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Is Facebook eavesdropping on phone conversations?

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Re: Is Facebook eavesdropping on phone conversations?

#81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. I work for Facebook. This doesn't happen.

I've been looking for this online statement they say was made by Facebook: “We use your microphone to identify the things you’re listening to or watching, based on the music and TV matches we’re able to identify.” I can't find it anywhere on Facebook's site. I don't believe it exists, or if it exists it was expunged some time ago. I'd like to know from which website ABC News 10 has located this information!

Took me less than a minute: https://www.facebook.com/help/iphone-app/710615012295337

Re: Is Facebook eavesdropping on phone conversations?

#82
post #30

Just use the mobile web site. I'm doing it because of the zillion of permissions the FB app ask and it is good enough. However they could do it with Whatsapp. There is no alternative to that.

On iOS you can simply not give it permission to use the microphone and only use it for texting.

Re: Is Facebook eavesdropping on phone conversations?

#83
post #38

As one of the people said below, there is an easy way to test the validity of that statement – take 30+ participants with randomly selected backgrounds and friend networks and break them into 2 groups for different ‘trigger word’ and then study their newsfeeds. It seems that there is a subgenre of geek-oriented clickbaiting, which has a strong claim about something tech-related like AMAZGOOGBOOK with little proof or…

I think the days of giving corporations benefit of doubt are long gone. Now if outrageous claim is made by any sort of reasonably credible source, you can be sure there is an ounce of truth to it. So yes FB probably does do this, and people claiming conspiracy to discredit this are the crazy ones.

Finally, I can tell them that they are the crazy ones. I told you General Motors was breaking into my house at night and reorganizing the books on my bookshelf!

Re: Is Facebook eavesdropping on phone conversations?

#84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. I work for Facebook. This doesn't happen.

> No. I work for Facebook. This doesn't happen. You work for a company with 1000s of employees. How are you exactly in a position to confirm this doesn't happen?

Engineers have access to code repositories.

Re: Is Facebook eavesdropping on phone conversations?

#85
post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's what they say. One of the urban legends was also that USA government agencies don't collect data at bulk and they were lying about it. We know the truth now. Facebook has been caught with the hand in the cookie jar too many times already and got away with it. Fuck Facebook.

No. I work for Facebook. This doesn't happen.

Heh that's a funny thing to say. I remember when one of the first Snowdens revelations came up, Larry Page wrote a blog post on official Google blog: https://googleblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/what.html saying they don't cooparate with NSA.

The same week we were provided documents signed by NSA/CIA officials claiming that Google is not even forced to do it, they provided extra interface for NSA so they can grab data whenever they want: http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-06/12/google-prism-...

Some recent emails with Clinton showed that top Google employers helped with surveillance in Arab countries a couple of years ago, more journalists described that Google is in relationship with NSA. http://www.techtimes.com/articles/6610/20140507/google-cahoo...

Facebook was accused of working FOR NSA to spy on Belgium: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/sep/21/facebook-...

One of Facebook financial founders was PayPal CEO who... supports global surveillance by NSA http://www.globalresearch.ca/nsa-and-facebook-work-together/...

Question: why should I trust what you say?

Re: Is Facebook eavesdropping on phone conversations?

#86
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What were the "very dishonest" statements?

For a very real example of facebook bias a group created two Facebook groups full of similar hatred but directed at two different ethnic groups. One was shut down almost immediately, one was still up when the video was posted. Won't name them as I don't want to drag politics into HN but I am fairly convinced it is repeatable (and if anyone is interested in giving it a try I can try to dig out a reference and post.)

Interesting experiment, but two groups seems like a too small a sample.

If moderation is done by humans, you could simply prove that one moderator had a worse morning than the other, or that through luck of the draw Group A went to a sympathetic moderator while group B did not. That could demonstrate individual bias, but not institutional.

If moderation is automated, how do you control for the weight of keywords, phrases, etc? Maybe Group A was full of statements that almost threw a flag but not quite, while Group B contained mostly innocuous wording but (only) one phrase that actually got flagged.

If both groups were designed to be unpleasant, but various "blacklist" words and phrases are weighted differently, Group A might have achieved "flagged" weight while group Group B was "flagged -1." One might have scored 99 pts vs 100 for the other, but the visible difference is that one remains visible while the other does not.

Thinking out loud, now... let's say that Facebook does have a political bias. How do you prove that Facebook's financial success is despite that political bias, and not because of it?

Is it possible to have a monopoly on digital socialization? If you can't declare Facebook a monopoly, and therefore subject to greater regulation, then your only lever over Facebook is social pressure, presumably in the form of bad press and boycotts, which will reduce their advertising revenue. How do you prove that the existing political bias is leading them to sub-optimal revenues?

Re: Is Facebook eavesdropping on phone conversations?

#87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been looking for this online statement they say was made by Facebook: “We use your microphone to identify the things you’re listening to or watching, based on the music and TV matches we’re able to identify.” I can't find it anywhere on Facebook's site. I don't believe it exists, or if it exists it was expunged some time ago. I'd like to know from which website ABC News 10 has located this information!

Took me less than a minute: https://www.facebook.com/help/iphone-app/710615012295337

That page doesn't say that exact quote.

Re: Is Facebook eavesdropping on phone conversations?

#88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> No. I work for Facebook. This doesn't happen. You work for a company with 1000s of employees. How are you exactly in a position to confirm this doesn't happen?

Engineers have access to code repositories.

all repositories?

Re: Is Facebook eavesdropping on phone conversations?

#89

No. This is one of those tech urban legends that keeps popping up. Facebook does have an opt-in feature that can identify what music, tv show or movie you are listening to or watching, but that's it. http://newsroom.fb.com/news/2014/05/a-new-optional-way-to-sh... https://www.facebook.com/help/iphone-app/369513256545845

How does Facebook distinguish (and prevent recording of) phone conversations from music, TV, and movies?

Facebook would need to be collecting all ambient noise, just to identify (listen to) specific sources, no?

Re: Is Facebook eavesdropping on phone conversations?

#90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> No. I work for Facebook. This doesn't happen. You work for a company with 1000s of employees. How are you exactly in a position to confirm this doesn't happen?

Engineers have access to code repositories.

Surely there's no way anyone would employ anybody who replies like that.
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