[wackycat]

I love convincing people that Facebook isn't spying through the microphone but those relevant ads that relate to what your friend just said are as creepy as you think, just without the microphone. The example I like to give is if your friend with pets bought a new vacuum that they tell you is an absolute godsend for dog and cat hair. Facebook knows you have pets, they know your friend has pets, they know that you and your friend are friends. If you have location data on, they know that you and your friend are together. They know your friend recently bought a vacuum because they have access to a lot of purchase data. So it may seem like they're listening when your friend mentions the vacuum and an ad for it shows up in your feed later that day. They weren't listening, they were tracking. Listening would be spying in one aspect; rather they were following multiple aspects like purchases, relationships, lifestyle. Still creepy, just in a way that's harder for consumers to understand.