Whistleblower: Facebook Able to Listen to You at Home and Work
Christopher Wylie, a Cambridge Analytica whistleblower told a committee of British MP’s Tuesday Facebook has the ability to spy on you in your own home or place of work.
PJ Media reported:
“There’s been various speculation about the fact that Facebook can, through the Facebook app on your smartphone, listen in to what people are talking about and discussing and using that to prioritize the advertising as well,” Collins said. “Other people would say, no, they don’t think it’s possible. It’s just that the Facebook system is just so good at predicting what you’re interested in that it can guess.” He asked for Wylie’s thoughts on the possibility.
“On a comment about using audio and processing audio, you can use it for, my understanding generally of how companies use it… not just Facebook, but generally other apps that pull audio, is for environmental context,” Wylie said. “So if, for example, you have a television playing versus if you’re in a busy place with a lot of people talking versus a work environment.” He clarified, “It’s not to say they’re listening to what you’re saying. It’s not natural language processing. That would be hard to scale. But to understand the environmental context of where you are to improve the contextual value of the ad itself” is possible.
Wylie continued: “There’s audio that could be useful just in terms of are you in an office environment, are you outside, are you watching TV?”
Christopher Wylie also said people who worked at Cambridge Analytica were in fear for their lives.
“My predecessor was found dead. One of my former coworkers had a massive head injury and is missing part of his skull. People do get hurt at this firm.” He added that people are afraid to come forward to talk about the company “because it’s that intimidating.”
On Tuesday, Cambridge Analytica pushed back on Wylie’s allegations.
“Christopher Wylie was a part-time contractor who left in July 2014 and has no direct knowledge of our work or practices since that date.”
Christopher Wylie was a part-time contractor who left in July 2014 and has no direct knowledge of our work or practices since that date.
— Cambridge Analytica (@CamAnalytica) March 27, 2018
Facebook denies they spy on users with their app in order to deploy customized advertisements.
Many Facebook users say they have realized the social media giant may be spying on their phone calls after bizarre coincidences.
One Facebook user told The Gateway Pundit they recall seeing advertisements about certain medications after discussing health concerns with a loved one over the phone.
Read the full report by PJ Media here.
Facebook shares tumbled 4.9% Tuesday on news Zuckerberg has agreed to testify on Capitol Hill.
Watch the hearing about Facebook’s alleged spying below:
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