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Is Facebook eavesdropping on phone conversations?

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Re: Is Facebook eavesdropping on phone conversations?

#141

https://mbasic.facebook.com has been amazing for me. I don't have Messenger nor Facebook on my phone, it's a faster and data plan friendly alternative. Not to mention no notifications.

is there any difference between that and https://mobile.facebook.com (which I use)

Re: Is Facebook eavesdropping on phone conversations?

#142

How do we know this isn't double speak? Maybe they aren't listening to the conversations per se, but for an audio beacons in television and radio? http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/11/your-p...

I think you probably need to read 1984 again. Doublespeak is euphamistic political propaganda language.

Re: Is Facebook eavesdropping on phone conversations?

#143
post #116

Another anecdotal-data-of-sample-size-one, my wife was at a bar and struck up a conversation with another person to whom she had no connections. After she left, Facebook suggested this person as a friend. The other person may have searched for her on Facebook, causing her to be listed as a possible friend. Or perhaps Facebook uses location data to group people that are in the same location for an extended period of t…

it could also use 'same ip' data, apparently, so if they were using the bar wifi you'd get a friend suggestion, even if you never gave location access to facebook.

Re: Is Facebook eavesdropping on phone conversations?

#145
post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

+1 This happened to me at the supermarket. Super cute cashier girl. No idea what her name is. As I'm heading out I open up my news feed and what do you know? There she is in recommended friends. WTF

This is a solid example, in relation to the OP comment. Since you didn't know her name. But...there is still a possibility that you had mutual friends and her face popped up. I used FB a lot and FB cycles many friends multiple times, in the hope that someone connects with you. I'm really good a remembering faces and well, this was what happened to me, numerous times. I might not knew the person in January but in July…

We had no mutual friends. I actually have 0 friends on Facebook. I use it as a media outlet.

All my recommended friends come from my iOS Contacts, by phone number. So the fact she popped up is absurd

Re: Is Facebook eavesdropping on phone conversations?

#147

Can't speak for Android, but on iOS it is not possible for an app to "listen" to your microphone unless it is in the foreground, and you have explicitly given the app permission to do this (the first time the app attempts to do so). It can also be revoked at any time without removing the app. The only way around this restriction would be using a private API Apple could have provided. Given that Apple has even integra…

Unless Heard has stopped working then this is not 100% true http://www.heardapp.com/ It may put a banner on the top bar but I've used this app and it worked just fine.

Yes, apps can definitely listen while in the background. In fact, this is one of the few activities where Apple allows you to run in the background indefinitely. Without doing this or one of the other things (like continuous GPS updates), you only get three minutes of background activity before the OS freezes or kills your app.

Some apps actually use this to work around background activity restrictions. If they can come up with a plausible excuse to run the microphone, they can use that to keep the app active in the background indefinitely.

It does place a really obvious red bar at the top of the screen, though, so it's not something an app can do secretly. I believe only one app can do it at a time, too, so you can't have a bunch of them all spying on you at once.

Re: Is Facebook eavesdropping on phone conversations?

#148

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!

google-fu: https://www.facebook.com/help/iphone-app/369513256545845 "No, we don't record your conversations. If you choose to turn on this feature, we'll only 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. If this feature is turned on, it's only active when you're writing a status update." So, not as bad as the news article suggests…

No more creepy than Shazam or SoundHound. You'd be amazed at the number of people that want to share the song they're listening to, or the show they're watching, as part of a status update.

Re: Is Facebook eavesdropping on phone conversations?

#149
post #27

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

This could be rigorously studied. A group of people could attempt to plant false advertising opportunities in their speech and then measure the frequency at which related ads/posts arrive in their feed. I would trust something like this more than an assertion by FB that this is not happening.

Easier to just monitor network traffic.

Re: Is Facebook eavesdropping on phone conversations?

#150

Can't speak for Android, but on iOS it is not possible for an app to "listen" to your microphone unless it is in the foreground, and you have explicitly given the app permission to do this (the first time the app attempts to do so). It can also be revoked at any time without removing the app. The only way around this restriction would be using a private API Apple could have provided. Given that Apple has even integra…

Unless Heard has stopped working then this is not 100% true http://www.heardapp.com/ It may put a banner on the top bar but I've used this app and it worked just fine.

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