Do you really believe that Facebook is using your smartphone to spy on you?
I’ve recently begun noticing that a growing number of people seem to believe that Facebook and other social networks use our communications and the fact that we have our smartphone with us practically all the time to adapt advertising messages.
The myth has been around for many years, bolstered by stories from people who claim to have received ads for sore throat and amigdalitis products right after telling somebody on WhatsApp that they had sore throat, ads for cat food after commenting that they were talking about getting a cat. Even some academics have, obviously without any valid research, tried to substantiate such claims.
But it isn’t. It’s a conspiracy theory that fits in neatly with our belief that our privacy is constantly being eroded. The issue has been checked by outfits like Snopes and categorically denied by Facebook officially on several occasions, and apps have been created to show that even though it’s feasible, it is not being done.
Yes, there are Facebook applications that enable a smartphone’s microphone, but that doesn’t mean the company is spying on us. Yes, there is a vulnerability in the WhatsApp encryption protocol that hypothetically allow users to read conversations, but that doesn’t mean Facebook reads our messages and tailors advertising to what we talk about with friends. Yes, it’s true that after Facebook bought WhatsApp, the app is less private and part of the information it generates is used to complete our profile, but that doesn’t mean anybody is eavesdropping on our conversations. What we speak or write is encrypted and not even the company can decipher it, even when the FBI demands to see it. A smartphone’s microphone could in theory be enabled by an app to listen to us, but this only happens in spy films. Spreading rumors about such activities simply makes you a magufo.
Advertisements that pop up on the social networks related to things we have talked about are simply coincidences. If you start seeing advertisements for safaris after mentioning you were thinking about going on one, it could be for any number of reasons : maybe a friend or people in your network have looked online for information. The world is full of coincidences: if you buy a red car, you suddenly start seeing them everywhere; the same with pregnant women if you start thinking about having a child.
The phenomenon is called selective attention or simply coincidence. Let’s not get carried away by unfounded rumors and accuse technology companies of bringing George Orwell’s 1984 to life. Yes, the world is drifting dangerously toward that dystopian future, but not because of Facebook.
We already have enough concerns about privacy and security: — I’m not an important person by any stretch of the imagination, but I have a VPN permanently installed on my smartphone and computer; I have enough on my plate and don’t need to add a prying, spying smartphone to my list of concerns.
(En español, aquí)
