
Ask HN: Facebook is listening to your conversations - samblr
This happened in last 5 minutes.<p>Was speaking to a friend about Wix website builder.
And within a minute in my FB news feed - I see Wix relevant link (link was from techcrunch: http:&#x2F;&#x2F;tcrn.ch&#x2F;2jdnFeM)<p>The news item is published on Jan 19th i.e 6 days ago! I haven&#x27;t seen that link in my last week of social media browsing. How did it all of a sudden became relevant ? Freaky!
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r721
This was discussed a lot:

[https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/5k4dn8/im_becom...](https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/5k4dn8/im_becoming_scared_of_facebook/)
(6086 comments)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13252242](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13252242)
(109 comments)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11833718](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11833718)
(49 comments)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10360761](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10360761)
(54 comments)

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hbosch
I believe this has been discussed before, but it never ceases to amaze my wife
and I.

We will be talking about, say suddenly needing new Swiffer pads. Face to face
conversation, emergent and organic conversation, no prior searches in the last
few weeks or anything like that. Then, next time you're scrolling through
instagram, there is an Amazon ad for Swiffers.

~~~
DonHopkins
I keep getting ads for plates of shrimp.

~~~
CamelCaseName
Stop calling people "fooking prawns" then!

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benologist
I read last year accusations some android apps were in trouble for undisclosed
listening to identify ads on television, that might be a good starting point
for more information, it's technically possible something was listening.

[http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/ftc-android-
developers-a...](http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/ftc-android-developers-
apps-tv-listening-silverpush/)

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gt2
Wouldn't this waste a lot of bandwidth?

Or is it likely that the audio is being analyzed client side before pushing
results to a server somewhere?

Also, if this was actually happening, should this be announced in some terms
of service?

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NameNickHN
For me it's not the question of whether they're doing it. Its technically
feasible, so it's being done.

What interests me more is whether the broad user base cares enough to change
their habits. Does it become freaky enough for them that they'll change the
way the use the platform? (Doesn't matter if it's Facebook or any other
website.)

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tranvu
Same thing happened to me. I was eating Sunchips and then logged into Facebook
to see an advertisement for Sunchips. Wouldn't be surprised that they're also
watching us.

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paulcole
how often do you eat something, log into Facebook and not see an ad for that
product?

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ibejoeb
Are you talking about Messenger in text, Messenger in voice/video, or face-to-
face conversations? I'm reading some of these linked threads that suggest that
the microphone is recording at all times.

~~~
samblr
face to face

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bsvalley
It's from Techcrunch not FB. They use retargeting/remarketing ads and sell
this info back to Facebook. A lot of websites do that... It's actually easy to
find out what people browse on the web only by looking at their FB news feed.
If you see a birth control ad on your girlfriend's FB news feed - run away!

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dangrossman
> If you see a birth control ad on your girlfriend's FB news feed - run away!

What?

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gesman
Why is that surprising though?

