[M_Six]

Wifey and I were discussing increasing our support of the local food bank tonight. Strictly a verbal conversation between us just an hour or so ago. Now she's getting FB ads for "Feed America." That f**king FB app on her phone is listening to us. I hate FB. As I've said in an another thread, I really need to dump FB. I'll have to do some serious 'splaining to friends and family first, though. And Wifey is less likely to give it up, so it'll still be on her phone listening to us.

Hey Zuckerberg! F**k you!!!

[Nuckle]

Originally Posted by M_Six

Wifey and I were discussing increasing our support of the local food bank tonight. Strictly a verbal conversation between us just an hour or so ago. Now she's getting FB ads for "Feed America." That f**king FB app on her phone is listening to us. I hate FB. As I've said in an another thread, I really need to dump FB. I'll have to do some serious 'splaining to friends and family first, though. And Wifey is less likely to give it up, so it'll still be on her phone listening to us.

Hey Zuckerberg! F**k you!!!

Happened to me too many times. I deleted my account 2.5 years ago and never looked back. I have a story far creepier than that I'll try to share tomorrow if I remember.

[Salty Dog]

Social media is going to be the down fall of western civilization.

[kscarrol]

Not is going to be... already happening.

[Red Bread]

Yeah, I run two separate computers, one for work and one personal, but off the same internet. It amazes me how often I'll search something on my work computer and then see adds for it on my personal computer. Bastards.

[P1]

Or just disable the microphone for the app that’s listening to you.

[NEfan508]

Im 37 and just got Facebook last month, had to sell some junk on market place Craig's list is dead, never had social media, I call hashtag # pound

to me FB is ok because I'm not fully on there so I get low spam but what's more weird to me my phone that can determine people in photos, my apple iPhone by Cyberdyne Systems freaks me out, it catalogues my kids and family in photos perfectly, no matter if their in the center or background the software can tell who it is

I'm going back to my Nokia 3310 and be happy playing snake

[The Choosey begger]

Dont use the fb app,I use my browser to get on fb.

[yco]

its been happening for quite some time now..

[M_Six]

Originally Posted by P1et

Or just disable the microphone for the app that’s listening to you.

I've checked her phone numerous times. The mic is not enabled for anything and we have Siri tuned off for every app. Same with my phone. I don't have FB on my phone, but she does (but not Messenger). I'm convinced that's the problem.

[M_Six]

Originally Posted by anglo

Dont use the fb app,I use my browser to get on fb.

Same with me. Although I rarely even do that.

[P1]

Originally Posted by M_Six

I've checked her phone numerous times. The mic is not enabled for anything and we have Siri tuned off for every app. Same with my phone. I don't have FB on my phone, but she does (but not Messenger). I'm convinced that's the problem.

Other devices listening in your house?

[vreihen16]

Originally Posted by M_Six

Wifey and I were discussing increasing our support of the local food bank tonight. Strictly a verbal conversation between us just an hour or so ago.

Are you 100% sure that your conversation was not prompted subconsciously by an ad that she had seen on Farcebook before you spoke with her?????

[M_Six]

Originally Posted by P1et

Other devices listening in your house?

Not to my knowledge. We have no "smart home" devices or smart TVs. We have an AppleTV box, but that's used so seldom that it's perpetually in sleep mode. This has happened when we're driving, so I'm pretty sure it's her phone.

[M_Six]

Originally Posted by vreihen16

Are you 100% sure that your conversation was not prompted subconsciously by an ad that she had seen on Farcebook before you spoke with her?????

No, it was prompted by a story I had read the day before at work about food banks possibly taking up the slack for the lack of school lunches for kids. We already contribute monthly to our local food bank as well as larger periodic contributions. I just mentioned to her that we should increase the automatic monthly contribution for a while until this subsides. It was maybe 10 minutes later that she saw that ad about food banks.

That said, we've tried in the past to test whether it's listening by talking about something we'd never normally discuss, like backyard kiddie pools or something. We've never "caught it in the act," as it were.

[vreihen16]

I'm going to call this one an eery coincidence, possibly drawing from your recent browsing history and historical profile they built about you.....

[VisualEcho]

I guess I just don't see this as a big deal. In fact, I'd prefer ads targeted at what I like/want as opposed to feminine hygiene products. Maybe it's because I have nothing to hide. I like scantily-clad girls, photography, martial arts, fitness and fast cars, so what? Bring on the on-topic ads.

[dreamingat30fps]

Originally Posted by M_Six

No, it was prompted by a story I had read the day before at work about food banks possibly taking up the slack for the lack of school lunches for kids. We already contribute monthly to our local food bank as well as larger periodic contributions. I just mentioned to her that we should increase the automatic monthly contribution for a while until this subsides. It was maybe 10 minutes later that she saw that ad about food banks.

That said, we've tried in the past to test whether it's listening by talking about something we'd never normally discuss, like backyard kiddie pools or something. We've never "caught it in the act," as it were.

Occam's razor. Has FB developed amazing speech recognition software (when siri can't understand half of what I saw) it's running secretly on everyone's phone without anyone finding out. None of the thousands of employees that work there have come out. No hackers have compromised FB and found the huge database of recorded conversations.

Or you wen't on some food bank related site, read some food bank related story or really did anything related to food banks or donating on any of your computers or phone without really thinking about it at all. After all it's something you were both thinking about before you had this conversation. And that's why you are being targeted. I'm not saying the first option is not possible, just highly unlikely considering the alternative.

BTW as for the kiddie pool, there may simply be no one paying FB to advertise kiddie pool, so I would keep trying.

[M_Six]

I'm not concerned about being recorded, really. I can see where a voice recognition app would run entirely locally and just request ads matching words it heard. It'd be good if all phones had the ability to disable the mic, except that mic is what you need to make calls.

[spazzyfry123]

This happens to us all the time and neither of us has a Facebook. It's just the way it is. No smart home goodies in the house, just laptops and cell phones. We'll have a conversation in the kitchen about something and then all ads that populate are now aimed towards a conversation that hadn't happened prior to 30 minutes ago. Frustrating, but don't think it's Facebook. It's 2020.

[adc100]

Its not FB its your unprotected browser. Run it in the "Incognito" mode,.

[MKSixer]

It's your phone and the interconnectivity of the systems. I was discussing Maserati's on the phone with a friend one day...computer not around and when I open the computer several hours later nothing but Maserati ads coming up. This happened for the next several days.