Does facebook listen to conversations??
Discussion
wiggy001 said:
janesmith1950 said:
The PR and legal implications of a third party listening in covertly to private conversations in the way described would be brand-ending.
If you believe nothing else on this thread, believe this. janesmith1950 said:
The PR and legal implications of a third party listening in covertly to private conversations in the way described would be brand-ending.
Yet 5 pages of anecdotal evidence suggests that this is exactly what is happening. Or are you suggesting that every single one of these is just purely coincidental and/or made up? I hear you about the PR and legal implications, but what other explanation is there?All that jazz said:
Yet 5 pages of anecdotal evidence suggests that this is exactly what is happening. Or are you suggesting that every single one of these is just purely coincidental and/or made up? I hear you about the PR and legal implications, but what other explanation is there?
Adverts popping up supposedly based on a conversation had within earshot of your phone will most likely be related to tracking cookies and previous searches/site visits. Facebook friend requests will be based on Facebooks algorithm for working out potential friends. To test this, go to your suggested friends and see how many have no mutual friends - how does Facebook think they might be a match?
And the rest (only a few) are just coincidence.
Or it could be that your phone is listening to you 24/7, processing a huge amount of data (without killing your battery), sending it to a server (without using your data allowance) and forwarding it (illegally) onto ad and social media companies who (illegally) use it to send you adverts/potential friends.
wiggy001 said:
Or it could be that your phone is listening to you 24/7, processing a huge amount of data (without killing your battery), sending it to a server (without using your data allowance) and forwarding it (illegally) onto ad and social media companies who (illegally) use it to send you adverts/potential friends.
Could there be a key phrase, like using the word 'Facebook' that triggers it to listen? For example you're sitting in a room and someone says 'Did you see on Facebook that thing...' I don't think it will be listening to your conversations but Facebook doesn't need to pass on any data to social media companies it just needs them to tell it who they want to target. No data is shared between anyone.I think it is quite easy to underestimate how powerful a good algorithm is. Think about what information you can get in one day.
If I have my phone on in a typical day it will know where I go thanks to GPS and WiFi locations. It could very well determine what shops I have been into, how long I've spent there (have I been in a travel agents, sports shop, clothes shop?), If it was a travel shop, have any of my photos been taken elsewhere in the world? If so, I must travel and I must be interested in a holiday soon. So the photo was taken in X. Now, according to Facebook's stats, 1.2 million people who went to X also went to Y. Last time Facebook served advert location Y they got a 5.8% click ratio compare to 2.75% for advert location Z. Have I been to Y? No? Well then you might be interested in it so here's an advert. Funny that, I've always thought about going to Y - in fact I was in a travel agents today or you completely ignore the advert and think no more of it.
if was in a coffee shop and was with someone (do I always go to this place with X) if so am I friends with X? If I am then surely we must have some similar interests... What pages have they liked/visited that I haven't? Have I posted, or been tagged in anything related to this in the past 6 months? When I have been scrolling through the news feed have I stopped on any posts related to this subject 10% more than any others. If so show adverts that relate to this subject.
All that is very basic but Facebook will have some seriously complex and well trialed algorithms constantly working to serve you better, more relevant adverts - that's Facebook's main revenue after all so they have to be good at it.
okgo said:
Yes, what you mentioned in your example is essentially what my business does.
Its a very interesting space, and incredibly large in terms of data scale.
It's really interesting. I'd love to have a look into this area to see what is going on.Its a very interesting space, and incredibly large in terms of data scale.
It's like space, it's hard to really grasp how really big it is.
Facebook has 1.6 billion users in the UK that's 31 million users. Think about how much data that provides them with. Where people go, work, sleep, eat, drink, who they socialise with, how they commute, what they do on the weekend, what activities they do (based on GPS speed you can determine walking, running, cycling) and so much more on a day to day basis. Then on top of all of that the users add more data daily by posting, commenting, liking pages etc.
It has been going for over 10 years so that's a lot of data in which they can find patterns, test ideas and perfect their strategy. And of course this will all be tinkered with and changed as it keeps going.
WinstonWolf said:
When I said that constant speech recognition would murder your battery, I didn't mean 52%.
I mean it would murder your battery. 99% or more, and your phone would only last a few hours before needing a charge. It would render your phone/tablet useless. Trust me, you'd know about it.
Dr Mike Oxgreen said:
WinstonWolf said:
When I said that constant speech recognition would murder your battery, I didn't mean 52%.
I mean it would murder your battery. 99% or more, and your phone would only last a few hours before needing a charge. It would render your phone/tablet useless. Trust me, you'd know about it.
Hey Siri works when the phone is locked so the mic is definitely active...
WinstonWolf said:
It was just interesting with the subject of FB and it's mysterious way of knowing things you have never used the 'net for.
Hey Siri works when the phone is locked so the mic is definitely active...
Siri only does that if you allow it and in setting siri up, it's one of the options.Hey Siri works when the phone is locked so the mic is definitely active...
Have a look under "settings", "privacy", "Microphone" and it'll show you what you have allowed access to your microphone.
eybic said:
WinstonWolf said:
It was just interesting with the subject of FB and it's mysterious way of knowing things you have never used the 'net for.
Hey Siri works when the phone is locked so the mic is definitely active...
Siri only does that if you allow it and in setting siri up, it's one of the options.Hey Siri works when the phone is locked so the mic is definitely active...
Have a look under "settings", "privacy", "Microphone" and it'll show you what you have allowed access to your microphone.
I'm interested in a plausible explanation as to why I was suddenly inundated with adverts for beds when we'd been discussing her difficulty in sleeping the night before. I know I might be now, but at the time I'd not made any searches relating to anything to doing with beds. It's the second time it's happened after having conversations while FB has been running.
"Hey Siri" only works when powered, and you have to teach it how to recognise the one single phrase "Hey Siri". It is not full, complete speech recognition. It is definitely not evidence that your phone is capable of constantly listening and recognising anything and everything you say.
It is simply not possible for your phone or tablet to be doing constant speech recognition capable of understanding everything you say, without the battery dying of exhaustion.
Winston: the most likely explanation is either coincidence, or you are mis-remembering something and you did in fact do a Google/Amazon/John Lewis/etc search prior to the adverts for beds. There will definitely be a simple explanation that doesn't involve your phone listening to you.
If phones really did listen to everything everyone says, then how come it's not a phenomenon that I've experienced? If it were the case, this would be huge news - everyone would be talking about it, not just a few crackpots on a car forum.
It is simply not possible for your phone or tablet to be doing constant speech recognition capable of understanding everything you say, without the battery dying of exhaustion.
Winston: the most likely explanation is either coincidence, or you are mis-remembering something and you did in fact do a Google/Amazon/John Lewis/etc search prior to the adverts for beds. There will definitely be a simple explanation that doesn't involve your phone listening to you.
If phones really did listen to everything everyone says, then how come it's not a phenomenon that I've experienced? If it were the case, this would be huge news - everyone would be talking about it, not just a few crackpots on a car forum.
Speech recognition isn't carried out on the phone though, it's passed to servers for processing. Doesn't work on Android when the signal's poor.
Siri is a bit different when it's unlocking, its matching a voiceprint.
It's technically possible, I don't know what info Facebook is gathering if any, but to say it isn't possible is wrong IMO.
Siri is a bit different when it's unlocking, its matching a voiceprint.
It's technically possible, I don't know what info Facebook is gathering if any, but to say it isn't possible is wrong IMO.
Ah, so your phone is constantly uploading a waveform of all speech that it hears? And what effect do you think that will have on your battery?
Winston, you can believe whatever b
ks you like, and doubtless you're not going to listen to reasoned argument.
I suggest you stick a piece of tape over your device's front and rear cameras, because if FB is listening to you all the time then undoubtedly it's watching you as well.
Winston, you can believe whatever b
ks you like, and doubtless you're not going to listen to reasoned argument.I suggest you stick a piece of tape over your device's front and rear cameras, because if FB is listening to you all the time then undoubtedly it's watching you as well.
Dr Mike Oxgreen said:
Ah, so your phone is constantly uploading a waveform of all speech that it hears? And what effect do you think that will have on your battery?
Winston, you can believe whatever bks you like, and doubtless you're not going to listen to reasoned argument.
I suggest you stick a piece of tape over your device's front and rear cameras, because if FB is listening to you all the time then undoubtedly it's watching you as well.
What do I know, I was only a programmer for a decade Winston, you can believe whatever b
ks you like, and doubtless you're not going to listen to reasoned argument.I suggest you stick a piece of tape over your device's front and rear cameras, because if FB is listening to you all the time then undoubtedly it's watching you as well.
I'm just saying it's technically possible.
Xbox on, both of my phones unlock if I ask them to, the Echo, the technology is very advanced these days.
I use GPS for an hour on Strava, it now uses about 2% battery while playing music whereas that used to take about 40%.
There's no need to get precious...
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