There have been multiple accounts created with the sole purpose of posting advertisement posts or replies containing unsolicited advertising.

Accounts which solely post advertisements, or persistently post them may be terminated.

patrick ,

I highly doubt that they actually managed to do this, at least any time recently.

As another commenter noted, Android alerts you when an app is accessing the microphone in the background, and it would also absolutely destroy the phones battery life more than the FB app currently does. The only way that we have the “Hey Google/Siri” command prompts active all the time is with custom hardware not available to the apps, and certainly not without Android knowing about it.

Maybe they actively listen while the app is open, but even then I think recent Android/iOS would let you know about that.

Blueberrydreamer ,

As someone relatively ignorant about the mechanics of something like this, would it not make more sense that the app would be getting this data from the Android OS, with Google’s knowledge and cooperation?

The place I see the most unsettling ads (that seem to be driven by overheard conversation) tends to be the google feed itself, so it seems reasonable to me that they could be using and selling that information to others as well, and merely disguising how the data were acquired.

conciselyverbose ,

It would take a lot of data. On device voice processing is not very advanced. That’s why most voice stuff doesn’t work without a signal.

Blueberrydreamer ,

That makes sense, but isn’t it assuming they’re processing data on the device? I would expect them to send raw audio back to be processed by Google ad services. Obviously it wouldn’t work without signal either, but that’s hardly a limitation.

As someone else pointed out, how does the google song recognition work? That’s active without triggering the light indicating audio recording, and is at least processing enough audio data to identify songs.

conciselyverbose ,

If they were sending that much audio back, people would see the traffic. You could record it and send it at a different time, but the traffic would exist somewhere. People have looked and failed to find any evidence of such traffic.

It’s something that could happen on device in the nearish future if there’s not anything now, but it would probably still be hard to hide.

akwd169 ,

People have looked and failed to find any evidence of such traffic

Source? I would like to read about that

conciselyverbose ,

Sorry, it’s been long enough and I haven’t saved any of the links, and the keywords are polluted as hell with garbage results. I can’t find anything specific.

otp ,

The place I see the most unsettling ads (that seem to be driven by overheard conversation)

There’s a simpler explanation – you’re in the same geospatial region or you’re connected to the same networks as the people you’re having conversations with, and those people also looked up the things they have conversations about.

If you have GPS, Wi-Fi, or (possibly) Bluetooth, then that’s how they can pretty easily associate you to those people.

Blueberrydreamer ,

It’s a reasonable explanation, and what I typically assume to be true. Still, I’m curious about the actual mechanics, and if it potentially could be being done by Google without the larger tech industry being aware of it.

otp ,

I believe technically-inclined people could monitor the traffic that exits the phone, or at least passes through the router.

Audio recordings would be larger than the kinds of stuff that’s just sent passively.

ChillPill ,
@ChillPill@lemmy.world avatar

Google’s “Now playing” feature constantly listens to what’s going on in the background to show you what songs are playing. They claim this is done with a local database of song “fingerprints”. The feature does not show the microphone indicator because: “…Now Playing is protected by Android’s Private Compute Core…”

I’m not saying that other, non-google, app do this to my knowledge; but the fact that this is a thing is honestly a bit scary.

mox , (edited )

“Meta does not use your phone’s microphone for ads and we’ve been public about this for years,” the statement read.

Meanwhile:

https://lemmy.sdf.org/pictrs/image/2312c7b6-070c-47eb-a802-4dbe54ff81d7.png

patrick ,

That is not the same thing as listening in the background.

mox , (edited )

Nobody said it was the same thing as listening in the background. It’s still relevant and important.

I trust that most adults understand the implications of an exploitable permission and a strong incentive to abuse it, as well as the track record of corporate denials.

Evilcoleslaw ,

Using the permission to record audio triggers an on-screen indicator that the mic is recording. Someone would probably notice it on 24/7 recording. Someone would have also by now found the constant stream of network traffic to send the audio to be analyzed, because they also aren’t doing that on-device.

Retro_unlimited ,

Meta said it does not, but what about 3rd parties…

billiam0202 ,

Not defending Facebook, but if you record a video with sound, then the FB app has to have permission to record your audio.

That said, delete Facebook. Fuck Zuck.

mox , (edited )

if you record a video with sound, then the FB app has to have permission to record your audio.

My point is that it doesn’t have to be as poorly implemented as it is. The OS can provide a record-video API, complete with a user-controlled kill switch and an activity indicator, and the app can call it. The app doesn’t need direct access to the microphone to allow the user to create a file with sound.

Edit to clarify: I’m not saying that the “permission” doesn’t work as advertised. I’m saying that recording an audio file doesn’t have to require permissions as broad and disempowering to users as they are today.

conciselyverbose ,

Pretty sure that qualifies for that permission.

But the whole point of doing so is to use it in the app, and you for sure can’t do that without the permission.

mox ,

Pretty sure that qualifies for that permission.

I don’t know what you mean. Existing behavior does not provide the control or visibility that I described.

One important difference is that the “permissions” in the screen shot are effectively all-or-nothing: if you don’t agree to all of them, then you don’t get to install the app. They’re not permissions so much as demands.

(Some OS do have settings that will let you turn them off individually after installation, but this is not universally available, is often buried in an advanced configuration panel, leaves a window of time where they are still allowed, and in some cases have been known to cause apps to crash. Things are improving on this front with new OS versions, but doing so in microscopic steps that move at a glacial pace.)

conciselyverbose ,

If your app touches the camera and mic, it will show up on that screen that it does so. “Using the API” (which is just how the OS works) doesn’t prevent it from appearing on that screen, especially when you’re doing so for the purpose of putting video and audio in posts.

mox , (edited )

If your app touches the camera and mic, it will show up on that screen that it does so.

Showing up on that screen is no substitute for what is actually needed:

  • Individual control (an easy and obvious way to allow or deny each thing separately)
  • Minimal access (a way to create a sound file without giving Facebook access to an open mic)
  • Visibility (a clear indication by the OS when Facebook is capturing or has captured data)
Imgonnatrythis ,

I think this is more a teological argument he is making and I agree. We’ve become numb to these permission warnings. Oh this app needs access to my camera because I need to take a photo of something once at registration. Why can’t it link to my default trusted photo app and that app can send a one time transfer to it? I hardly question these permissions anymore since many apps need permissions for rare one off functions. The only thing I deny every single time is my contact list.

conciselyverbose ,

I don’t give anything mic or camera access on iOS. It’s really not an inconvenience, and anything that demands it is something I don’t want on my phone anyways.

Rai ,

What a horrifying list of data collection. Fuck all that hahaha

cmnybo ,

Recent versions of Android make it much more difficult for a background app to access the microphone. There will be a notification if any background app is using the mic or camera.

Magister ,
@Magister@lemmy.world avatar

Yup, the green dot top right

db2 ,

Now if there was only an easy way to get to the offending app to identify it

atocci ,

Pull open quick settings and tap the dot.

CaptainSpaceman ,

Supposedly more difficult.

Android likes selling ads too, why would google want to stop ad blocking microphne access?

ChillPill ,
@ChillPill@lemmy.world avatar

Google’s “Now playing” feature constantly listens to what’s going on in the background to show you what songs are playing. They claim this is done with a local database of song “fingerprints”. The feature does not show the microphone indicator because: “…Now Playing is protected by Android’s Private Compute Core…”

I’m not saying that other, non-google, app do this to my knowledge; but the fact that this is a thing is honestly a bit scary.

kratoz29 ,
@kratoz29@lemm.ee avatar

I have seen said feature being mentioned or brought to other android versions whether with apps or modules, do they work the same way?

ChillPill ,
@ChillPill@lemmy.world avatar

I’m not sure how other apps or android versions work. This is a flaw with the closed source software ecosystem.

DrSleepless ,

Thought this was common knowledge by now

CaptainSpaceman ,

Yeah, there was a viral video years back about a couple that thought this was happening to them, so they started talking about cat litter for 1 day, only inside their house, and then within 2 days they were being served cat litter ads for the first time in their lives.

They didnt own a cat.

DBT ,

Yea they can deny it all they want, but I’ve had similar happen to me countless times.

Even better, last time I tried to buy something from one of their adds it turned out to be a scam. I reported the post (add) and they said they wouldn’t remove it because it didn’t break any policies. lol.

otp ,

Did they mention cat litter in any messaging app? Upload a video announcing their plan?

I’m skeptical, lol

EncryptKeeper ,

Can something that’s not true be common knowledge?

merde ,

god?

FlavoredButtHair ,
@FlavoredButtHair@lemmy.world avatar

This is why I don’t have the Facebook app installed. However, what about messenger? Did the collect the data from messenger?

AutomaticUpdates ,
@AutomaticUpdates@monero.town avatar

Any closed-source software is a potential privacy threat. You are always at the mercy of big tech in that case. If the product is free, you are the product

N0body ,

“Meta does not use your phone’s microphone for ads and we’ve been public about this for years,” the statement read. “We are reaching out to CMG to get them to clarify that their program is not based on Meta data.”

Ah, yes. The tried and true defense of “we’ve denied it for years and continue to deny it” must be credible coming from a source as trustworthy as Facebook. I hear they’re planning on holding a press conference to pinky swear they’re not listening to the microphone they demand access to in order to show you ads that make them money.

scytale ,

FWIW, this was debunked when CMG originally made the claim. It was a marketing guy overselling their product and they had to correct their statement. They use the same info data brokers collect, and phones actively listening to you is not true.

conciselyverbose ,

Even what they said could be true without applying to phones. They said “smart devices” a lot. They never said “smart phone”.

There are a lot of IoT devices, some of which have microphones, a lot less secure than either iPhone or Android.

ShinkanTrain ,

Techbros really went full police state just to deliver ads I wouldn’t click on straight into my adblocker

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