
How Instagram uses your mobile microphone to spy on you (and serve ads) - ssaunier_
https://medium.com/@damln/instagram-is-listening-to-you-97e8f2c53023
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teapot01
This is maybe the third time I've seen an article with the same anecdotal
proof. If you have any real proof, show us, if you don't be clear and don't
use a bullshit clickbait title.

For those that want to spend some time trying to figure it out - take a look
at MITMproxy, find proof that they are spying and show us.

~~~
dvdhnt
> take a look at MITMproxy

This was my first thought. I haven't taken a look yet, but I suspect that if
an organization this large was doing something so nefarious, they'd
encrypt/encode or otherwise mask what it is their doing. Perhaps, by
misdirection, odd naming of params, or outright encryption - take this all
with a grain of salt, my domain is server-web, not mobile.

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ruddct
One theory: Instagram and Facebook have hacked iOS to bypass the built-in
bright red flashing 'recording' status bar and are recording your
conversations constantly for their own benefit.

Another theory: At some point you looked at a web page that mentioned
projectors, or you happen to be in a demo that frequently buys projectors, so
you saw an ad for projectors.

I know which theory I'd buy. These conspiracy theories pop up constantly,
they're quite tiring.

~~~
netsharc
Another theory: it's just a coincidence that Instagram shows this ad the same
day the guy talked about such a device. I know computer scientists aren't
actual scientists, but I would not present hypothesis as conclusion. At least
do some experiments before you jump to conclusions.

I've seen an ad on Instagram of a t-shirt that says "Winners are born in
$MY_BIRTH_MONTH", which is quite transparent targeting...

~~~
altern8tif
> computer scientists aren't actual scientists

I think a lot of folks here are gonna disagree with that.

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hellweaver666
I know FB have a lot of really smart data-scientists working on this stuff but
I doubt that it's worth the effort to analyse everything you say on the hope
it'll contain some kind of keyword that can trigger an advert.

It's more likely that you and the friends posted pictures at around the same
place/time your friend later googled micro projectors and was tagged via an
embedded like button on the page (yeah... those things track you!). Then they
just made a jump that two people in the same area may have similar interests
and served you an ad.

It's just like how I get recommendations for people I've never met before
after attending an event that we both just happened to go to.

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ricardobeat
The "experiment" described doesn't even seem to have been intentional, that's
just an anecdote.

On the other hand, nearly _everyone_ I talk to has experienced these mind-
reading ads - if this happens solely through correlation of social networks
and their online activity, it is maybe even more mind-blowing than the
conspiracy theory, and brings up scary questions about what we should expect
from AI in the future.

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marze
Maybe the cousin did some web research on micro projectors, and the ad was
served to those he/she was with?

Some experiments discussing obscure products should help determine.

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bkmartin
This article is obviously anecdotal and not proof... But me and my wife have
been experiencing very similar things and she is convinced that Facebook or
Google are doing the same thing. We have had a few, instances in the last
month where our conversation in the car was followed by relevant advertising
just minutes later when she looks at Facebook... Not actually making an
accusation, but we are definitely suspicious at this point.

~~~
convivialdingo
Anecdotal as well, but I took all the app media permissions away from Facebook
and Google apps and the weird advertising coincidences stopped. The apps run
just as well.

I still get targeted ads based on my FB posts, but that's the accepted trade.

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dvdhnt
As others have said, this is not causation nor has hard evidence been
provided, however, I am curious:

What moral obligation does a developer have, if any, to expose this sort of
"feature"?

The mob came when Snowden et all exposed the large passive-collection programs
run by the federal government - do people not believe that we have the same
protections from private companies as we do from public entities? Yes, it's
their app and I don't have to download it, but we're talking about covert
activities - aka spying - that a user has not consented to.

You wouldn't let General Electric put a "passive" video camera in your oven to
capture what goes on in your kitchen for the sake of a "better cooking
experience" or "personalization"; our digital real estate should be no
different.

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altern8tif
Wouldn't it be easy to test your hypothesis even further?

Instead of a random conversation, keep repeating a certain outrageous/uncommon
phrase (say Korean cuttlefish snacks) and monitor your feed to see if any
weird ads appear.

My guess is that Facebook/Instagram probably categorised your profile as
someone who enjoys the outdoors and watches movies (which can be said of a
large proportion of the world population), and knew that you might have been
hiking then (location tracking and possibly via your face appearing in a
friend's post?). Consequently, a "relevant" ad was pushed to you.

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ramshanker
Creepy. So let's have a Mic / Camera icon blinking in the status bar whenever
an application accesses them. At least it will keep people informed.

~~~
tucif
I believe this is how it works at least in iOS if the mic is used by an app in
the background

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SallySwanSmith
Repeat after me, “Correlation does not imply causation”

~~~
falcolas
But it does hold up a big sign saying "Hey, look over here!"

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yesbabyyes
The day I became sure of this, I was painting a house together with this guy
whose dad used to work for my dad. The day before I had gotten a job offer for
working at some startup, can't remember the name right now (I haven't heard
about the company since this day). They were supposed to record DJ sets and
put them on their web site, and the guy I was working with was into the EDM
scene so I mentioned it to him, mostly because I couldn't quite understand the
business proposition, and thought perhaps he could. He couldn't, though -
according to him, it was already a big thing but the DJ set videos were posted
to YouTube, which makes sense to me.

Not 15 minutes later, he comes around to me and says "What was the name of
that company?" I reply, and he goes, "wow, that's strange - I just got an ad
for them on my FB."

Again, I've never heard about the company before or later.

Well, it's going to come out, and when it does, people will go from "what?!
that can't be true" to "well duh, what did you think?! everyone knows that".

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djtriptych
Another possible explanation is that someone else in that conversation
performed a search that Facebook could see. Facebook also knows where you are,
and perhaps pushed ads to everyone within X meters of that search.

Creepy, but not "listening to every word you speak" creepy.

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Steve44
I don't know if that is being done or not but would immediately question if
this is just a coincidence. How many different things have been talked about
over the years and how many adverts have been served.

Was this just a case of a random though possibly slightly profile targetted,
advert happening to appear during the time he remembered the conversation. Did
he get ads for everything they discussed?

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tucif
Mods: Title is misleading and not the original.

This post never shows "how" ig uses a mic, just theorizes about it without any
proof.

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dylanz
I have another anecdote. I saw a friend I haven't seen in over a year randomly
at the airport. We had a drink, never took out our phones, and he told me he
was going to take photos in the Yukon. Later that day on my phone I got an ad
on Instagram for "Visit the Yukon!". That creeped me out a bit.

~~~
pavel_lishin
The obvious conclusion is that the Yukon tourism board, after paying Instagram
to show you the ad, also paid your friend to "randomly" connect with you at
the airport and try to further sell you on the Yukon trip.

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lobotryas
Agree with what everyone else is repeating about the article. I'm curious
though: why does Instagram ask for your mic in the first place? I don't use
the app so the presence of that option is weird.

Personally I am sure that I am tracked online, but I block ads very
aggressively so at least there's that.

~~~
wlesieutre
I only ever post photos taken in other apps, but I believe you can shoot
photos and video+sound directly in Instagram.

The "stories" feature that they knocked off from Snapchat would definitely use
audio.

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textech
It has happened to me too and far too many times to be just a coincidence. I
don't even have Instagram or Facebook on my mobile so won't be surprised if
Google is involved too as I have an android phone.

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deweller
Isn't it much more likely that this was a predictive algorithm doing a good
job of guessing what you might want?

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hawkilt
i’ve similar experience, my location permission is always turned off for
Facebook, it was showing the realeaste ads right where i was.

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jlebrech
or someone on a related device has been googling for products related to that
conversation.

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Overtonwindow
I think an assumption should be made for every single app on your phone: It
will read, listen, take, and record everything.

