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<rant> Shocking! Abuse of power and shady tracking techniques by Facebook? Unheard of! </rant> Seriously, this cannot be surprising after learning that the Me

by dotdi 9y ago

<rant> Shocking! Abuse of power and shady tracking techniques by Facebook? Unheard of! </rant> Seriously, this cannot be surprising after learning that the Messenger app listens to everything you do, all the time. That's just off the top of my head. They are doing this and much more.

rocqua 9y ago
I've heard a lot of anecdotal reports of the messenger app listening to what you do. So much so that I've uninstalled the app. However, I've never seen a non-anecdotal source or even a source that gathers all anecdotes and gives a decent meta-analysis. Would you happen to have one?
- Spooky23 9y ago
  The reply all podcast did a decent discussion of the topic. The messenger app probably doesn’t listen to you, but it’s abusive in other ways and shouldn’t be uninstalled. The main creepy feature of Facebook apps is that they continuously track your location. That’s a source of much of the creepy targeting that people notice. Also, Facebook’s weasel-worded response to the issue implies that they do not use pervasive audio targeting, but buy data from people who do. The Wired article that claimed that using audio was impractical is nonsense.
rock_hard 9y ago
Please get your facts straight before posting here. https://www.wired.com/story/facebooks-listening-smartphone-microphone https://www.wired.com/story/facebooks-listening-smartphone-m...
- dotdi 9y ago
  I've read the article before, and it's not convincing. I'm not one for conspiracy theories, but the article lists some forms of how it might work and reasons how it would be unfeasible. There are other ways this could work, IMHO.
- nukeop 9y ago
  What facts? This article is full of inaccurate speculation but there are no facts in it. For example: >To make it happen, Facebook would need to record everything your phone hears while it's on. This assumption treated as an axiom here is false, and it makes the rest of the article inaccurate as well.
threeseed 9y ago
On iOS this is simply not possible without the user being explicitly notified. Can you provide some evidence of this happening on Android ? Also Facebook categorically denies this: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-41776215 http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-41776215
VMG 9y ago
How is this instance an abuse of power or shady? I would be surprised if service wouldn't index my site after I put one of their pixels on my site.

by dotdi 9y ago

rocqua 9y ago

I've heard a lot of anecdotal reports of the messenger app listening to what you do. So much so that I've uninstalled the app. However, I've never seen a non-anecdotal source or even a source that gathers all anecdotes and gives a decent meta-analysis. Would you happen to have one?

Spooky23 9y ago
The reply all podcast did a decent discussion of the topic. The messenger app probably doesn’t listen to you, but it’s abusive in other ways and shouldn’t be uninstalled. The main creepy feature of Facebook apps is that they continuously track your location. That’s a source of much of the creepy targeting that people notice. Also, Facebook’s weasel-worded response to the issue implies that they do not use pervasive audio targeting, but buy data from people who do. The Wired article that claimed that using audio was impractical is nonsense.

rock_hard 9y ago

Please get your facts straight before posting here. https://www.wired.com/story/facebooks-listening-smartphone-microphone https://www.wired.com/story/facebooks-listening-smartphone-m...

dotdi 9y ago
I've read the article before, and it's not convincing. I'm not one for conspiracy theories, but the article lists some forms of how it might work and reasons how it would be unfeasible. There are other ways this could work, IMHO.
nukeop 9y ago
What facts? This article is full of inaccurate speculation but there are no facts in it. For example: >To make it happen, Facebook would need to record everything your phone hears while it's on. This assumption treated as an axiom here is false, and it makes the rest of the article inaccurate as well.

threeseed 9y ago

On iOS this is simply not possible without the user being explicitly notified. Can you provide some evidence of this happening on Android ? Also Facebook categorically denies this: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-41776215 http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-41776215

VMG 9y ago

How is this instance an abuse of power or shady? I would be surprised if service wouldn't index my site after I put one of their pixels on my site.