Does Facebook eavesdrop?
Discussion
Read an article in today’s Times where a columnist claimed that FB had picked up on his daughter talking (verbally, not electronically) about a Stroganoff, and later on her FB ads for Stroganoff mysteriously began to appear.
Coincidence?
I was sceptical but for a giggle mmediately said, out loud, to myself, “fishing tackle. Fishing. I would love to buy some fishing tackle. I want a reel and some line and sole hooks.” My phone was powered on nearby and the FB app was running in the background.
I have no interest in fishing and do not watch fishing videos or search for fishing stuff.
Checked this evening. Low and behold, fishing videos and ads for fishing tackle have popped up in my FB video feed.
Coincidence again?
You try it.
Coincidence?
I was sceptical but for a giggle mmediately said, out loud, to myself, “fishing tackle. Fishing. I would love to buy some fishing tackle. I want a reel and some line and sole hooks.” My phone was powered on nearby and the FB app was running in the background.
I have no interest in fishing and do not watch fishing videos or search for fishing stuff.
Checked this evening. Low and behold, fishing videos and ads for fishing tackle have popped up in my FB video feed.
Coincidence again?
You try it.
How is that allowed? What stops FB listening in to phone conversations, business meetings, confidential doctor / patient stuff, etc.
Say a patient sees a doctor who says, ‘Very sorry but you have XX disease ’. Will FB start feeding drug ads to the patient who’s phone was in his pocket at the consultation?
Say a patient sees a doctor who says, ‘Very sorry but you have XX disease ’. Will FB start feeding drug ads to the patient who’s phone was in his pocket at the consultation?
Ayahuasca said:
How is that allowed? What stops FB listening in to phone conversations, business meetings, confidential doctor / patient stuff, etc.
Say a patient sees a doctor who says, ‘Very sorry but you have XX disease ’. Will FB start feeding drug ads to the patient who’s phone was in his pocket at the consultation?
That's the dream for Facebook I'd imagine. Think of the value you can provide to the advertisers........ Slippery slope!Say a patient sees a doctor who says, ‘Very sorry but you have XX disease ’. Will FB start feeding drug ads to the patient who’s phone was in his pocket at the consultation?
I don't see the harm at all - for me, personally, that is. I fully accept that FB needs to create revenue for my using its free-to-me service and I am more than happy to have Ads appear on my page as part of the deal.
As to whether it eavesdrops, well, couldn't give a monkey's really, if it catches me telling my wife we're running low on bog roll and I start to see Ads for loo rolls, no problem at all. Anyway, I'd rather see targeted Ads than totally irrelevant Viagra ones.
I don't have a tin-foil hat, I don't care what FB wants to glean from my activity there - I don't put anything on there that needs to be private anyway and only check it once or twice a week at most. It is simply somewhere I see a few jokes from Groups I've joined and what friends who aren't in my closer circle are up to.
I haven't posted a picture of anything there in years and I guess I could close it and not miss it really but I keep it around out of curiosity when I'm bored.
The most I use FB for now is my Business Pages and Business Ads - so it might be my Ads annoying you! haha
As to whether it eavesdrops, well, couldn't give a monkey's really, if it catches me telling my wife we're running low on bog roll and I start to see Ads for loo rolls, no problem at all. Anyway, I'd rather see targeted Ads than totally irrelevant Viagra ones.
I don't have a tin-foil hat, I don't care what FB wants to glean from my activity there - I don't put anything on there that needs to be private anyway and only check it once or twice a week at most. It is simply somewhere I see a few jokes from Groups I've joined and what friends who aren't in my closer circle are up to.
I haven't posted a picture of anything there in years and I guess I could close it and not miss it really but I keep it around out of curiosity when I'm bored.
The most I use FB for now is my Business Pages and Business Ads - so it might be my Ads annoying you! haha
Truckosaurus said:
I was looking at the thread on here about the Beer Hawk torpedo beer dispense systems yesterday (didn't go to their website or anything) and then went onto Facebook and up popped adds for Beer Hawk which I've not seen before. That can't be a coincidence.
That’s how cookies work.But verbal eavesdropping is far more underhand. I took care to turn off the mic for all apps and have Siri disabled when now powered from the mains. Did an IOS update a few weeks back and lo and behold, Siri is reactivated! I only noticed because of the targetted ads I was seeing on FB for things I’d only discussed verbally.
b’tards.
wazztie16 said:
Let's keep the facebook eavesdropping discussion in one place. Gassing Station | The Lounge | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff