Sick of Facebook listening to me... how do I stop it?
Discussion
I use Facebook...primarily as a diary of my life/memories for me to look back on and to connect with others on hobbies where there is often some useful content. I don't care about "likes", and whilst I can ignore all the AI generated crap, Bonnie sodding Blue and whoever the Ibiza Boss is, I cannot ignore the quite blatant surveillance and data theft of my life all in the advertising.
Out in the car with the wife the other day..."what was that motorbike" she askes me, to which I reply "Triumph". Next day constant Triumph adverts. Neither of use ride bikes, or follow bikes in any way whatsoever.
Out in the pub, in London, with a business connection, I asked him where he lives, to which he says "Ash". I said that 35 years ago at school I used to shoot at Ash Ranges. He said he walks his dog there. Two minutes (and I do mean two minutes later) my feed has a post from the UK Government as part of their "respect the ranges" campaign for dog walkers around the Farnborough area. For context I'd not mentioned the place Ash in 35 years and I live 150 miles away.
Just now, on a business call with a colleague, from home, (just using PC mic/speakers), he was telling me about the week off he's just had in Wales. 2 minutes later, and yes, my FB feed is offering me offgrid camping pods in Blaenau Ffestiniog. Again, Wales or anything Welsh has not featured on my radar for, erm, months and months, and I live in the East Midlands.
I could go on. However the fact that presumably the rest of that call's data (which included commercially sensitive information) is sat on a server somewhere is a real concern. I'm not buying the whole "it doesn't listen" because the evidence (and there are numerous other cases) shows very much that it does, at no point have I looked at a website or typed anything anywhere that had anything to do with the above. The commercial confidentiality implications are a concern, the fact that in a data lake somewhere some very personal stuff between myself and my wife is just plain wierd.
Please don't think I'm a member of the tin foil hat brigade, a couple of years ago I could have put it down to chance, but now the timings are ridiculous, instant, and there is absolutely no other logical explanation. I have no issue with CCTV, ANPR etc etc, but being effectively bugged in my own home is unacceptable.
I've already stopped FB from accessing my mic and vice versa but that doesn't work. How do I get my privacy back short of deleting Facebook?
Out in the car with the wife the other day..."what was that motorbike" she askes me, to which I reply "Triumph". Next day constant Triumph adverts. Neither of use ride bikes, or follow bikes in any way whatsoever.
Out in the pub, in London, with a business connection, I asked him where he lives, to which he says "Ash". I said that 35 years ago at school I used to shoot at Ash Ranges. He said he walks his dog there. Two minutes (and I do mean two minutes later) my feed has a post from the UK Government as part of their "respect the ranges" campaign for dog walkers around the Farnborough area. For context I'd not mentioned the place Ash in 35 years and I live 150 miles away.
Just now, on a business call with a colleague, from home, (just using PC mic/speakers), he was telling me about the week off he's just had in Wales. 2 minutes later, and yes, my FB feed is offering me offgrid camping pods in Blaenau Ffestiniog. Again, Wales or anything Welsh has not featured on my radar for, erm, months and months, and I live in the East Midlands.
I could go on. However the fact that presumably the rest of that call's data (which included commercially sensitive information) is sat on a server somewhere is a real concern. I'm not buying the whole "it doesn't listen" because the evidence (and there are numerous other cases) shows very much that it does, at no point have I looked at a website or typed anything anywhere that had anything to do with the above. The commercial confidentiality implications are a concern, the fact that in a data lake somewhere some very personal stuff between myself and my wife is just plain wierd.
Please don't think I'm a member of the tin foil hat brigade, a couple of years ago I could have put it down to chance, but now the timings are ridiculous, instant, and there is absolutely no other logical explanation. I have no issue with CCTV, ANPR etc etc, but being effectively bugged in my own home is unacceptable.
I've already stopped FB from accessing my mic and vice versa but that doesn't work. How do I get my privacy back short of deleting Facebook?
This is the very reason why I have no interest in Alexa, smart speakers, have no interest in being on Facebook, tictok, instagram or any of those. Only LinkedIn for professional reasons.
My O/H is more 'plugged in' so some of these things - but still not facebook or tictok and its very noticeable how the adverts and feeds quickly seem to pick up on things you've done or said. I'm sure it's all sold to us for our convenience, but it's clear to me we are the product and way too much of our lives are fodder for the tech giants.
I guess we are too far in to go back now and our lives are being fed in to the AI revolution so it'll only get worse.
My question is always, who's benefitting from all this. I don't think it's the general population or society by and large, and for that we should have concerns.
My O/H is more 'plugged in' so some of these things - but still not facebook or tictok and its very noticeable how the adverts and feeds quickly seem to pick up on things you've done or said. I'm sure it's all sold to us for our convenience, but it's clear to me we are the product and way too much of our lives are fodder for the tech giants.
I guess we are too far in to go back now and our lives are being fed in to the AI revolution so it'll only get worse.
My question is always, who's benefitting from all this. I don't think it's the general population or society by and large, and for that we should have concerns.
simon_harris said:
delete facebook, instagram, siri, alexa etc etc etc.
beyond that disable mics and cameras and so on. Privacy and facebook et al do not go hand in hand.
This.beyond that disable mics and cameras and so on. Privacy and facebook et al do not go hand in hand.
Remove their apps, access it via your web browser, in particular a web browser that gives you control like Firefox where you can install and blockers and privacy extensions like the EFFs Pricacy Badger.
Review all apps that have permissions to your microphone and remove as much as possible.
Mezzanine said:
Fallingup said:
What about WhatsApp?
It’s all encrypted and they cannot read or view anything you send right?Right?….
Just delete all their products if you don’t want them snooping.
Hard-Drive said:
Out in the car with the wife the other day..."what was that motorbike" she askes me, to which I reply "Triumph". Next day constant Triumph adverts. Neither of use ride bikes, or follow bikes in any way whatsoever.
Did she Google Triumph bikes? I can tell what my wife has been searching for on our home wi-fi by what adverts I get the next day. Today it's hats.Edited by MesoForm on Monday 11th August 16:32
Thanks guys.
So as an Apple user, with Safari as my default browser, if I get rid of the (anti)social apps and just use Safari, with the mic blocked, I should see a difference?
What about the Messenger app? I do use that with my cycling club, and FB marketplace, it would be a shame to delete it as I guess I'd miss a load of messages.
And what about WhatsApp? I don't care it knowing about where I am/who I am with, I just don't want it listening to me and trying to sell me stuff, or knowing about confidential work stuff. I very rarely use it for voice, just messaging and the usual group banter.
I just wish there was a FB style app, where I could do the occasional "diary" entry, see content from friends or specific groups which I'd joined, and that's it. I'd happily pay for that too. I do mourn the loss of traditional forums, almost everything apart from PH seems to have gone onto FB, which used to be good, but is now poisoned by AI generated rubbish and "look-at-me" morons.
Alexa...hmmm...we control lights and music etc with it, but at least there's a simple mute button on the top. I just hate the way FB does not have that...
So as an Apple user, with Safari as my default browser, if I get rid of the (anti)social apps and just use Safari, with the mic blocked, I should see a difference?
What about the Messenger app? I do use that with my cycling club, and FB marketplace, it would be a shame to delete it as I guess I'd miss a load of messages.
And what about WhatsApp? I don't care it knowing about where I am/who I am with, I just don't want it listening to me and trying to sell me stuff, or knowing about confidential work stuff. I very rarely use it for voice, just messaging and the usual group banter.
I just wish there was a FB style app, where I could do the occasional "diary" entry, see content from friends or specific groups which I'd joined, and that's it. I'd happily pay for that too. I do mourn the loss of traditional forums, almost everything apart from PH seems to have gone onto FB, which used to be good, but is now poisoned by AI generated rubbish and "look-at-me" morons.
Alexa...hmmm...we control lights and music etc with it, but at least there's a simple mute button on the top. I just hate the way FB does not have that...
Road2Ruin said:
Facebook do not 'listen' to your conversations, this has been proven on a scientific scale. There is, though, a massive amount of data on how they collect information that they use to target you. This data is much more useful to them than your conversations.
Alright Zuck, we believe you 
Comb through the facebook settings and follow a privacy guide on how to set them.
Also Whatsapp might have end to end encryption, but if people you talk to back up their chats, that ISN’T encrypted.
You also need a privacy based browser, because Facebook trackers are everywhere. Duckduckgo is my default on an iOS device.
All my facebook feeds are mostly random b
ks after doing all this.
I tried to get off Whatsapp, but my friends protested. That is the only Meta app I have installed on any of my devices.
OR you can take the nuclear option, ask Facebook to delete your accounts and all your data, but they will still maintain a shadow profile based on people you know through Whatsapp etc which has access to peoples Contacts / phone numbers etc. Its next to impossible to escape entirely.
I guess you could get a new phone number and insist all your friends put in a fake name / burner email / fake address in your contacts listing, and always use a VPN but maybe thats going a bit too far
Also Whatsapp might have end to end encryption, but if people you talk to back up their chats, that ISN’T encrypted.
You also need a privacy based browser, because Facebook trackers are everywhere. Duckduckgo is my default on an iOS device.
All my facebook feeds are mostly random b
ks after doing all this.I tried to get off Whatsapp, but my friends protested. That is the only Meta app I have installed on any of my devices.
OR you can take the nuclear option, ask Facebook to delete your accounts and all your data, but they will still maintain a shadow profile based on people you know through Whatsapp etc which has access to peoples Contacts / phone numbers etc. Its next to impossible to escape entirely.
I guess you could get a new phone number and insist all your friends put in a fake name / burner email / fake address in your contacts listing, and always use a VPN but maybe thats going a bit too far
Edited by wyson on Monday 11th August 18:07
Mezzanine said:
Road2Ruin said:
Facebook do not 'listen' to your conversations, this has been proven on a scientific scale. There is, though, a massive amount of data on how they collect information that they use to target you. This data is much more useful to them than your conversations.
Alright Zuck, we believe you Night before last I VERY randomly got into an argument with Mrs L13 about vacuum cleaners.
To understand just how random...
We are looking at houses on Rightmove (on a PC).
We go upstairs and Mrs asks if we could keep the housekeeper we have (yes, yes, very PH I know).
I respond, 'yes, but frankly I'd be up for getting a robotic vac instead, at least that might do a better job.' Now this is a joke. Not serious.
Next day. Facebook bombards me with adverts for vacuum cleaners.
My phone was on charge. Had been for hours. Face down on a radiator. I hadn't touched it for hours.
It was however within 3 feet of me when we we spoke.
I wonder how many other people got advertisements for vacuum cleaners, yet never said anything about them 
If you get eight friends together, I will tell one of you the name of the horse that is going to win the 3.15 at Newmarket tomorrow, too.
It's just a numbers game, connected with other Internet activities and what your FB friends are doing and typing into their search engines. It's easy to find the research to back this up.
https://impactfulmarketing.co.uk/facebook-ads/is-f...
If you get eight friends together, I will tell one of you the name of the horse that is going to win the 3.15 at Newmarket tomorrow, too.
It's just a numbers game, connected with other Internet activities and what your FB friends are doing and typing into their search engines. It's easy to find the research to back this up.
https://impactfulmarketing.co.uk/facebook-ads/is-f...
Lucas Ayde said:
Just as bad .. they claim the messages are end to end encrypted but I've seen at least one example of where Facebook was clearly integrated, with a Whatsapp message triggering a clearly related action on the person's Facebook feed.
Yes, that will be someone in the chat with backups turned on. And those backups are stored on Google, so double whammy in terms of privacy.Edited by wyson on Monday 11th August 19:31
Road2Ruin said:
I wonder how many other people got advertisements for vacuum cleaners, yet never said anything about them
If you get eight friends together, I will tell one of you the name of the horse that is going to win the 3.15 at Newmarket tomorrow, too.
It's just a numbers game, connected with other Internet activities and what your FB friends are doing and typing into their search engines. It's easy to find the research to back this up.
https://impactfulmarketing.co.uk/facebook-ads/is-f...
No, no way.If you get eight friends together, I will tell one of you the name of the horse that is going to win the 3.15 at Newmarket tomorrow, too.
It's just a numbers game, connected with other Internet activities and what your FB friends are doing and typing into their search engines. It's easy to find the research to back this up.
https://impactfulmarketing.co.uk/facebook-ads/is-f...
We have both said, we haven't l, either of us searched for vac's ever on the last ten years.
Wife's phone nowhere near us.
Just mine. I've never seen adverts for feckin vac's before I've never searched for vacuums.
Yet, next day I was bombarded with adverts.
Wife wasn't.
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