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Facebook Could Be Eavesdropping On Your Phone Calls (news10.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Facebook is not just looking at user's personal information, interests, and online habits but also to your private conversations, revealed a new report. According to NBC report, this may be the case as Kelli Burns, a professor at University of South Florida states, "I don't think that people realize how much Facebook is tracking every move we're making online. Anything that you're doing on your phone, Facebook is watching." the professor said. Now how do you prove that? Professor Kelli tested out her theory by enabling the microphone feature, and talked about her desire to go on a safari, informing about the mode of transport she would take. "I'm really interested in going on an African safari. I think it'd be wonderful to ride in one of those jeeps," she said aloud, phone in hand. The results were shocking, as less than 60 seconds later, the first post on her Facebook feed was about a safari story out of nowhere, which was then revealed that the story had been posted three hours earlier. And, after mentioning a jeep, a car ad also appeared on her page. On a support page, Facebook explains how this feature works: "No, we don't record your conversations. If you choose to turn on this feature, we'll only use your microphone to identify the things you're listening to or watching based on the music and TV matches we're able to identify. If this feature is turned on, it's only active when you're writing a status update." I wonder how many people are actually aware of this.

2 of 167 comments (clear)

  1. Seriously? by Voyager529 · · Score: 4, Informative

    If you choose to turn on this feature, we'll only use your microphone to identify the things you're listening to or watching based on the music and TV matches we're able to identify. If this feature is turned on, it's only active when you're writing a status update

    Did the person who wrote this actually read what they wrote? If they're identifying what users are listening to and matching them to something else, then that's still a record, even if it's not an audio recording.

    I gave up the Facebook app years ago. m.facebook.com gives all the functionality I need; I don't even miss it...and it takes far less data than the app.

  2. Re: off! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    They still collect all the gossip about you and associate it with a shadow account made for you.