One of my weirder hobbies is trying to convince people that the idea that companies are listening to you through your phone’s microphone and serving you targeted ads is a …

Not my title! I do think we are being listened to. And location tracked. And it’s being passed on to advertisers. Is it apple though? Probably not is my take away from this article, but I don’t trust plenty of others, and apple still does

  • @sit@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    35•4 months ago

    I talk to my father on the phone.

    We finish.

    I receive ads for a very specific thing that we talked about that I’ve never ever looked up.

    Same thing with my therapist.

    We talk. I receive highly specific ads.

    • @ifItWasUpToMe@lemmy.caEnglish
      48•4 months ago

      It can always be explained by something else. Recency bias being a big one. It’s very possible you saw an ad yesterday as well, but didn’t notice you saw it because you haven’t talked about that item. Talk about it today, see the same ad, and now you think you’re being listened to.

      It’s very possible your father googled something after hanging up the phone. There are endless ways they can connect you to knowing your father.

      It’s possible someone on the same wifi network as you or your father overheard the conversation and looked it up.

      All of these are far more likely than everything you say and do being recorded without anyone ever finding any definitive proof.

      • @sit@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        2•4 months ago

        Ever had a free free flowing conversation for hours?

        You talk about things you wouldn’t possibly think of alone because of the other person.

        Im located in Germany ne I guess many of you people are have not yet been victim of this, else you would agree with me.

    • @essteeyou@lemmy.worldEnglish
      18•4 months ago

      Perhaps they track who you talk to and show you ads that are relevant to those people, or their best guess based on two profiles.

      I don’t think there’s a data center out there with a live audio stream of literally billions of always-on devices 24/7/365.

      Perhaps there’s some local processing first, but devices have permissions for apps, and lights that indicate the mic/camera is in use.

      I figure someone would have figured it out by now (reverse engineering, decompiling code), or someone from Google/Apple/Samsung would have leaked it if it were true. Think of the number of people required to keep this secret.