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.

 

[Neal]

The problem is, we really don't know. We've given access to our microphone probably with Facebook Messenger use as well as Google search to enable the voice commands there. Who's to say Facebook is not listening or even recording our phone calls? Apple does the best with privacy and now has indicators showing when things like video or microphone are being used but when your phone is up to your face, how would you know? And yes, your mic is being used during a phone call but by who? I highly doubt Apple would grant access to the mic during a phone call so the above is likely correct but the gist is I wouldn't put it past Facebook or even Google (whom I trust one notch less than Facebook) to be listening to phone calls. Apple is taking major steps starting with iOS 14.5 to shutdown Facebook's practices, which is great. It only gets better with iOS 15 and hope they continue. Damn near need to short $FB next earnings as I'm sure their advertising will take a huge hit this quarter with iOS 14.5's privacy actions against Facebook advertising practices and data mining their users.

 

[redbaron]

Don't ever give microphone permissions

 

[redbaron]

Android used to be more secure. This is no longer true. They have allowed providers to side load crap ware that bypasses security and is designed to spy.

IOS 14.5 is not any better. It just makes sure that only apple can spy.

Smart phones are not secure.

 

[Joe Hogan]

People always call me crazy but .... yes If you have ever signed into Facebook with your phone with the Facebook app, they are listening. Same with Amazon and Google. That is why I do not have these apps on my phone. In fact I do not use Facebook on my phone at all.

Facebook Said It Wasn't Listening to Your Conversations. It Was.

Facebook's excuse? All the other tech companies were doing it, too.

www.vice.com

Here is some interesting new tech from Amazon

 

[redbaron]

Apple, Google, facebook, and Amazon are in a war to get the best data from you. They want you to freely give them direct access to your thoughts and intentions so that they can monetize it.

I am looking for a shipping container. I can no longer search the internet because the fraudsters have absorbed the keywords and feeds and every option is a scam. Some are so good at it I almost fell for it. The light bulb moment was once we agreed on price etc, the payment methods listed, of which there are 14, are all methods that have no consumer protection. They are also methods legitimate business would never use. Zelle, Google pay, bit coin, wire transfer, etc. This is for a $2200 transaction.

All of this started when I made a phone call to a local company and they where out of stock. My Gmail showed an ad for the container, which I did not click. My Facebook showed one that a friend recommended..and I clicked that. Turns out my friend did not recommend it, that was fake. Now every Google search is all ads and all scams.

This happens with so many items it makes buying off the internet very challenging. Amazon marketplace is flooded with knock off Chinese product that is fake. For example, I am buying a richbit ebike. It's a 1000w 48v. Cost is $1900 direct from richbit. With the group order we are getting it for $920.

We discussed this via text message. I use signal, but most of the group uses standard sms apps, so the conversation was not encrypted.

My Amazon suggestions now include several ebikes, and Facebook has ads for 1000w ebikes for under $200. Obvious scam, and derived from sms.

 

[MemoriesByTheMile]

The intrusion into our lives is ridiculous. Now use a VPN and use private browsing mode. This has helped some.
Of course, no Alexa, no Siri or any other listening service.
Yes, I have to type every search and cannot just verbally ask, but we have more sense of privacy.

Wasn't aware that SMS is now being captured too.

 

[redbaron]

Carrier sms has been harvested for years. It's why they do so little to block Robocalls

 

[Texas Clodhopper]

Check out the docu-drama on Netflix. "The Great Hack". It gets into the nuts and bolts on how it all happens. Between Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc, they know more about you than your lifelong neighbors.

 

[Skipper N Martha Bishop]

Happened to us. We have Verizon cell service. My wife wanted to stop by a Verizon store 15 minutes from our house. After looking over what she decided she wanted to wait a few days and see if it came up on sale for the 4th. We went straight home and had a spam call saying they were from Amazon and an iPad had been pushed on her account. Then several popup ad's on face book ads popped up about iPads. All because they entered her cell number at the store so they would she was shopping.

 

[FL-JOE]

I'm convinced if you have iphones then they are tracking and listening for commercial purposes. Over the past couple of years there have been numerous times where the DW and I have discussed something and the next time she is on her ipad or I sign on to my computer those are the ads that will pop up. We have all the correct privacy settings on our phones but I don't think it makes any difference.

If you want to keep "them" out of your private life:
1. only use a disposable phone and get a new one every couple of months.
2. don't have a ipad or computer, only use a public access one when needed.
3. use cash for most of your purchases.