar) when an app uses the microphone in the background. I became convinced that this whole story was nonsense when I realized a lot of people reporting it were talking about iPhones. Something like what you describe would be wonderful on either platform, though.
  - danso 9y ago
    Yeah that seems to me to be the strongest argument against FB using the microphone. For iOS, it would require circumventing the Apple guidelines. FB is clearly a big player but not big enough for Apple to bend their privacy rules for.
    - Yetanfou 9y ago
      They created an exception to their rules for Über [1], a much smaller company than Facebook. If Facebook came with some convincing reason why they really needed something similar I don't see why they would not get their wish granted. [1] http://fortune.com/2017/10/06/apple-uber-secret-entitlement/ http://fortune.com/2017/10/06/apple-uber-secret-entitlement/
      - mikeash 9y ago
        It would have to be a convincing reason to Apple, though. In Uber's case, that convincing reason was providing a better Uber experience on the Apple Watch, which is something Apple would go for. I'm pretty sure Apple would not go for "let us listen to the microphone at all times so we can tailor advertising by spying on the user's conversations."
- throwaway613834 9y ago
  Doesn't help. People then proceed to argue that the information was never sent to Facebook. Seen it play out before.

MarkMc 9y ago

I suppose it would be good for Facebook if Android had the capacity to show a log of which apps used which phone features when. eg. 12:36pm Google Maps used the location feature 12:48pm Instagram used the camera 1:16pm WhatsApp used the microphone for 34 seconds etc.

mikeash 9y ago
iOS doesn't have a log, but it does have a really obvious visual indicator (in the form of a fat red status bar) when an app uses the microphone in the background. I became convinced that this whole story was nonsense when I realized a lot of people reporting it were talking about iPhones. Something like what you describe would be wonderful on either platform, though.
- danso 9y ago
  Yeah that seems to me to be the strongest argument against FB using the microphone. For iOS, it would require circumventing the Apple guidelines. FB is clearly a big player but not big enough for Apple to bend their privacy rules for.
  - Yetanfou 9y ago
    They created an exception to their rules for Über [1], a much smaller company than Facebook. If Facebook came with some convincing reason why they really needed something similar I don't see why they would not get their wish granted. [1] http://fortune.com/2017/10/06/apple-uber-secret-entitlement/ http://fortune.com/2017/10/06/apple-uber-secret-entitlement/
    - mikeash 9y ago
      It would have to be a convincing reason to Apple, though. In Uber's case, that convincing reason was providing a better Uber experience on the Apple Watch, which is something Apple would go for. I'm pretty sure Apple would not go for "let us listen to the microphone at all times so we can tailor advertising by spying on the user's conversations."
throwaway613834 9y ago
Doesn't help. People then proceed to argue that the information was never sent to Facebook. Seen it play out before.