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On iOS you get an orange dot on the menu bar whenever the microphone is being used. I highly doubt Apple would hide that orange dot to cover for Meta/Alphabet.

On iOS you get an orange dot on the menu bar whenever the microphone is being used. I highly doubt Apple would hide that orange dot to cover for Meta/Alphabet. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

pushupentry1219 2y ago
Same with Android nowadays too. I don't understand how this can happen without the OS's knowledge, unless it's a major security exception made by apple+google on purpose (which I doubt as you do), or a major zero day vulnerability they are exploiting, of which there would probably be evidence of this.
- wslh 2y ago
  Yes, it is strange, reverse engineers/debuggers could detect this for years and publish it on conferences such as Black Hat, CCC, etc.
fiatpandas 2y ago
The iOS orange dot factor needs to be explained. Maybe Meta exploits a zero day to get access w/o orange dot? I would be extremely surprised if they were granted a hidden API by Apple that allows this. Zero upside for Apple.
bearcobra 2y ago
This feels like the kind of article that will confuse folks into more confirmation bias. The claim doesn't even seem to be that Meta/Alphabet are the ones doing it, but a totally separate advertising company who would have no control over the apps from those companies. I hate how so many people think this is how this stuff works when the actual methods are almost scarier because they don't rely on something as clear as our conversations.
- sroussey 2y ago
  I think it is cox or comcast and they use TVs to listen in and Bluetooth and WiFi to ID phones. Typically in smart TVs there is an option buried deep in settings to turn this off. Then they use this when they connect their ad system to Meta or Google.
aguaviva 2y ago
Specifically for those companies, probably not. But it could also be an obscure feature, or simply a bug that FB's famously clever and eager-to-help engineers found a way to exploit. It wouldn't surprise me at all. Recall that Mark himself has acknowledged that he tapes over his laptops' camera holes when they're theoretically not in use. Why? Because he knows what's up.

pushupentry1219 2y ago

Same with Android nowadays too. I don't understand how this can happen without the OS's knowledge, unless it's a major security exception made by apple+google on purpose (which I doubt as you do), or a major zero day vulnerability they are exploiting, of which there would probably be evidence of this.

wslh 2y ago
Yes, it is strange, reverse engineers/debuggers could detect this for years and publish it on conferences such as Black Hat, CCC, etc.

fiatpandas 2y ago

The iOS orange dot factor needs to be explained. Maybe Meta exploits a zero day to get access w/o orange dot? I would be extremely surprised if they were granted a hidden API by Apple that allows this. Zero upside for Apple.

bearcobra 2y ago

This feels like the kind of article that will confuse folks into more confirmation bias. The claim doesn't even seem to be that Meta/Alphabet are the ones doing it, but a totally separate advertising company who would have no control over the apps from those companies. I hate how so many people think this is how this stuff works when the actual methods are almost scarier because they don't rely on something as clear as our conversations.

sroussey 2y ago
I think it is cox or comcast and they use TVs to listen in and Bluetooth and WiFi to ID phones. Typically in smart TVs there is an option buried deep in settings to turn this off. Then they use this when they connect their ad system to Meta or Google.

aguaviva 2y ago

Specifically for those companies, probably not. But it could also be an obscure feature, or simply a bug that FB's famously clever and eager-to-help engineers found a way to exploit. It wouldn't surprise me at all. Recall that Mark himself has acknowledged that he tapes over his laptops' camera holes when they're theoretically not in use. Why? Because he knows what's up.