Facebook - People you may know function

[61653 HTAFC]

It is listening locally for anything that sounds like the trigger word. The wider speech recognition is done online via Amazon's servers and not in the device. It doesn't send anything to Amazon's servers unless the trigger word is used.

Let's just say I trust Amazon (and Google, and even Apple) about as far as I can throw them.

 

[najaB]

No. She put it on the TV that belongs to the house. I was on my phone on mobile data, not even WiFi. Quite possibly a huge coincidence, but as I said I had never heard of the service or the program. Never popped up on my Facebook before either.

Ever heard of the Baader–Meinhof phenomenon or frequency illusion?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Let's just say I trust Amazon (and Google, and even Apple) about as far as I can throw them.

I don't trust them either, but there are enough hackers and other highly skilled people investigating these things that if they were misbehaving in that way it would very quickly be very public and everyone would throw them in the bin.

 

[najaB]

Let's just say I trust Amazon (and Google, and even Apple) about as far as I can throw them.

I think you've got that backwards. Apple and Amazon both want your money and in the case of Amazon want to actively destroy High Street retail, your value to Google is only as a target for ads. So I rank Google as the least evil of the three, definitely less evil than Apple.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

I think you've got that backwards. Apple and Amazon both want your money and in the case of Amazon want to actively destroy High Street retail, your value to Google is only as a target for ads. So I rank Google as the least evil of the three, definitely less evil than Apple.

I was just covering the main bases, not "ranking" them by how evil I think they are. The "even" was maybe a subconscious acknowledgement that Apple seems to have a bit more of a "Teflon effect" (in that nothing seems to stick to them) going on. I don't actually think they're evil in a literal sense anyway.
Corporations are amoral just like sharks or grizzly bears, and I'd be wary of inviting one of those into my home too.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I think you've got that backwards. Apple and Amazon both want your money and in the case of Amazon want to actively destroy High Street retail, your value to Google is only as a target for ads. So I rank Google as the least evil of the three, definitely less evil than Apple.

Apple's business is quite traditional - flogging expensive hardware. They gain little from "big data".

Like the supermarkets, Amazon are killing other businesses because those businesses won't compete. And that isn't solely to do with price - I won't use most small online businesses as they won't guarantee on their website that they won't use Hermes or Yodel. Whereas Amazon Logistics, despite being a budget operation, I find to be reliable.

 

[tomuk]

Apple's business is quite traditional - flogging expensive hardware. They gain little from "big data".

Well about a quarter of their revenues aren't from hardware sales. The quarter being 20 odd billion dollars.

 

[baz962]

Ever heard of the Baader–Meinhof phenomenon or frequency illusion?

Maybe , but I don't think that's it. I never saw or heard of the service or program before and it literally popped up on my feed while watching it. But since last night it hasn't come on again, literally just the one time.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Well about a quarter of their revenues aren't from hardware sales. The quarter being 20 odd billion dollars.

They indeed do other things like flog media and music subscriptions. What they're *not* massively in the business of is advertising, other than of their own stuff. Thus the big data isn't as much use to them.

 

[najaB]

What they're *not* massively in the business of is advertising, other than of their own stuff. Thus the big data isn't as much use to them.

That's why I rate them between Amazon and Google. Amazon is trying to take your money (and kill off traditional retail). Apple is just trying to take your money. Google is helping other people try to take your money.

 

[Bletchleyite]

That's why I rate them between Amazon and Google. Amazon is trying to take your money (and kill off traditional retail). Apple is just trying to take your money. Google is helping other people try to take your money.

Indeed Apple is actually big into traditional in person retail. Perhaps it demonstrates a model where you can pay extra for in person service, and millions of people worldwide actually do.

 

[david1212]

Facebook & I do not get on as I'm not happy giving them personal details to intentionally or otherwise share e.g. when they get hacked. Both accounts I have had are now suspended.

Relative to this thread the first time I opened an account I had the linked email online Yahoo account open at the same time. As soon as registered and active a list of people I might know appeared. Facebook could only have got these by either directly reading the email account address book or a cache, cookie etc on the PC. The second time I created an email account just for Facebook.

Since then generally I have been a lot more cautious by using private windows that clear cookies and page caches when closed, if websites will not work in private windows manually clearing cache and cookies, using cookie blockers in uBlock origin ( annoyances section ) and if needing email open at the same time as anything else having that in different browser.

 

[D365]

So I rank Google as the least evil of the three, definitely less evil than Apple.

You mean to tell me that you place your trust in a company that is born out of commercialising/racketing data?

 

[najaB]

You mean to tell me that you place your trust in a company that is born out of commercialising/racketing data?

I never said I trust them. However, between a company that is trying to take my money and a company that provides data that other people use to try and take my money I would rank the latter as less damaging.

 

[D365]

However, between a company that is trying to take my money and a company that provides data that other people use to try and take my money I would rank the latter as less damaging.

Hm. You're right that Google's services are free at point of use. But I would in no way equate that to be less damaging - I'd rather stick to my hardware (and not me) being the product.

 

[takno]

I never said I trust them. However, between a company that is trying to take my money and a company that provides data that other people use to try and take my money I would rank the latter as less damaging.

I hate Apple and all of its products, but in terms of corporate goodness I'd take them over Google and Facebook every time. A lot of "advertising" on the internet mostly involves finding ways to insert themselves between companies and their customers, and then charging a fee not to divert them off elsewhere.

 

[birchesgreen]

It you don't want to use Apple products then don't and you can get away with it, it's difficult to use the internet without using Google or Facebook or even Amazon.

 

[Bletchleyite]

It you don't want to use Apple products then don't and you can get away with it, it's difficult to use the internet without using Google or Facebook or even Amazon.

Google can be avoided by using Bing or DuckDuckGo. The other two plenty of people don't use.

 

[najaB]

Google can be avoided by using Bing. The other two plenty of people don't use.

Not really, Google Analytics and AdSense drive the Internet.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Not really, Google Analytics and AdSense drive the Internet.

You can block them with suitable software.

 

[birchesgreen]

Google can be avoided by using Bing or DuckDuckGo. The other two plenty of people don't use.

Many people use Amazon without even realising it, loads of the internet is served using AWS

 

[Bletchleyite]

Many people use Amazon without even realising it, loads of the internet is served using AWS

That's a different form of "using Amazon", though. I was more referring to buying stuff off them or being served their advertising.

 

[birchesgreen]

That's a different form of "using Amazon", though. I was more referring to buying stuff off them or being served their advertising.

Jeff Bezos still gets his coin.

 

[najaB]

You can block them with suitable software.

True. But that's more than just using Bing though.

 

[Crossover]

It doesn't do anything of the sort. It'll do it other ways, such as people you're connected with (in space or as friends) searching for the thing that was discussed.

It is possible for the likes of Siri and Alexa to do that if a trigger word is inadvertently used, or something sounding like one. I have my Alexas set to make a sound when triggered so I know when they're properly listening.

Your phone shows you when anything other than the built-in voice assistant is using the microphone.

I must say, I am skeptical, though tend not to think too much about it. Both me and my other half have been having conversations (in person) about something, with the our phone in earshot and not a couple of minutes later we are getting ads/posts for the topic we were just discussing. I have an iPhone and don't have the "Hey Siri" thing set up so there is no reason for it to be picking up conversation really, but it feels like more than coincidence

They don’t know you’ve deleted them at the time, but then you will start appearing on their ‘friend suggestion’, so they get the monk on you’ve deleted them!

I don't think that should happen. Facebook keeps a log of all the people you've deleted (you can find it if you export your content). As someone else mentioned, I tend to notice it by chance due to them posting on someone else's wall or such

One of the 'people you may know' suggestions I regularly get is a former work colleague who sadly died at least ten years ago. Presumably no-one has ever closed his FB account ?

I know a page of someone deceased can be changed to an 'in memoriam' page. There is now an option that you can nominate someone who can get admin access to your page if you pass away. If you don't do that I'm not sure how easy it is for a page to be deleted or converted to an 'in memoriam' page.

Yes, I have had a couple of friends whose pages have been changed over to be a memorial status, but if it isn't done then it will show as a friend suggestion to people (I have had them too)

 

[WelshBluebird]

Both me and my other half have been having conversations (in person) about something, with the our phone in earshot and not a couple of minutes later we are getting ads/posts for the topic we were just discussin

This topic has been discussed at length across the internet (including here I think in the past), and the usual explanation is that there has been some other link too. E.g. someone on the same WiFi network as you have searched for something related to what you get ads for (which if you are discussing something with someone who lives with you, is pretty likely) or someone on the same network has been on a page / app that mentioned the topic first which then prompted the conversation etc. As has been said in this thread, if these things actually listened to everything you say then we would know because it is pretty easy to sniff the traffic going through your home network.

Apple's business is quite traditional - flogging expensive hardware. They gain little from "big data".

Historically yes. Going forward? Not so much. There is a reason most of their growth in recent years has been in services not hardware.
And they are starting to push more into the ad business too. They already have a fairly large team and are expanding it. They are also apparently testing ads in various iOS apps (maps etc). It feels like Apple will spin this to customers by saying by doing the ads themselves they aren't selling your data / selling access to you to another company so aren't as bad as Meta / Google etc, but I can absolutely see the other companies getting somewhat irked by having their legs cut from underneath them essentially on the iPhone (since the changes to how permissions work last year) so it will be interesting to see how it plays out!