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Small-Scale Question Sunday for December 7, 2025

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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No, I don't trust the notification because I don't see any mechanism that prevents microphone from working while not displaying the notification, those are completely different systems, and the only thing linking them is software. Which is extremely fallible. If I break the electric circuit, I'd trust the laws of physics to prevent the microphone from working.

That you think the mechanism is fallible doesn't mean there isn't one.

Doesn't have to be Facebook, could be google feeding some data into one of a myriad of data aggregators, and ad platforms just using the end result of that.

This is not how Google's business model works. Selling user data to other companies defeats the purpose. If you're seeing Facebook ads for stuff you talked about IRL, I guarantee that information doesn't come from Google.

phone manufacturers aren't those who profit from ads

Facebook isn't a phone manufacturer.