To think my phone listens to my conversations?

[MrsMiaWallis]

Or is this something everyone knows except me?

Had a conversation at lunchtime with dd2 about fostering children, was telling her about a friend of mine who fostered kids, she had watched a film about it.

When I went on ny phone, the first sponsored ad on Facebook was from the Fostering Society.

Is this a thing?!

Yes, didn’t you know?

No! Disclaimer I am quite old!

Yeah, you need to turn your mic off.

Mind I get Facebook ads for stuff I'm just thinking about. Slightly more creepy

I actually thought everyone knew smart devices 'listen'. I'm in my 50s and I've known for years, doesn't bother me though.

@TwirlingTwizzler

I actually thought everyone knew smart devices 'listen'. I'm in my 50s and I've known for years, doesn't bother me though.

Facebook deny they target ads based on mic recordings...

@gamerchick

Yeah, you need to turn your mic off.

Mind I get Facebook ads for stuff I'm just thinking about. Slightly more creepy

Woah! That would be weird 😆

I get Facebook ads for things I look up on my work computer and I have absolutely no idea how they are connected. I am not logged into any of the same things on them. I never go on social media on laptop etc. The only thing I can think of is that I use my card details on both to buy things.

I’m not very interesting so I’m not bothered from a personal perspective that ‘they’ know what I’m doing, but the level to which it all seems to web together is both a bit scary and brilliant when you think about how it could help for things such as counter terrorism etc so I’m torn really.

Might be a stupid question with an obvious answer but how do you turn your mic off?

Facebook deny they target ads based on mic recordings

Apple denied that they deliberately crippled older phones so people upgrade, until they admitted it and offered new batteries for 25 quid.

@BasinHaircut

I get Facebook ads for things I look up on my work computer and I have absolutely no idea how they are connected. I am not logged into any of the same things on them. I never go on social media on laptop etc. The only thing I can think of is that I use my card details on both to buy things.

I’m not very interesting so I’m not bothered from a personal perspective that ‘they’ know what I’m doing, but the level to which it all seems to web together is both a bit scary and brilliant when you think about how it could help for things such as counter terrorism etc so I’m torn really.

Same WiFi?

Yes it's a thing, mobiles do it as do devices like Amazon Echo and Google Dots

Like FaceBook tells the truth ! ...always!

Yes! All the time it's very creepy

@LindaEllen ah yes fucking hell I didn’t even think of that.

But does that mean if anything I look up could pop up on a friends social media if they use my WiFi?

Happens to me all the time. When I first noticed it I would strike up conversations with my partner about things we had no interest in or products would never speak about just to see. And within 24 hours ads would appear.

Sadly the idea of privacy invasions that sound ridiculous and would have got you committed in previous years are now commonplace realities. Technology is king. Long live the king!
This is probably the rational excuse of many out-and-out conspiracy theorists!

@BasinHaircut yep unfortunately! Anything using the same WiFi or ip address. My work colleague has looked things up on her mobile, which have then popped up on Facebook on my work computer (not that I use Facebook at work of course)

We were all so worried about the government spying on us , we never thought it would be companies (I blame 1984)

Google/FB are “Big Brother”, meanwhile government institutions still use Windows 95 and handwritten forms

Forgot being listened to by your phone, retailers use smart phones to get patterns about people while they are in shops:
www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/sensory-overload-how-your-smartphone-is-becoming-part-of-you-1210244
ico.org.uk/about-the-ico/news-and-events/blog-how-shops-can-use-your-phone-to-track-your-every-move/

Yes I believe so I often get ads for things I’ve spoken about messages or on the phone to someone.

We were all so worried about the government spying on us , we never thought it would be companies (I blame 1984)

While I see your grin, you might want to remove it so we can all have a good think about its implications. It's a very good point. The power of private companies and private capital has been growing hugely. Perhaps if we all look at that a bit more seriously we will all see that things have gone too far and urgently needs a correction back in favour of state regulation on behalf of the people.