undefined | Better HN

0 pointsgruez3y ago0 comments

> 1. So it's coincidence luck that I get advertising for 'window safty latch for children', as an 'interest' for '18-35'? They knew that I was looking for an apartment and had a kid that was 1yo and thought 'oh you know what that guy needs, window safty latch for his kid'

It seems doubtful that you can hide the fact that you had a 1 year old kid from facebook, unless you're a very sporadic/careful user. Besides, it's not too hard to imagine one of your friends outed you to facebook (eg. posted photo of you with a baby, or mentioning the fact that you have a baby on a post/comment somewhere). From there it doesn't seem too implausible that "had 1 year old kid" was a targeting factor for "window safty latch for children". As for the "looking for an apartment" part, I don't really think that's necessary for sending you ads for safety latches. Even if you live in a house you'd need latches to secure room windows that are on the second floor.

>2. So facebook leaked information that a conversation happened between me and a friend and they thought, oh you know what, Phillip had a conversation with X, and X just search for 'cat toys' so Phillip must want cat toys right now!

e2e provides zero assurances about metadata/social graph. that's been the case since PGP days.

0 comments

philliphaydon3y ago

1. I was never hiding that fact. But if those ads showed without any pre-discussion on whats app, i wouldn't care. The point is. Those ad's did not show until shortly after the whats app conversation. That suggests that Facebook is aware of the conversations that occur on whats app that are not business accounts. So e2ee is false.

2. Again, those ad's never showed until shortly after the conversation occurred. I'm talking within ~30m of the discussion.

That's too soon to be a coincidence.

scrollaway3y ago

And what about all the times you talked about things on WhatsApp and Facebook didn’t start showing you ads about whatever?

Confirmation bias is a hell of a thing; it works in many different ways. Personally over years of usage I’ve never had WhatsApp convos trigger ads.

philliphaydon3y ago

Majority of people I talk to are Messenger, LINE, and Telegram. So I only have a few people on Facebook. The Business accounts 100% cause me to get advertising on facebook. For example last week the butcher I used to purchase from in Singapore messaged me from his business account advertising arrival of new meat. Boom I get advertising for meat products in Singapore and Taiwan.

The issue is, I have only 3 chats happening in WhatsApp in the last 2 years that are non-business chats. And all 3 have had conversations resulting in advertising.

2 more replies

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 pointsgruez3y ago0 comments

e2e provides zero assurances about metadata/social graph. that's been the case since PGP days.

0 comments

philliphaydon3y ago

2. Again, those ad's never showed until shortly after the conversation occurred. I'm talking within ~30m of the discussion.

That's too soon to be a coincidence.

scrollaway3y ago

And what about all the times you talked about things on WhatsApp and Facebook didn’t start showing you ads about whatever?

Confirmation bias is a hell of a thing; it works in many different ways. Personally over years of usage I’ve never had WhatsApp convos trigger ads.

philliphaydon3y ago

The issue is, I have only 3 chats happening in WhatsApp in the last 2 years that are non-business chats. And all 3 have had conversations resulting in advertising.

2 more replies

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse