Is Facebook monitoring you?

Are social media sites using your phone's camera and microphone to spy on you?

(KPRC)---The uncanny ability of Facebook to populate users' feeds with well-tailored ads has raised the specter that the social media giant may be monitoring users by tapping into camera features, surreptitiously.



A Facebook user recently shared a photo showing her eating Raisin Bran cereal at the same time a Raisin Bran ad showed up in her Facebook feed.

Other users report similar curious intrusions, alleging tapping of microphones, cameras and locations.

"It's super creepy. It's espionage creepy," Derrick Smith said.

Smith related a recent experience where he had a private conversation with his boss and when he returned to his office, his Facebook feed seemed to reflect points of the conversation.
 

"We're not even friends on Facebook," Smith said.
Facebook, which typically has access to users' cellphone microphones, denied the allegation that the company "wiretaps" users:

"Facebook does not use your phone's microphone to inform ads or to change what you see in news feed. Some recent articles have suggested that we must be listening to people's conversations in order to show them relevant ads. This is not true. We show ads based on people's interests and other profile information -- not what you're talking out loud about.

"We only access your microphone if you have given our app permission and if you are actively using a specific feature that requires audio. This might include recording a video or using an optional feature we introduced two years ago to include music or other audio in your status updates."

"Being paranoid is probably not a bad idea," Chris Bronk, Assistant Professor of Computer and Information Systems at the University of Houston, said.

Bronk, who is also associate director of the Center for Information Security and Education, said he does not believe that Facebook is "wiretapping" users, but encourages people to keep a watchful eye on their permission settings.

"The apps on your phone, they want things," Bronk said.

The list of things apps want appears to be ever-increasing, and can include things like body sensors, calendars, cameras, contacts, location, microphone, phone, text messaging and storage, depending on your phone.

Android phones and iPhones enable users to select which apps have permission to access which features on your phone.