Slashdot Mirror
Facebook Exec: 'Just Not True' That We Listen To Your Phone's Mic (theoutline.com)
Adrianne Jeffries, writing for The Outline: Facebook executive stepped outside of official channels of communication last night by tweeting about a negative rumor that seems to keep resurfacing no matter how many times the company denies it. "I run ads product at Facebook. We don't - and have never - used your microphone for ads. Just not true," tweeted Rob Goldman, vice president of ads products at Facebook. That includes Facebook-owned Instagram, he said. Goldman was responding to a tweet from PJ Vogt, one of the co-hosts of the tech podcast Reply All, which is producing a segment about the persistent belief that Facebook spies on users through the microphone. Vogt had asked people to call in to share their stories of why they think Facebook may be using the microphone to collect information for advertisers.
What DO you use the mic to listen in for then if not ads?
He added "But thats a real good idea! Thanks!"
Watch the carefully worded denial, no doubt approved by company's lawyers.
"We don't - and have never - used your microphone for ads. Just not true.". Ok, so they did not use microphone *for ads*. What did they use it for?
(Here are some ideas that are not contrary to this denial: listening in for research purposes, compiling data on behalf of a government)
http://osxdaily.com/2013/11/26...
I didn't think Facebook used the microphone for anything before i read that comment - they literally created doubt where there was none!
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
sensationalism (in this case) gets people thinking about things like "why does this app have access to the mic?". Now that awareness is being raised, it's time to bust out the flood gates of all phone permissions and how they are abused so that real changes can be made.
You shouldn't have to trust what ever app you install. You should be able to trust your phone OS to block apps as you desire. App makers should be held accountable to detail exactly why they need permissions they ask for and a phone OS should be held accountable to let users allow/disable said permissions as they see fit. And not just in a "This app needs X permissions or it will not load". More like a "This app asks for permissions unrelated to it's operation and will be banned from the store if it refuses to work without them"
If you want me to believe you DON'T listen through my Mic when just having your crap installed runs my battery down 40% faster - even when I'm not using it - you're on the wrong track.
IF you want me to believe you DON'T listen through my Mic but you just about break your neck trying to force me to install your chat app after I remove it by making it so that mobile browsers can't access chat anymore, you're on the wrong track.
IF you want me to believe you aren't spying on me in general and you feel the need to try to force me to install your normal app by making streaming video unavailable if I use a mobile browser you aren't convincing me.
I had their crap years ago. One of the first things I did after rooting my HTC One M8 was remove the crap that was put on their by HTC and/or AT&T.
Now that I have a Pixel it didn't come with a Facebook app, and I haven't installed it on this phone - ever. I do have other social network stuff installed, like Minds, Google +, and a couple of others. I'm pretty sure Google spys as bad as Facebook did, only it does that with Google + installed or not, and I'm pretty sure it has less battery impact.
I bought my wife one of those $50 Amazon tablets mostly because she wanted something like that just for Facebook and chat, the battery life was so pathetic she didn't ever start using it regularly. Now that the Facebook crap has been removed our son uses it for hours on end on road trips watching his kids shows. It's scary how long that battery lasts without Facebook software on it.
No Facebook - if you want to convince me you're not just there to spy on me you'll stop working with manufacturers to put your shitty software on phones in a manner that it can't be removed unless you're geeky enough to use the Android Developer kit and do some ROM flashing to get rid of it. I'm suspicious of ANYTHING that presents itself as mandatory. You'll also make your crap to where it doesn't run unless I start it. You literally make hardware akin to useless. I laugh at the people I see running around having to charge their phones all the time because they shit they have running on it constantly runs their batteries down. I don't carry a power bank and I laugh at people who do. Bullshit apps like Facebooks are what kills battery life, for the most part modern phones running a stable OS build without extra bullshit have incredible battery life.
The preceding post was not a Slashvertisement.
Talking out loud about tin-foil hats now to see if I get any ads for a discount.
Find a shortwave radio and tune it into a station that is broadcasting Chinese or some other language than English. Leave your phone there for several hours then take note if any ads come up in that language.
People spew their life's intimate and sordid details onto Facebook all the time... but they get up in arms that Facebook might be using the microphone to record them?
This is almost as bizarre as those people who demand the government take away constitutional rights due of terror attacks which kill at most a few dozen people a year, yet don't bat an eye at the ~ 9,000 annually who die due to drunken driving.
#DeleteChrome