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Facebook confirms that it tracks mouse movements

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Re: Facebook confirms that it tracks mouse movements

#171

Post by craftyguy »

StanAngeloff wrote: post #45

I'm not sure if this is actually how reCAPTCHA v2 works, but I've found moving my mouse and highlighting text immediately after ticking the box almost certainly passes the tests for human. I very rarely get asked to recognise images or pick X out of Y. When I don't do this, i.e., I don't move my mouse or highlight text on a page at random, I most certainly have to sit through a couple of screens of tests (I'm behind…

I rarely use the mouse, so this might explain why recrapcha v2 always thinks I am a robot

Re: Facebook confirms that it tracks mouse movements

#173

Post by malmsteen »

dest wrote: post #76
malmsteen wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yeah it's not like your mouse movements is a serious privacy issue

I guess mouse movements are a very good way to identify people across websites. It's also an efficient way to distinguish people from machines. Think about the click-only reCaptcha for example.

>> I guess mouse movements are a very good way to identify people across websites.

I absolutely not believe that. for real. this is something i keep reading but a seriously not see how mouse movement can be unique from one person to another. it's not a fingerprint come on.

> It's also an efficient way to distinguish people from machines.

well that i can believe, but not more

Re: Facebook confirms that it tracks mouse movements

#174

Post by [deleted] »

gowld wrote: post #164
code_duck wrote: post #59

I have always assumed that Facebook uses heat maps to track what is under your pointer. Doesn't every serious site do that to gauge user behavior, interest and interface utilization? I guess the difference is FB is putting it in an available data set along with everything else about consumers' individual lives. More interesting is "a patent held by the company states that the Facebook app uses voice recognition algor…

> "a patent held by the company states that the Facebook app uses voice recognition algorithm, which uses audio recorded by the microphones, to modify the ranking scores of stories in users News Feed. Does the patent really state that Facebook does that, or Facebook spammed the patent office with obvious ideas about how they could do that. Big tech companies have loads of trivial patents on stuff they have no firm pl…

[deleted]

Re: Facebook confirms that it tracks mouse movements

#175

Post by code_duck »

gowld wrote: post #164
code_duck wrote: post #59

I have always assumed that Facebook uses heat maps to track what is under your pointer. Doesn't every serious site do that to gauge user behavior, interest and interface utilization? I guess the difference is FB is putting it in an available data set along with everything else about consumers' individual lives. More interesting is "a patent held by the company states that the Facebook app uses voice recognition algor…

> "a patent held by the company states that the Facebook app uses voice recognition algorithm, which uses audio recorded by the microphones, to modify the ranking scores of stories in users News Feed. Does the patent really state that Facebook does that, or Facebook spammed the patent office with obvious ideas about how they could do that. Big tech companies have loads of trivial patents on stuff they have no firm pl…

I don't know, does the patent state that? We should find it and read it.

As far as the status audio, I'm sure it has been discussed on HN. I don't have the time to dig up all the info right now but here is FB's take on that: https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2014/05/a-new-optional-way-to-s...

Re: Facebook confirms that it tracks mouse movements

#176

Post by code_duck »

foobaw wrote: post #134
code_duck wrote: post #59

I have always assumed that Facebook uses heat maps to track what is under your pointer. Doesn't every serious site do that to gauge user behavior, interest and interface utilization? I guess the difference is FB is putting it in an available data set along with everything else about consumers' individual lives. More interesting is "a patent held by the company states that the Facebook app uses voice recognition algor…

Just to be clear - users had to give explicit permission for that status update recording feature back in 2014. There are no external apps that can record audio on Android without permission unless Google explicitly whitelists the permission for the app. This never happens because there is no use case where the user shouldn't know. One bad thing about this system for Android is how much control Google has over permis…

Facebook's various apps ask for the microphone permission, anyway, for other reasons. How could we verify they aren't recording or analyzing audio at times?

Re: Facebook confirms that it tracks mouse movements

#177

Post by code_duck »

codedokode wrote: post #132
code_duck wrote: post #59

I have always assumed that Facebook uses heat maps to track what is under your pointer. Doesn't every serious site do that to gauge user behavior, interest and interface utilization? I guess the difference is FB is putting it in an available data set along with everything else about consumers' individual lives. More interesting is "a patent held by the company states that the Facebook app uses voice recognition algor…

Audio might be used to locate users that are nearby (and hear the same sound). Or to detect what TV program/radio/music is the user listening to. Both of these of course are invasion into user's privacy.

I feel like they even want to know the basics, like whether you are in a loud place or a quiet place.

Re: Facebook confirms that it tracks mouse movements

#178

Post by olleromam91 »

code_duck wrote: post #59

I have always assumed that Facebook uses heat maps to track what is under your pointer. Doesn't every serious site do that to gauge user behavior, interest and interface utilization? I guess the difference is FB is putting it in an available data set along with everything else about consumers' individual lives. More interesting is "a patent held by the company states that the Facebook app uses voice recognition algor…

They are using speech spectral analysis to gather emotion context from users, used in conjunction with syntactic emotional features to tailor ads based on user mood.

Re: Facebook confirms that it tracks mouse movements

#179

Post by realaz8282 »

code_duck wrote: post #59

I have always assumed that Facebook uses heat maps to track what is under your pointer. Doesn't every serious site do that to gauge user behavior, interest and interface utilization? I guess the difference is FB is putting it in an available data set along with everything else about consumers' individual lives. More interesting is "a patent held by the company states that the Facebook app uses voice recognition algor…

Webtrends had a product that launched, I wanna say more than 10 years ago, that generated heat maps of mouse movement

The media and general public seem to be 10-15 years behind when it comes to understanding how the things they rely on, and the tools being used to “improve” them, work

Though IMO, a lot of the blame is on Facebook and the whole lot for avoiding discussing openly in order to avoid fallout. Just asking customers too is out of the question, of course. Cause BIG Corps are smarter than their customers

Only once you’re “too big to fail” can you be honest about your shady BS

Re: Facebook confirms that it tracks mouse movements

#180

Post by jake_the_third »

bilbo0s wrote: post #170
gvurrdon wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

May I ask what model of television that was? Might be worth getting one myself.

43x800d You need to be careful though because the microphone is in the remote control instead. So buy the remote control WITHOUT voice control, get rid of the remote that comes with the TV, and you're good. There will be no mic's in your tv setup. (This will cost you a bit extra. About 20 or 30 bucks for a generic one.) A second problem is that it is a smart tv, so you have to make sure to NOT connect it to the inter…

Thank you for sharing this information. I have a 10 year-old tv that I might get replaced soon, so your comment is very helpful.

>You can't even use those tvs without the privacy invasion equipment activated.

Could you elaborate further? If I don't connect a samsung smart TV to my network, shouldn't I still be able to use it as a normal TV?

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