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Ask HN: Ads triggered by WhatsApp “end to end encrypted” messages?

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Re: Ask HN: Ads triggered by WhatsApp “end to end encrypted” messages?

#261

Post by muzani »

dahdum wrote: post #250
muzani wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it can be observed because it's likely a bug. It freaks users out. People uninstall the app and start threads like this. It's sort of like getting mugged once and then setting up a camera in a bunch of alleys to prove that muggers exist. You can even set up a camera of yourself running into dark alleys every night, but the odds of reproducing a mugging is still extremely low. There's a certain kind of p…

> But I get rejected for a loan via WhatsApp and then used car ads appear for that model of car that I applied a loan for? That's a bit on the nose. Aside from random coincidence, I could see this happening if you provided your personal information (especially email) for the loan application. It could have been shared to multiple underlying lenders alongside a data vendor who ultimately provided interest targeting (w…

Ah thanks, I didn't know that was possible. It did have email.

If it's integrated into such activities, it might actually be a good explanation for all the other similar scenarios blamed on WhatsApp.

Re: Ask HN: Ads triggered by WhatsApp “end to end encrypted” messages?

#263

Post by snovv_crash »

snowmizuh-04 wrote: post #144

The scarier thing to me is when ads match _conversations_ I have with my wife. I told her about this story this morning, and she reminded me about a conversation about stem cell research we had yesterday. I said something along the lines of 'I hope there is a breakthrough soon on regenerating the Isle of Langerhans in the pancreas to treat diabetes.' Sure enough, she noticed an article in her Google News feed later t…

It just happened right here on HN... clearly HN is spying on your conversations /s

Re: Ask HN: Ads triggered by WhatsApp “end to end encrypted” messages?

#264

Post by wpietri »

criddell wrote: post #209
thehappypm wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Source?

We did an experiment. We talked about how hard it is to find highlighter yellow nail polish. Nobody in the house is a purchaser of nail polish nor did we do any searches for highlighter or yellow or nail or polish. A day or two later my wife got an Instagram ad for highlighter yellow nail polish. It could have been a coincidence or maybe they were listening. Or maybe some combination of things we did previously led n…

"I remembered the time I was in my fraternity house at MIT when the idea came into my head completely out of the blue that my grandmother was dead. Right after that, there was a telephone call, just like that. It was for Pete Bernays--my grandmother wasn't dead. So I remembered that, just in case somebody told me a story that ended the other way." -- Richard Feynman, "Surely You're Joking, Mr Feynman"

Re: Ask HN: Ads triggered by WhatsApp “end to end encrypted” messages?

#265

Post by shmel »

crazygringo wrote: post #249

I'm sorry, but this feels like a highly irresponsible FUD post to me. (And I am not a fan of Facebook in any way at all, so let's put that out of the way.) For years and years and years, there have been people claiming their voice assistant (for example) is listening in on their conversation to show ads, and so forth. And it's always anecdote, never any hard data. And the thing is, if this were the case, it would be…

Are you trying to say that FB was never caught on privacy scandals before? Did it blow their reputation?

Re: Ask HN: Ads triggered by WhatsApp “end to end encrypted” messages?

#266

Post by a1371 »

Whenever you post a link in Whatsapp, the app tries to create a card from the metadata available in the link. The procedure to make the card presumably goes through fb servers and is outside the e2e. Could they be using that?

Another hypothesis is that you are taking other steps such as searching for that topic so that you can send something to your wife those extra steps might be enabling tracking.

Re: Ask HN: Ads triggered by WhatsApp “end to end encrypted” messages?

#267

Post by muzani »

paulrouget wrote: post #241
criddell wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We did an experiment. We talked about how hard it is to find highlighter yellow nail polish. Nobody in the house is a purchaser of nail polish nor did we do any searches for highlighter or yellow or nail or polish. A day or two later my wife got an Instagram ad for highlighter yellow nail polish. It could have been a coincidence or maybe they were listening. Or maybe some combination of things we did previously led n…

Am I missing something? Why carrot?

It's an association thing. I thought carrot too. Maybe it's because of the tedious nature of processing. Maybe it's because the orange bar at the top of the screen makes me think carrot.

Re: Ask HN: Ads triggered by WhatsApp “end to end encrypted” messages?

#268

Post by netsectoday »

Hamuko wrote: post #253
netsectoday wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Don’t iPhone have an indicator when the mic is recording? No. Just tested this out, zero indication that the mic is hot on a recent iPhone with up-to-date software when recording a voice memo. Edit: There ya go... downvotes for saying the iPhone has no indicator when you record audio.

Works on my iPhone. https://litter.catbox.moe/cpvpr8.jpg

The screen was off when the event happened...

1) Does your iPhone still record audio when the screen is off?

2) Can you see the audio indicator when the screen is off?

3) If a background app starts then stops recording audio while the screen is off, would you have an indicator that it recorded audio?

Re: Ask HN: Ads triggered by WhatsApp “end to end encrypted” messages?

#269

Post by Hamuko »

netsectoday wrote: post #268
Hamuko wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Works on my iPhone. https://litter.catbox.moe/cpvpr8.jpg

The screen was off when the event happened... 1) Does your iPhone still record audio when the screen is off? 2) Can you see the audio indicator when the screen is off? 3) If a background app starts then stops recording audio while the screen is off, would you have an indicator that it recorded audio?

Have you tried looking at the screen while using the Facebook app?

Also, I feel like the goal posts are moving quite fast in one direction.

Re: Ask HN: Ads triggered by WhatsApp “end to end encrypted” messages?

#270

Post by thehappypm »

netsectoday wrote: post #262
whimsicalism wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah yes, a bunch of anecdotes in reply.

Quoted post unavailable.

you’d think that a educated group like this would understand that anecdotes are not sufficient evidence for something like this.
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