To think this is just too weird??

[NewDOOFUSfor18]

So me and OH were having a conversation earlier about his phone and he told me that he and his friend made a comment about being sponsored by a tool company, when he got home he went onto YouTube and there, in black and white, was a video headed "how is it to be sponsored by tool company". I said it was a coincidence although I know there have been questions surrounding Alexa listening in to conversations. He has literally just opened YouTube again and the suggested video was "does Google listen to my conversations?". I'm a little freaked by this but is it just coincidence? Or do I need to switch my phone to protect my privacy??

[NewDOOFUSfor18]

justanother I don't login to anything using Facebook as I need it to be very private and I don't use any other platform like Instagram or Twitter as I have no interest nor the understanding

I'm not convinced it's coincidence, the YouTube video was a demonstration by a man pretending to talk about buying toys for his dog (he didn't have a dog) with a friend...the first advert that came up for him was a company selling dog toys.

As an aside, I've just spoken to oh (I've had to come to work for a night shift ) and he said he was speaking to his mum after I left and she said she's jetting off on holiday tomorrow. When he finished he looked in YouTube again and the first video suggestion was "the 10 things you must do in said holiday destination". Jeez.

[PattiStanger]

This topic comes up regularly and despite it being pretty well documented and many people experiencing it every day there are always posters who come up with the most convoluted ways to try and explain how it's not the microphone on certain apps.

You can use facebook perfectly well without the microphone on, notanotherlurker, you need it IF you want to make calls but not as a matter of course

[PattiStanger]

This is from just last week

www.vice.com/en_au/article/wjbzzy/your-phone-is-listening-and-its-not-paranoia

[Justanotherlurker]

Anyone taking a vice article at face value is just as deluded as thinking that phones are recording 24/7 and sending the (massive data required) to then data analyse via speech to text and send you random online adverts as a loss leader.

I work in this field for one of the companies who will no doubt be mentioned. We have so much data being given freely via online habits that we are moving into new areas of signal spots being located in bricks and mortar shops. We do not have the capacity of the governments to dragnet every conversation you make and decipher the mundane to find the nugget of targeting ads.

What we do have is that the people who like to think they have never searched for such items before fall into 3 categories, they have, and forget they have researched it previously, the person they spoke to has already searched for it and because of there online connected presence via facebook/apple/google has put you into a group. Or the largest factor is that advertising has been very effective over the past couple of decades that you think you are bringing up new "random product" independently, this factor is the biggest 101 in being effective in marketing.

People are ignoring the 3rd factor and thinking they are above that, it does correlate over to points 1 and 2, but its not cost effective at the minute to introduce such measures, if it was being done it would have been highlighted and exposed by the whitehat community.

As I said, there is far too much data being collected already that the majority of those "alarmed" by this are more often than not the most oversharing on social media. It is not a cost effective strategy for the big 4, for all the people thinking their device is recording do not know where to look to see what has actually been recorded.

And yet, analysis shows that these same people are usually in support of government introducing more powers as they have nothing to hide so nothing to fear.

[YourVagesty]

JustAnother what do you mean by this:

Or the largest factor is that advertising has been very effective over the past couple of decades that you think you are bringing up new "random product" independently, this factor is the biggest 101 in being effective in marketing.

Sorry, I'd like to understand what you are saying but don't quite get it?

[Justanotherlurker]

@YourVagesty

Sorry, very badly worded on my behalf, English not first language and dyslexic to boot.

What I was trying to say was that marketing/advertising is a multi million pound business that has already perfected the art of soft persuasion where we think we have come up with the idea ourselves.

With regards to online targeted ads, its minimising the already multi billion industry that we are convinced we have come up with the idea of a new mattress etc as independent and thinking that phone calls or even worse is that phones are always on recording your conversations, analysing it and finding a couple of minutes conversation where they can try and flog you some hemorrhoid cream or new sofa as though its cost effective.

What is happening is that people are already more than happy to share their data, if we regard all the check in's and likes, we have innocuous apps that include the likes of The Guardian et al who all want access to your "friends" data.

The algorithms already in place means that you may may want to buy a new sofa, you spend an hour looking at new sofas whilst being signed in to all your apps, you then ring your friend and discuss you wanting a new sofa.

The fact that you or they have accepted to share your friends details allows analysis of where they think you are in the circle of friendship and if you would be a beneficial target for adverts that your friend was also looking at.

[TheNoseyProject]

Of course they’re listening, they can’t know when you’re speaking to them and when you’re not. Android are terrible for this, much easier to switch off on iPhone.

[Justanotherlurker]

Of course they’re listening, they can’t know when you’re speaking to them and when you’re not.

No they aren't.

Android are terrible for this, much easier to switch off on iPhone.

Apple are the worst offenders!

[50gradesofhay]

justanother just out of interest what would your theory be on what I wrote, ie we went to the zoo and saw some African masks, talked about them at length while looking at them because dc wanted to know all about them, where they are from, why they look the way they do, most definitely hadn't been the subject of discussion ever before, nor did we google the zoo, return home and the ad comes up. I am not asserting anything because I haven't spent any time thinking about it other than the initial "goodness that is odd", this thread just reminded me. Can't imagine African mask would be a 101...

[BertBox]

50!grades - I would say that that's a classic case of Baader-Meinhof

science.howstuffworks.com/life/inside-the-mind/human-brain/baader-meinhof-phenomenon.htm

[HildaZelda]

Yes, your phone is listening to you. Here you go:


myactivity.google.com/?restrict=vaa

[DianaT1969]

Go to Privacy in Settings on your iphone.
Choose Microphone and stop allowing apps to access your microphone.
You can see the apps that requested access. Youtube and Istagram had access to mine before I was alerted to this by a MN thread.
Same for voice recognition, just below 'microphone'.

[50gradesofhay]

It may not shock you to learn that pretty much all the ads which crop up on my computer relate to children, clothes, shoes, renovation (ongoing here), and cheap holidays to France and Greece, and that this has been been the case for 7 years since have baby number 1. Not African masks. Nothing exotic. No searches about hols in Africa. The African masks ad came up about 3 times after the trip to the zoo, over a period of a few weeks. Then they stopped. This was last summer. I haven't seen African masks anywhere else. That doesn't sound like baader-meinhof to me! I am very open minded about there being a rational explanation though.

[Ashaysayay]

Mark Zuckerberg puts duct tape on his microphone and webcam.

Just saying!

[iloveMiWadi]

You are really surprised by this? This is what you sign up to when you sign up to websites and buy phones. All in the small print. It's been happening for years and will only get worse.


It's a regular occurrence in our house to talk about something random like a cat brush and for it to pop up as an ad 2 mins later.

Google also records you talking/having conversations, and logs it.

Have gone on to my google drive activity many times to hear random snippets of conversations with random people while my phone was in my pocket.


Fucking hate the modern world.

[Justanotherlurker]

@50gradesofhay

You, general "your party" had location data turned on, if not, checking in via facebook, apple or instagram etc or could have just hooked up to their free wifi.

Where you went either had a new exhibition of African Masks or the masks was such an impressive part of the museum that it is widely "known" via good online feedback.

One of your party decided to sneakily google face masks as either wanting to appear a little more educated or looking at present ideas etc. You may have find my phone, bluetooth etc enabled which pinpoints you in that location. If not, the fact the 6 degrees algorithm takes hold that you will inevitably text/phone/message your immediate family(apple are the market leaders in this type of snooping atm) more means your more receptive to liking or wanting to buy products pushed to you.

Apple and Google are in a race at the minute as to who can get beacons installed into shops, where you if you spend more than x minutes down the jeans aisle you will be targeted with adds of jeans in your size online.

With the case of Apple pay etc they will know that you don't want to buy knew jeans due to your recent purchase.

Recording your ~10 hour days to pinpoint at the max 5 mins of conversation that could be tangebly linked to pushing ads is not economically viable with so many big data opportunities not fully realised yet

[Justanotherlurker]

Mark Zuckerberg puts duct tape on his microphone and webcam.

Because he is paranoid of governments FFS, the same people who spout this crap are the first to reason that the creep of increasing regulation by government interference on the web as "I have nothing to hide so nothing to fear".

If you had joined up thinking it would help you not making such meme comments.

[50gradesofhay]

justanother I am interested in what you say and open minded to other explanations (I should have said "other" rather than "rational" probably!) but no none of those things applied to me. I have a battered old blackberry with roaming and internet turned off nearly all the time. It was me and a couple of young dc 7 yrs and under. No texts to anyone as it wasn't an exciting trip, just a nice afternoon whiling away a few hours, masks caught dc's interest on that occasion...

[iloveMiWadi]

Can't believe there are people denying this, a woman posted the link to google activity where you listen to your own conversations been recorded. I've listened myself. Your activity record might be blank tho,

Devices are clever. No there is nobody listening, but the device is. It's not a conspiracy just fact. You really think how far we've come in technology that our devices can't log our words and show us the things we talk about?! wow

[Justanotherlurker]

Can't believe there are people denying this, a woman posted the link to google activity where you listen to your own conversations been recorded. I've listened myself. Your activity record might be blank tho,

Because google activity does not show recording ~10 hours of activity to pinpoint a conversation to show you foot cream.

If you had looked at it yourself as you proclaim, you will see its done in a couple of minute intervals, if it was as clandestine as you try and make out and the fact google openly show you the recordings it has done it would have hit national press by now.

You may think your some secret "hacker" by opening up the tab/options in your freely available app, the fact you can see what is recorded and what triggers were prompted to make them record shows you are seriously lacking any technological ability when you proclaim such statements as Can't believe there are people denying this

[Justanotherlurker]

@50gradesofhay

So if you have a battered old blackberry (bearing in mind blackberry are the most secure of phones) with no apps installed and dc with no phones/tablets etc then its nothing more than a case of human pattern recognition.

"They" are not dragnetting your inocuas conversations to try and flog you some African mask replicas because you had an interesting conversation with your dc, the governments are trying to dragnet everything you do online and store it up into some big data db for analysis. Those that are worried about the former are rather pessimistic about the latter, not you in person just general you, its ironic.

[fantasmasgoria1]

My e bay is not linked to Facebook yet if I have been looking at stuff on e bay adverts for those things come up on Facebook and I don’t use Siri or even mention what I’m looking at! I would never use Alexa or anything similar, I don’t like the thought I’m being listened to!

[50gradesofhay]

I don't think the outrage is that it is some big secret or we are being hacked or that it is a conspiracy. The outrage is the potential for the complete lack of privacy. Nothing to hide but no i don't want to be filmed, no i don't want special ads just for me, no I don't want to be recorded or to even contemplate the possibility of it.

[Rednaxela]

YouTube automatically subtitles videos now.

It's not a far stretch to see how using that AI, voice data can be instantly uploaded to wherever as text data. Then fed into the contextual advertising and tracking cookies.

At present I'm seeing an American Express ad on this thread.

Was discussing our credit cards with DH in a call on this phone earlier today.

No I have never noticed an Amex ad on MN before. They may have been served to me before and I didn't notice, or my phone is listening

[Ashaysayay]

Justanotherlurker

More fool you.

Also, calm down.