Proof that Facebook is listening

[AlohaNow]

I don't even have FB, but the phones....yeah, the phones are definitely listening! So many targeted ad stories based solely on conversations.....

 

[Luv Bunnies]

One day my classroom co-workers and I were talking about our favorite kinds of tea. The next day we discovered that all three of us suddenly had Celestial Seasoning's Tea ads on our Facebook feeds! It's was pretty creepy.

 

[tasha99]

No Facebook here, but substitute Google and yes, it happens all the time, even with things I've only talked about and never searched for. My daughter recommended a movie to me over the phone a few days ago that wasn't a new one, so not in the news all the time. But now it's all over my Google News Feed. Creepy.

1984 has only sort of come true. But it's not the government spying, it's advertisers. What a disappointing, cruddy dystopia, where our privacy is invaded just to sell us more more more.

 

[BlueStarryHat]

We're looking to buy a new light fixture for our kitchen, and my aunt has been searching various websites on her phone for a certain style of light- black and silver modern. One of the places she searches is Amazon. I...although I've never searched for light fixtures anywhere in my entire life...have ads for modern light fixtures on my Facebook *and* my Microsoft news feed. I have my own Amazon account, but it's the same address, so maybe the ads are being aimed at me because I live there with the person searching on *their* account??? Also, we've discussed it while watching TV on our Firestick which has a microphone because it's a voice remote. So who knows?

 

[disneyseniors]

I have always been leery of Alexa and other such devices. I wouldn't have one in my house.
However, I have facebook and google. I am going to stop fb, and change my search engine to Duckduckgo, which does not have any of that tracking stuff and respects privacy.
The other day, I was on the laptop and I saw an icon show up, that I did not put there. So I checked and it asked if the camera could be activated?????? What? Of course I said No, and I now cover up the camera! Scary that icon showed up on it's own. I wonder if it would have just activated by itself?

 

[sam_gordon]

Not on FB, but on Google, and on my laptop, not my phone. Yesterday morning, my FIL suddenly passed away. I was talking to my mother in-person about what to tell my 5-year-old. An hour or so later, I opened my laptop (which was in another room), went to Google, and started to type in "how to talk to 5-year-old..." and it finished it for me, "about death of a grandparent." It just really struck me that that was the very first thing to come up, even though my laptop had been shut off, no internet open, in another room when I'd mentioned it.

That wouldn't be an usual question to research. I just went into incognito mode for chrome (which doesn't use your cookies), typed in the same phrase, and got the same response. In addition to some other suggestions...

I haven't been talking or searching about any of those.

 

[AnnaS]

With your permission and knowledge.

I am sure we all check off the box - I agree to the terms and conditions.....or whatever it says without anyone reading them.

I am also sure there are crooks/dishonest/hackers out there that get into other things/sites, etc. that they have no business.

We always kid around that we have nothing important to say, nothing to hide and if they want to see something exciting in our house - let them.....but that is not the point. I feel like privacy is up in the air - literally lol

 

[jsmith]

Soooo the google search autofill is just an algorithm that feeds you the most common searches that start with that string in the last time period-I thinjk its 14 days-coincidence and nothing more. Yes your Alexa and what ever else listen-and you consent to that, and to having facebook post relevant ads as part of the terms of service when you regisiter-reading the terms of service is a good idea- and now for my freaky story
I show and do performance events with my dogs-one of them is a top winning conformation dog ( think Westminster for those of you not familiar with dog shows) a friend of mine from California was bringing a ***** to breed to him. She texted me-regular text not facebook message-to ask if I would make her a vet appointment for a progesterone test in the last afternoon of the day she arrived. I went INTO the vet clinic, left my phone in the car even, added the girl to my account and booked the appointment. That evening when I logged into my computer both Facebook and Google showed me ads for canine progesterone testing machines-something that is not even purchased by the general public-only veterinary practices offereing reproductive services-that was freaky!

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

I have always been leery of Alexa and other such devices. I wouldn't have one in my house.
However, I have facebook and google. I am going to stop fb, and change my search engine to Duckduckgo, which does not have any of that tracking stuff and respects privacy.
The other day, I was on the laptop and I saw an icon show up, that I did not put there. So I checked and it asked if the camera could be activated?????? What? Of course I said No, and I now cover up the camera! Scary that icon showed up on it's own. I wonder if it would have just activated by itself?

Tape over cameras is a good idea, I keep a little piece of painter's tape over the camera on all of my devices. I tend to also keep blinds and curtains closed/drawn because the thought of someone spying on me creeps me out. I've been in that position before and it feels so intrusive and violating.

 

[sam_gordon]

The other day, I was on the laptop and I saw an icon show up, that I did not put there. So I checked and it asked if the camera could be activated??????

Wait, how did you "check"? Did you actually click on an icon that you did not put on the computer? Did you google the name of the program?

 

[sam_gordon]

Tape over cameras is a good idea, I keep a little piece of painter's tape over the camera on all of my devices. I tend to also keep blinds and curtains closed/drawn because the thought of someone spying on me creeps me out. I've been in that position before and it feels so intrusive and violating.

Can hackers get into your computer without your knowledge and turn on the camera? Probably. The odds are highly unlikely that it would happen though. Covering cameras reminds me of those (when there were actual mobile GPS devices) who would say "don't put in your address because if someone steals the GPS, they would know where you live!". Let's not forget that if someone could get into the car to get your GPS, they could get registration and probably numerous other things in your glove compartment that have your address on it.

 

[jsmith]

Can hackers get into your computer without your knowledge and turn on the camera? Probably. The odds are highly unlikely that it would happen though. Covering cameras reminds me of those (when there were actual mobile GPS devices) who would say "don't put in your address because if someone steals the GPS, they would know where you live!". Let's not forget that if someone could get into the car to get your GPS, they could get registration and probably numerous other things in your glove compartment that have your address on it.

Yes-people often focus in the wrong places where it comes to cyber security-If you are practicing good cyber security habits you don't need to tape over your camera. Things like aways usiing a commercial off the shelf router that you have purchaes and can configure between your devices and your Internet service providers router. Change the password on that router-because anybody can drive down the street and log into your router and watch your traffic if you don't. Never save passwords in your browser or on a file on thesystem. Hide your SSID on your router. Don't open links in email from unkown sources. All those things go much much further than tape on the camera to protecting your privacy. ( and READ the terms of service when signing up for things so you know what your are giving awayl)

 

[disneyseniors]

Wait, how did you "check"? Did you actually click on an icon that you did not put on the computer? Did you google the name of the program?

It just showed up with a rectangle, orange icon. I noticed it and clicked on it. It said something like, "Do you allow this camera to be on", or something to that effect. It was asking permission to use the camera, I guess. It then disappeared, but was really strange. Of course I said NO. I hope I didn't do anything wrong; you have me alarmed. I have not seen it again and thecamera is covered now. What do you think? Have you ever heard of this before?
I don't remember seeing a name to google, just black letters on an orange background asking to turn on the camera. Weird.

 

[sam_gordon]

It just showed up with a rectangle, orange icon. I noticed it and clicked on it. It said something like, "Do you allow this camera to be on", or something to that effect. It was asking permission to use the camera, I guess. It then disappeared, but was really strange. Of course I said NO. I hope I didn't do anything wrong; you have me alarmed. I have not seen it again and thecamera is covered now. What do you think? Have you ever heard of this before?
I don't remember seeing a name to google, just black letters on an orange background asking to turn on the camera. Weird.

Is the icon still there? There should be a name for the icon. Yes, I would be concerned. I'm not sure what virus scan you have, but I would run a scan. The key is you don't remember installing the program. It may have installed as part of another program, that's why you need to be careful when installing programs. Did you have your computer in for maintenance on anything? Did you sign up with any company to take control of your computer to help you?

 

[disneyseniors]

Is the icon still there? There should be a name for the icon. Yes, I would be concerned. I'm not sure what virus scan you have, but I would run a scan. The key is you don't remember installing the program. It may have installed as part of another program, that's why you need to be careful when installing programs. Did you have your computer in for maintenance on anything? Did you sign up with any company to take control of your computer to help you?

Thanks for answering, SAm. The icon flashed on, and I clicked on it immediately, and it asked to turn on the camera, I said NO, and it immediately turned off. Havent seen it since. I did not install a new program at all. There was no name for the icon just black block letters against orange background. No on maintenance and the next question. I have a great security scan program and nothing has showed up. Completely weird. Only the icons I put on show up, but this was taken care of quickly. Maybe a hacker was trying to get a vulnerable person to say Yes, I don't know. I am a senior so who knows?
From the time I saw it, clicked on, and said no, and it disappeared was probably less than 30 seconds. It didn't take me long to get rid of it.

 

[Timandalicia]

Yep, that's exactly what I mean. It seems to be pretty common on Facebook. I'm not sure I really believe that Facebook is spying on private conversations but sometimes the ads are spooky. It happened months ago when a friend and I were having a phone conversation about sharing a rental home in Myrtle Beach and then I started getting ads on my feed from VRBO and places like that. I've never visited Myrtle Beach or searched for rentals or hotels there.

Well they use 5 thousand data points to predict what you’re thinking. And they can do so with incredible accuracy. So I’m guessing that’s how they got you. Even scarier than listening in.

 

[tvguy]

I guess they can't listen to me since I don't have a microphone (or camera) on my computer.

 

[Mango7100]

I watched The Social Dilemma documentary on Netflix all about social media, Google, etc this weekend. It was incredibly sobering and makes you want to throw your phone into the trash (as I sit here and check out my FB feed )

 

[Skywalker]

Yeah, we were having a conversation in the kitchen and suddenly our "google assistant" was spewing off suggestions. We were like "Wait, nobody used the supposed wake up word LOL". Gotcha google - you are now gone!
A coworker of mine said they discussed something with their friend and then they started getting ads for that thing on their google home.
We not only allow these things in hour house, we also PAY for them to be in our house

 

[jliehr]

Yes-people often focus in the wrong places where it comes to cyber security-If you are practicing good cyber security habits you don't need to tape over your camera. Things like aways usiing a commercial off the shelf router that you have purchaes and can configure between your devices and your Internet service providers router. Change the password on that router-because anybody can drive down the street and log into your router and watch your traffic if you don't. Never save passwords in your browser or on a file on thesystem. Hide your SSID on your router. Don't open links in email from unkown sources. All those things go much much further than tape on the camera to protecting your privacy. ( and READ the terms of service when signing up for things so you know what your are giving awayl)

Hiding your SSID does literally nothing for you, those frames still are passed through the air and easily readable from just about any client.