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Facebook Accused of Watching Instagram Users Through Cameras

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Re: Facebook Accused of Watching Instagram Users Through Cameras

#51

Post by anhner »

loriverkutya wrote: post #48
zupreme wrote: post #45

This is why iOS is badly in need of a “Task Manager” and of an “Event Viewer”, so that users may easily audit what resources each app is currently accessing, and which resources they have accessed in the past, including logging each instance of camera or microphone use by any app. Apple has the power to easily mitigate these concerns - yet they do not. Why?

Because my mother is using an iphone and nothing you described would make sense for her. She is pretty good with tech and understands how computers and phones work, but she just does not want to browse a process list to see which process is using the camera.

then she can choose not to browse the list?

Re: Facebook Accused of Watching Instagram Users Through Cameras

#52

Post by m00dy »

qwertox wrote: post #50
zupreme wrote: post #45

This is why iOS is badly in need of a “Task Manager” and of an “Event Viewer”, so that users may easily audit what resources each app is currently accessing, and which resources they have accessed in the past, including logging each instance of camera or microphone use by any app. Apple has the power to easily mitigate these concerns - yet they do not. Why?

There could be an industry wide agreement to reserve the top two pixel rows for realtime visual feedback of sensor use. 1st quarter of the display refers to the microphone, 2nd to the camera, 3rd to GPS and so on, with standardized ways of notifying what is happening, ie blinking means it's currently active, red that it has been used at least once during the last 5 minutes or so, with more detailed information in the…

neat.

Re: Facebook Accused of Watching Instagram Users Through Cameras

#53

Post by rbg246 »

Frost1x wrote: post #38
corobo wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd rather the lag tbh. If Facebook has options just assume they picked the scummiest one

I'd say that's most corporate entities as a general rule of thumb.

But we aren't talking about most corporate entities we are talking about Facebook and their scummy behaviour.

If we always say everyone behaves this way we make it acceptable to behave this way.

Re: Facebook Accused of Watching Instagram Users Through Cameras

#54

Post by rbg246 »

can16358p wrote: post #9

Don't want to be the devil's advocate here but just because camera is on doesn't mean anything is being recorded. As an iOS developer who worked with apps that access camera frequently, I can confidently say that it's just a UX optimization. Starting the camera takes a brief few hundred milliseconds which is easily noticable from a user perspective. By keeping the camera ready, they are making the experience smoother…

So you are saying..

A developer went to their tech lead and said 'hey we can make the app much better by leaving the camera on all the time saves 200ms on camera startup time'

Tech lead: this is brilliant no potential problems here

Tech lead to management team: got this great new feature, we leave the camera on all the time makes the app 200ms faster.

Management: wow that's great can't see any problem with that, no chance of reputational damage there.

And it's all innocent and noone has any idea why anyone would get the wrong idea?

Re: Facebook Accused of Watching Instagram Users Through Cameras

#55

Post by quaa55 »

zupreme wrote: post #45

This is why iOS is badly in need of a “Task Manager” and of an “Event Viewer”, so that users may easily audit what resources each app is currently accessing, and which resources they have accessed in the past, including logging each instance of camera or microphone use by any app. Apple has the power to easily mitigate these concerns - yet they do not. Why?

iOS 14 shows a green or amber dot in the top right if the camera or microphone is active. But yes i generally agree that more robust monitor tools are still needed. iPad is "a computer", right apple?

Re: Facebook Accused of Watching Instagram Users Through Cameras

#56

Post by AndrewThrowaway »

rbg246 wrote: post #54
can16358p wrote: post #9

Don't want to be the devil's advocate here but just because camera is on doesn't mean anything is being recorded. As an iOS developer who worked with apps that access camera frequently, I can confidently say that it's just a UX optimization. Starting the camera takes a brief few hundred milliseconds which is easily noticable from a user perspective. By keeping the camera ready, they are making the experience smoother…

So you are saying.. A developer went to their tech lead and said 'hey we can make the app much better by leaving the camera on all the time saves 200ms on camera startup time' Tech lead: this is brilliant no potential problems here Tech lead to management team: got this great new feature, we leave the camera on all the time makes the app 200ms faster. Management: wow that's great can't see any problem with that, no c…

Developer: Damn camera takes almost half a second to start!

Tech lead: Can we just leave it on or pre-start it somehow?

Developer: But...

Tech lead: I will think of something.

Tech lead to management: We made camera start 150% faster!

Management: Wow wow wow. It is so great to have such an experienced tech lead we pay so much for.

Tech lead drives into the sunset with his brand new Tesla.

Re: Facebook Accused of Watching Instagram Users Through Cameras

#57

Post by antpls »

I suspected for a long time that they are doing the same on Android.

There must be a very small mechanical part in my phone's camera (probably the lens when it focuses) that makes a subtle noise when activated. I noticed the noise was present every few minutes when I browsed on Instagram, but only when I forgot to turn off camera permission.

It is creepy, no matter what the reason behind this.

Re: Facebook Accused of Watching Instagram Users Through Cameras

#60

Post by srtjstjsj »

washadjeffmad wrote: post #26
jjbinx007 wrote: post #16

Even if this was true, which I doubt, what would Facebook actually gain by doing this? They'd see a person's face from an unflattering angle with an unflattering expression. Or they'd see whatever the front camera sees at the time, which in my case right now is the back of my phone case or possibly the floor. I don't see that as valuable data to mine.

They'd be able to track what your eyes focused on and for how long, whether you wore glasses, were bald, your approximate age and ethnicity, whether you have facial hair, your reactions to content, and a lot of other behaviors and metrics that would never cross your mind. Instagram already does all of the above, but so does a lot of digital signage in shopping districts, in addition to tracking your BT HWID, to monit…

You think instagram needs to spy on you to get a picture of your face? Because the 1000s of photos you already uploaded aren't enough?
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