If Facebook listening to phone calls?

[Neal]

As a software developer I'm a little baffled on this one. Yes, I have Amazon Alexas in my RV, I have iPads, an iPhone, and computers. This morning I had a phone discussion with my mother and I brought up Elli's having a problem with allergies and I was considering giving her a children's Benadryl I keep in the RV for her. I have not googled anything related to "children's Benadryl" I simply discussed it on the phone.

This afternoon I was scrolling through Facebook on my iPhone and I see the ad below. Some explain to me HOW! It leads me to believe Facebook is listening somewhere and somehow.

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[TJ&LadyDi]

We’ve had the same thing happen. LadyDi was talking to our daughter recently and mentioned a specific product. Within minutes, she had an ad pop up for it. That’s one reason I refuse to use Facebook or any of the rest of the social media platforms. Way too intrusive.

TJ

 

[Scooterfan]

Yup...happened to us about a knee brace (so it was NOT a coincidence). Within 20 minutes we had numerous ads for knee braces. Don't ask me how, but I would swear to it's occurrence. Told my wife there are NO phones in the bedroom!

 

[sheridany]

I have a feeling Elli was talking to Alexa when you are asleep...Imagine my owner wants to give me Benadryl...Treats not Benadryl...

 

[AbdRahim]

Alexa. Big brother is always listening, compiling, correlating and profile data. None of that around me.

 

[Sqwatch&Sqwatchi]

As a software developer I'm a little baffled on this one. Yes, I have Amazon Alexas in my RV, I have iPads, an iPhone, and computers. This morning I had a phone discussion with my mother and I brought up Elli's having a problem with allergies and I was considering giving her a children's Benadryl I keep in the RV for her. I have not googled anything related to "children's Benadryl" I simply discussed it on the phone.

This afternoon I was scrolling through Facebook on my iPhone and I see the ad below. Some explain to me HOW! It leads me to believe Facebook is listening somewhere and somehow.

View attachment 7340​

Interesting...I've noticed similar connections but usually after I search for a product. Happened to see a great looking Newmar in Lost Island today! Who knew???

 

[redbaron]

Facebook buys a lot of data, including Amazon Alexa data..keywords are recorded and sold based on time. The shorter the period the more valuable. Impressions within the first 6 hours are the most highly valued impressions.

This works with Amazon, nest, Google voice, roku, and many other connected devices and is buried in the terms of service.

You can opt out, but it is very tedious and every time the update tos, you have to re-opt out.

The latest push is amazon sidewalk. This shares your wifi with other connected devices to learn more about you and where you are.

The apps on the phone are also always listening unless you disable them.

I highly recommend you opt out, and test with major brand keywords to verify that it is opted out.

 

[MapNerd]

@redbaron is exactly right. Don’t ask me how I know.

Alexa is always listening, just not responding.

 

[Neal]

I have no problem with Alexa and I have gone through the privacy settings and opted out of the important items. I enjoy Alexa and accept her listening as long as she doesn't become a Parrot and start repeating things! I despise Zuckerberg and his disgusting ways of business and if it came true he was listening to phone calls it would warrant a report to Apple and damn near a law suit if it could be proven. I wish my life and web sites didn't depend on Facebook such as for logins, apps, etc. Cannot stand Facebook but sadly I do use it as it is of value for connections with friends of the past, etc. Doesn't reduce my hate and disgust though.

 

[MapNerd]

If you’re okay with smart home devices like Alexa, Google Assistant, Google Home, Facebook Portal and any other device with a mic always listening, then I would expect one should be okay consequences if that - near real time targeted advertising.

What @redbaron explained is exactly how those devices work. These tech companies didn’t create these devices to make your life easier, that’s just the marketing pitch to get you to buy it. They created them to gather your personal data so they could sell it to advertisers.

Those privacy settings aren’t doing what you think they are doing. They are little more than switches you can set to give yourself a false sense of security. For example, turning off something like “Okay Google”, wherein an Android device or phone will no longer activate or respond when it hears that key phrase, doesn’t stop the device from always listening and sending those recordings to a data center or cloud server natural language processing and adword detection.

It simply stops the device from responding when that keyword is detected.

You perceive that the device is no longer listening 24/7 because it’s no longer responding until you explicitly activate it with some sort of physical interaction like a click or tap, but my friend - It. Is. Always. Listening. Always processing. Always transmitting.

Don’t take my word for it. Set up Fiddler, CharlesProxy or WireShark on your computer and then configure your devices to connect through them as a proxy, then watch the traffic flow. Nothing changes in the traffic no matter what settings you configure. The only thing that changes is how the hardware you interact with responds to those settings.

Don’t think the government is going to step in and regulate them or stop them. They love these devices. Imagine being able to subpoena for recordings if anything you’ve said in the privacy of your own home. It’s PRISM on steroids.

Today your talking about Benadryl. Tomorrow you make a political statement in the privacy of your own home or vehicle and then next thing you know, you’ve got the gestapo in your living room.