not new (Link is from 2016) You have to turn out the rights for the mic, especially for the fb messenger

https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/facebook-using-people-s-phones-to-listen-in-on-what-they-re-saying-claims-professor-a7057526.html

Facebook is using smartphones to listen to what people say, professor suggests | The Independent

The company says that it does use peoples' microphones, but only to help them out – and there’s an easy way of turning it off

^{Andrew Griffin (The Independent)}

I feel vindicated by the fact I don't trust keeping any Meta apps on my main phone - I have a few of their apps on a burner phone with a dongle that cuts off microphone access, tape over the cameras, an empty address book and an empty camera roll.

I know I may seem crazy for this, but I don't trust Meta one bit

FWIW it’s not just Meta.

In Fall 2019, an employee from another prominent social media company told me this was common. /2

Stupid question, why is your phone not degoogled yet, and why are using ad-based apps on it?

As the article mentions, at least in some jurisdictions, that's all at least partially legal by the users using these apps.

(Those won't fly probably in places that have limits on ToS being surprising, etc)

It's a bit like complaining that the party of face munching leopards is feasting on your faces after YOU ELECTED them to office. What did you expect? Them respecting your privacy?

the article is unfortunately very lacking in sufficient detail on which phone platforms this is on and if it somehow bypasses the indicator that the mic is on or if the indicator is on and users just aren't aware they opted in.

Otherwise it just leads to continued conspiracy theories about phones magically listening.

I thought we knew this?

I mean I was feeling it in 2016 as my last post on Facebook testifies

the leaked doc just says "smart devices" not "cell phones"

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25051283-cmg-pitch-deck-on-voice-data-advertising-active-listening?ref=404media.co

More to the point, modern Apple devices cannot do this. when the mic is active, there is an explicit indicator when the mic is listening, which is a security feature (requiring explicit opt-in permission) that operates at a firmware level

can this malicious behavior work on shitty Androids? maybe. but then it's irresponsible for YOU to say "our phones"

There‘s a reason app permissions exist, such as using the microphone.

iOS will show an orange dot at the top of the screen whenever it‘s being used by an app. To find out which app, open the top drawer and tap on the now-orange time in the top left corner.

On macOS it works similar. I don’t know, can only guess many Android phones will do the same.

Content warning: Me cussing uncontrollably in response Click to open/close

@CEvaN Yep. My family members have frequently noticed this type of activity: verbally mention a product, then suddenly that product appears in your feed.

Everybody should try that as an experiment. It's unsettling.

that's why I uninstalled FB from my phone since a lot. I discovered I had targeted ads related to my conversation.

Fuck FB!

@hacks4pancakes no they don't, which is why this article doesn't list any of the devices they supposedly "hacked”

it's just a bullshit marketing pitch — it's pretty sad that 404 is falling for this, their reporting is generally top notch

@Gargron This article is based off of information that was originally making rounds in 2016. In 8 years since, there was never **any concrete evidence** showing that they can actually do this. None.

Considering that adtech is rife with fraud (to the tune of $billions swindled from advertisers annually), a more likely explanation is that this is just a bunch of grifters with a pitch deck looking to score off of gullible advertisers.