Post: #1

Facebook is using people’s phones to listen in on what they’re saying

The company says that it does use peoples' microphones, but only to "help them out"

Facebook says that its app does listen to what’s happening around it, but "only as a way of seeing what people are listening to or watching and suggesting that they post about it"

That's one of the worst excuses I've ever heard

So, once again, Facebook admitted that it does listen to audio and collect information from users

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/...57526.html

Another meaningful quote from today's Independent article:

"Facebook is using your phone to listen to everything you say"

This is further confirmation that the Facebook app for smartphones does have a horrible low rating of 2/5 stars for all the right reasons.

I guess everyone had this suspicion for some time now.

I've noticed some ads have been tailored based off things I've said around my phone. I've had friends who have also said this happened to them.

Post: #2

This news have been at the very top of Reddit, position number 1,
being upvoted a record number of over 4,000 times in the first hour.

Then, of course, as usual, it got deleted/censored:

http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/commen...listen_to/

Post: #3

I've never installed a social media app on my phone. Everything runs out of the browser.
Browsers got nice enough since the app was invented to amusingly make the app more or less obsolete. The only thing making anybody want to switch is that dumb popup.

Post: #4

Post: #5

I'm not worried, me and my cat are protected against the evil Farcebook!

Post: #6

Here are few hundreds other experiences of people who tested this: they said a totally random word
that they wouldn't usually say, when Facebook app was on, and

surprise... Facebook recorded/caught the words and served them ads based on that word

http://www.reddit.com/r/bestof/comments/...erved_him/

Op observes how Facebook's mobile app served him pest control ads immediately after he started a conversation about pest control (and not before), implying it is listening to him through the mic. Other Redditors share eerily similar experiences.

This just happened to me the other night! My friend was showing off some kitchen remodel stuff he was doing and pointed out that the previous people living there didn't use a cutting board on the now fucked up counter. So we started talking about new counter tops (eventually steel ones in specific). Immediately afterwards, I was getting advertisements for steel counter tops in several apps

Welcome to the Brave New World

Post: #7

(05-31-2016 02:13 PM)Guitarman Wrote:  

I'm not worried, me and my cat are protected against the evil Farcebook!

Bad idea - it's been shown that tin foil actually increases RF reception, rather than acting as a Faraday cage as intended...

Post: #8

What really surprises me is when someone is allegedly committing a crime and they "accidentally" butt dial 911, essentially and conveniently, documenting the event for law enforcement. This sounds phishy to me.

Dumb criminals and their snitching smartphones

Post: #9

I hope they like what they hear! LOL

Post: #10

iOS:

Settings->Privacy->Microphone->Facebook OFF

They're not listening to me.

Post: #11

We have gradually become more heavily monitored in our day to day lives and everyone takes it for granted. It sounds paranoid and conspiracy theorist to say that big brother is always watching - but he actually is.

Cities have cameras taking pictures and recording videos at traffic intersections and along roadways. Everyone now willingly carries a tracking device on them at all times, with programs that monitor everything they do and say and upload them to various corporations for data farming and other general surveillance. Hardly anything you do is private anymore.

Post: #12

And people laugh at me because I still carry one of these:

Post: #13

I've thought for some time that Google does this as well. It is routine for me to be talking about some rare and specific part for work, then Google it, and have the exact topic auto complete after just a few letters.

I think it also takes the current tv schedule into account. One time I watched a show about Nome, Alaska, and they mentioned how some small Alaskan villages allow zero alcohol, because the risk is too great for drunks to freeze to death.

I went to google this, and after typing "dry", auto complete filled in with dry alaskan villages. This is an extremely obscure topic. I typed dry just now, and added the next letter a, and this time I get "dry aged beef".

Ive tried to test it a few time by talking about unusual topics then googling, but couldnt make it happen on purpose. Still, the number of times it's happened to me with extremely obscure topics is huge.

Post: #14

This has been going on a while. I remember an article in the Register about people thinking it weird, that stuff they only 'talked about' was showing up in their web searches.

Samsung got busted for having their microphones on their TVs turned on and that data being relayed back to a database, recorded for posterity.

This will only get worse with the coming IoT (internet of things) - your toaster and your tv connected to the net with a unique identifying IP address, once ipv6 is fully rolled out so as there are enough addresses available.

Google bought a smoke alarm company. Why? Why do you think? Not only will they be able to listen, they will also be able to smell. Smart meters are coming in. They will be able to tell exactly when you are at home, what equipment you have going, what that equipment is. Good luck with growing any pot, even if it is just a couple of plants. They'll be able to smell it now as well, whether you are growing it or smoking it.

Most people have absolutely no idea of the gravity of the situation. You can not talk about this. You are called a paranoid.

What I think people need to understand is this: This is going ahead. It is happening and it will happen. You can not stop it. No petition to your MP, no letter of disapproval will do anything now. It will only mark you out as a dissident.

The only chance for you is for you to see the coming storm, and prepare for it.

Things are very bad here in the UK. Darkness and lawlessness leads the land. Sure, some people will laugh at that. But people don't go out of their houses here anymore. People do not look at each other walking down the street. People will eat all kinds of shit, afraid to speak up against common indecencies, lest they are stabbed or beaten to a pulp. It is a broken land. Not even the rich can enjoy it anymore.

I recently made some posts on a forum about some guitar stuff. Forum messages are 'deep web' and often don't show in search results - try searching the Register forum, it's not possible, it's hidden - unless you are google and you have the deep web indexed as well. Two days later, the very specific guitars and modifications I was talking about, came back in a semi-related search. They listen to everything. They own us all. If a neighbour or family member did this to you, you would take it as a gross betrayal of trust, and you would cut all ties. You can't do that now. It will be illegal not to have the internet in five years time. You think I'm joking?

That deep web indexing is only for their benefit. You and I can not access that information, but they obviously can, or else they would not know what you were talking about 4 days ago, on a website that is impossible to search for ordinary people.

Be careful what you say, and make sure that anyone you talk with does not have a mobile phone on them, and if they do, make sure the battery is taken out. In fact, put it in a Faraday cage to be sure.

https://www.google.co.uk/#q=Faraday+cage+mobile+phone

Post: #15

(05-31-2016 03:20 PM)DJ-Matt Wrote:  iOS:

Settings->Privacy->Microphone->Facebook OFF

They're not listening to me.

You really think it's that easy?

Simple fact: you can locate any cellphone within 10m even when it's turned off, with GPS off.

Post: #16

(05-31-2016 09:59 PM)Easy_C Wrote:  

(05-31-2016 03:20 PM)DJ-Matt Wrote:  iOS:

Settings->Privacy->Microphone->Facebook OFF

They're not listening to me.

You really think it's that easy?

Simple fact: you can locate any cellphone within 10m even when it's turned off, with GPS off.

Could you please provide a source for that statement? Thanks in advance.

Post: #17

I didn't realize I had been teaching game to Facebook techies for free. I wonder how much progress have they made... should I send them a bill?

Post: #18

(06-01-2016 01:56 AM)RandomGuy1 Wrote:  

(05-31-2016 09:59 PM)Easy_C Wrote:  

(05-31-2016 03:20 PM)DJ-Matt Wrote:  iOS:

Settings->Privacy->Microphone->Facebook OFF

They're not listening to me.

You really think it's that easy?

Simple fact: you can locate any cellphone within 10m even when it's turned off, with GPS off.

Could you please provide a source for that statement? Thanks in advance.

http://www.apple.com/icloud/find-my-iphone.html

https://support.google.com/accounts/answ...0491?hl=en

Post: #19

eradicator- not saying you are wrong, but I didn't see anything in those two links that says determining location is possible without power and GPS enabled.

Even if you have location services turned off on most apps, find my phone can stay on independently. If you utilize this feature, it tells you the last place it was used and when. This may or may not still be current information.

I don't see how you can expect to locate a device that isn't actively transmitting its location via LTE or wifi.

If anyone knows more info on this, please feel free to correct my line of thought.

Post: #20

Its not a source I can cite on the web. Its something I was told repeatedly during a professional capacity.

For perspective keep in mind thats what they tell you in an environment where not everyone has a security clearance.

Post: #21

My car does exactly the same thing, constantly transmitting data to BMW for various, wholly unnecessary, purposes.

I can't be bothered to turn it off, if I even can, as I am 100% tracked every day by my phone and the billions of cameras we have here in the UK anyway.

But still.

"If you've got nothing to hide, you've got nothing to fear" is one of the most dangerous sentences in the English language.

Post: #22

Easy C, sounds like there isn't much anyone can do about it then, is that correct?

The more I think about it, it's probably not out of the question to have some type of RFID/RTLS that can be used by higher security clearances that would make it impossible to ghost unless the phone is at the bottom of an ocean.

Post: #23

I wouldn't know about that. I have adblocks everywhere.

Post: #24

Holy shit!

"Your conversations are moving to messenger"
"Soon you'll only be able to view your conversations on messenger"

Just saw this for the first time on Facebook in my browser on my cellphone

Post: #25