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Facebook is able to identify music and TV when writing status update

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Re: Facebook is able to identify music and TV when writing status update

#61

Post by rplnt »

cnorthwood wrote: post #20
rplnt wrote: post #14

Android is in desperate need of allowing users to change permission for app. It's ridiculous that the application decides what it has access to (and android it is not making it easier with a bad permission granularity). And I believe this functionality was in some pre-release 5.0 versions. They removed it because apps would just crash if permissions were removed. However, there are apps that solve this (for rooted ph…

Android 6.0 has the functionality you describe - there's a warning if you try to disable it for certain apps (presumably for older API levels) though that it may cause them to crash. I imagine this'll go away with time.

Good to hear. Too bad one usually has to buy a new device to get an update.

Re: Facebook is able to identify music and TV when writing status update

#62

Post by pmlnr »

rplnt wrote: post #14

Android is in desperate need of allowing users to change permission for app. It's ridiculous that the application decides what it has access to (and android it is not making it easier with a bad permission granularity). And I believe this functionality was in some pre-release 5.0 versions. They removed it because apps would just crash if permissions were removed. However, there are apps that solve this (for rooted ph…

Cyanogenmod had this for a long time now.

Re: Facebook is able to identify music and TV when writing status update

#63

Post by pdkl95 »

gedrap wrote: post #28

They introduced similar feature with football (soccer) this weekend, or earlier and I didn't notice. When one of the teams I like is playing a match, the placeholder for post status is replaced with something asking my opinion about the match and a football icon is added. Which is a decent idea to get more people updating their statuses and posting more. Regarding privacy, etc. Eh, damn, it gets boring when so many c…

So Facebook recorded your ambient audio, uploaded it to their servers, processed that recording to discover what you were watching, all so they could prompt you with a football icon and an opinion poll?

Did they get your explicit permission before turning on that microphone and uploading what it recorded? Or did they hide it behind a button? Did they explain in a way most people would understand about what they were doing with the microphone and where the feature was actually implemented?

Re: Facebook is able to identify music and TV when writing status update

#64

Post by royjacobs »

MarkCole wrote: post #58

Privacy concerns aside, I'd be very interested on how they're doing this on a technical level. Does anyone know if they've published a post on how this is done yet? Or have any ideas on how they think it's being done?

It's called "audio fingerprinting" and it basically converts a snippet of audio from your phone is something similar to a hash of that audio. Then, using some clever algorithms, it can be quickly matched against a database of existing hashes. Because of the way the algorithm works the match doesn't have to be either 0% or 100%, because realistically whatever is recorded on your phone will never exactly match the original.

Disclaimer: I used to work at a company that built this type of technology.

Re: Facebook is able to identify music and TV when writing status update

#66

Post by zyrthofar »

mootothemax wrote: post #46

This seems to be kicking up a fuss over nothing, and any controversy disappears once you read how to use the feature in question: Using your microphone and music apps lets you share the TV and music you’re currently playing to your posts. To identify and share what you're listening to or watching: 1. Tap Status on your News Feed or tap Write Post on your Timeline. 2. Wait for us to identify what you're listening to o…

The fuss is about the data sent to Facebook's servers for "identification". You can make the decision to post it or not, but Facebook knows it in either case.

Re: Facebook is able to identify music and TV when writing status update

#67

Post by sim0n »

pdkl95 wrote: post #63
gedrap wrote: post #28

They introduced similar feature with football (soccer) this weekend, or earlier and I didn't notice. When one of the teams I like is playing a match, the placeholder for post status is replaced with something asking my opinion about the match and a football icon is added. Which is a decent idea to get more people updating their statuses and posting more. Regarding privacy, etc. Eh, damn, it gets boring when so many c…

So Facebook recorded your ambient audio, uploaded it to their servers, processed that recording to discover what you were watching, all so they could prompt you with a football icon and an opinion poll? Did they get your explicit permission before turning on that microphone and uploading what it recorded? Or did they hide it behind a button? Did they explain in a way most people would understand about what they were…

No, he most probably has liked his team on Facebook and FB is smart enough to know a game is on (or his friends have posted similar statuses).

Re: Facebook is able to identify music and TV when writing status update

#68

Post by kuschku »

anc84 wrote: post #54
mrweasel wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just fear that it will quickly become something that users just click "Okay" on automatically. A little like "Share your location". The minute something doesn't work as expected because the user didn't share a bit of information people will start just clicking on the "Ok" button.

And of course the "no" button is labelled "Later". And there is no option to mute it forever. Google Play is trying to make me enter my mobile phone number on every single app update. Android is trying to let me scan all apps for security each time I use F-Droid. Those dialogs always appear and I can only discard them again and again until one day I might accidentally click "OK". Google is evil.

Even worse:

http://i.imgur.com/qsRdwaU.png

Google...

Re: Facebook is able to identify music and TV when writing status update

#69

Post by gedrap »

sim0n wrote: post #67
pdkl95 wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So Facebook recorded your ambient audio, uploaded it to their servers, processed that recording to discover what you were watching, all so they could prompt you with a football icon and an opinion poll? Did they get your explicit permission before turning on that microphone and uploading what it recorded? Or did they hide it behind a button? Did they explain in a way most people would understand about what they were…

No, he most probably has liked his team on Facebook and FB is smart enough to know a game is on (or his friends have posted similar statuses).

Yup, 'one of the teams I like' meant 'I like their page on facebook'.

Re: Facebook is able to identify music and TV when writing status update

#70

Post by kuschku »

sdoering wrote: post #40
sarreph wrote: post #6

"Are you recording my conversations, Facebook?" "Of course not, silly! We don't listen to your conversations, we just identify the things you're listening to , of course!" 0_O

So I have to ask permission of my friends to send the ongoing conversion to FB, if I want to use this feature, when typing my status surrounded by them? Or every stranger in a bar, that happens to be around me, when I post my silly "I'm wasted beyond believe" status? In my mind, there are ramifications beyond believe there. And I am not really sure, what to make of this.

And this might actually be insanely illegal in areas where recording conversations requires consent of both involved parties.
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