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Re:Facebook Figured Out My Family Secrets, and It Won't Tell... by dayjah on Saturday August 26, 2017 @09:35AM (#15105354)
I've just assumed this is through whatsapp. I've logged into whatsapp with my phone number, fb know my phone number (2fa codes), and they've slurped my address book from my phone and then show me connections on fb that are a few degrees of separation. This is the only way I can think that neighbours I barely know show up on the "people you may know" feature -- we're connected through neighbours I know far better.
Re:Facebook Figured Out My Family Secrets, and It Won't Tell... by manmal on Saturday August 26, 2017 @09:48AM (#15105412)
They probably know your neighbors because you both have the same SSIDs in your vicinity.. I don't see FB not knowing this. Or if you allowed GPS, and neighbors did too, then it's even easier to make the connection.
Re:Facebook Figured Out My Family Secrets, and It Won't Tell... by Jdam on Saturday August 26, 2017 @10:05AM (#15105490)
My co-workers from the office are frequently recommended to me on FB. Since I don't have their number, it must be location based.
Re:Facebook Figured Out My Family Secrets, and It Won't Tell... by pbhjpbhj on Saturday August 26, 2017 @11:23AM (#15105828)
You don't need to have their number, if someone else has both of your numbers and has uploaded their contacts list then you're linked in that third party's list. Equally likely it's linked via the wifi SSID or GPS?
Re:Facebook Figured Out My Family Secrets, and It Won't Tell... by Buge on Sunday August 27, 2017 @07:37AM (#15110307)
If you both use the same wifi, then it could see you as the same IP address and recommend you to each other.
Re:Facebook Figured Out My Family Secrets, and It Won't Tell... by kylemclaren on Saturday August 26, 2017 @10:01AM (#15105475)
You are 100% correct about this. People have appeared on "People you may know" when I have absolutely zero connection to them other than I have chatted to the on What's App... I'm afraid I may have to stop using the service soon... was great until FB bought it.
Re:Facebook Figured Out My Family Secrets, and It Won't Tell... by javiramos on Saturday August 26, 2017 @10:27AM (#15105582)
I agree - it is amazing how even a small mention of a product in a whatsapp conversation with my friends turns into a barrage of related ads on Facebook. We have even started teasing each other by mention funny products just to indundate each other with irrelevant ads. So sad - my assumption is: anything you say or do in an electronic device is NOT private.
Re:Facebook Figured Out My Family Secrets, and It Won't Tell... by bb101 on Saturday August 26, 2017 @01:13PM (#15106319)
I wonder how this could work when Whatsapp advertises that conversations are encrypted end-to-end.
Re:Facebook Figured Out My Family Secrets, and It Won't Tell... by jpalomaki on Saturday August 26, 2017 @03:16PM (#15106895)
These kinds of things might be just random. You see probably thousands of ads during the day, but most of them are not registered by your conscious mind. Only when there is a notable connection to something, your brain wakes up and you register the ad.

There's also the option that before bringing up something in conversation, your friend has made some related searches or reacted to a related ad. Facebook could then make the decision to show the ad to you based on your friend past behavior and the fact that you two had a conversation.

Re:Facebook Figured Out My Family Secrets, and It Won't Tell... by riteshpatel on Saturday August 26, 2017 @04:31PM (#15107283)
> These kinds of things might be just random. You see probably thousands of ads during the day, but most of them are not registered by your conscious mind. Only when there is a notable connection to something, your brain wakes up and you register the ad.

This is similar to the Cocktail Party Effect

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocktail_party_effect

Re:Facebook Figured Out My Family Secrets, and It Won't Tell... by 482794793792894 on Sunday August 27, 2017 @07:19AM (#15110248)
It's end-to-end-encrypted between the proprietary WhatsApp clients, but they might very well scan things inside of the WhatsApp client.
Re:Facebook Figured Out My Family Secrets, and It Won't Tell... by endorphone on Saturday August 26, 2017 @10:49AM (#15105672)
I don't use WhatsApp. Most of the people I know don't. People have appeared on my suggested contacts when I have no other connection with them.

Clearly Facebook uses many, many sources of data.

Re:Facebook Figured Out My Family Secrets, and It Won't Tell... by lazyjones on Saturday August 26, 2017 @12:27PM (#15106127)
> People have appeared on my suggested contacts when I have no other connection with them.

Have you considered the possibility that those other people have been searching for you on FB for some reason?

Re:Facebook Figured Out My Family Secrets, and It Won't Tell... by coldtea on Saturday August 26, 2017 @12:44PM (#15106204)
>You are 100% correct about this. People have appeared on "People you may know" when I have absolutely zero connection to them other than I have chatted to the on What's App...

Well, isn't it obvious though? Facebook owns WhatsApp and has access to both "social graphs".

(Plus, it can also infer "people you may know" from people your friends in FB and Whatsapp know).

Re:Facebook Figured Out My Family Secrets, and It Won't Tell... by nebabyte on Saturday August 26, 2017 @01:18PM (#15106343)
Did you think they were saying otherwise?
Re:Facebook Figured Out My Family Secrets, and It Won't Tell... by coldtea on Saturday August 26, 2017 @01:22PM (#15106362)
No, I thought they presented it as surprising, when it's totally obvious.
Re:Facebook Figured Out My Family Secrets, and It Won't Tell... by tehlike on Saturday August 26, 2017 @11:02AM (#15105735)
Im stating to use signal. Except network effect is strong...
Re:Facebook Figured Out My Family Secrets, and It Won't Tell... by eighthnate on Saturday August 26, 2017 @11:26AM (#15105843)
Also keep in mind that social media/corps don't just use their own data, they also buys search history, credit card transactions, bank information, etc from other companies as well. Granted most of these are "anonymized" but it wouldn't take much effort to link them all together.

For example, if you CC company sends your transaction history to FB without any identification information, FB could still know that transaction history by linking your smartphone location data to the transaction history.

For example, if they know you were at train station at X time and at a Rite Aid at X time and at a McDonald's at X time, they could go "map" that to a "CC customer data tranche". It is highly doubtful that two people would be at same locations at the same exact times with the same transactions at the same time.

FB is big enough to rely on their own data for most of their needs, but selling of your data is big business and everyone is doing it.

And as creepy as FB adding your neighbors to your "people you may know", the real creepy part is the B2B part where corporations sell their profiles of you to each other or to governments/colleges/etc.

And we are just at the beginnings of "datafication" of everyone. It's truly going to be a brave new world.