To say OMG, 'they' are definitely listening to us

[Ocean59]

DS and I randomly were singing the song Bonkers yesterday evening while being silly. We didn't have it on Spotify or anything, just singing it.

This morning, I woke to an email from the Evientim Apollo (where I've never been and certainly never had an email from them before) with details of tickets now on sale for Dizzee Rascal! 😯

Definitely agree.

You need to go into App settings and turn off microphone permissions for each app.

Of course they are.

I was in a shop with DD asking if she needed a new purse and going through them with her, wallet vs purse, one with zip etc.

I got home and amazon had sent me a notification
'We think you'd like a new purse, have a look at these...'

Thank you - I've just done that but the only one I had permission for was Teams and I guess I need that.

Totally.

The most egregious example I have is being at a dinner party in an Alexa house - I did not have my own phone with me, and getting home and having adds related to the dinner party conversation from my own device (laptop in this case.)

Was it the Alexa or other people's phones, I don't know.

Companies still deny this happens, I guess they figure if they don't admit it we will just be unsure enough not to make a fuss?

I was in H&M once and picked up a blouse, had a good look at it then put it back on the rack.

That evening the exact blouse popped up on my Instagram.

Yes definitely. I was talking about getting a particular sort of window, next thing I have adds popping up.

Yep.

We had a conversation at the weekend about how Center Parcs on the continent looked like better value than U.K. Center Parcs and lo and behold, guess what adverts appeared on my social media the next day...

Will definitely sort out microphone settings.

I don't actually mind this. It's only a computer, they are obviously not paying someone to sit there and listen to billions of conversations. Key words triggers an advert. So you get adverts tailored to what you want. That's fine, better than random adverts.

If I’m talking to a particular friend, she mouths (rather than says out loud) ‘things going on in the news’ because, she says (mouths!), people listen in and monitor you if you say certain words or phrases. She might be right then!

Companies still deny this happens, I guess they figure if they don't admit it we will just be unsure enough not to make a fuss?

Think about how many people think their phones/alexa etc are listening. Think about how many are engineers. Don't you think if it was the case that someone would have produced evidence by now? But there isn't any, just people saying that it must be happening, because of coincidence, positive reinforcement, targeted advertising and confirmation bias.

Colleague and I were talking about human sized dog beds... that evening both of us had recommendations for them via Amazon. Neither of us knew they were actually a real thing we just thought they would be a good idea!

I wish mine would listen to me, I’m so sick of fucking Omaze adverts! I report and block every time they pop up but everyday there is a new one.
i have tried training my social media to what I’m interested in but I still get ads for items I have never mentioned, same things again and again. So boring 😴

I suppose it does explain a lot about society, and I don't mean the 'listening' bit

You're right, that's what logic tells me BUT I haven't been to a live music event in at least 25 years, I've never been to the Eventim which is in London, where I haven't been in at least 10 years, so it does seem incredibly coincidental that less than 12 hours after singing the song, I should get the email.

It's been going on for years. I was in a meeting once and one of the people wasn't there. We had a chat about some work she was doing.

Get home, she's suggested as a friend on Facebook.

I never have work people as friends and there are zero mutual connections!

Of course 'people' aren't listening in to your friend's conversations 🙄 Unless she has a high up security job, perhaps.

I once said I think it will rain today and it did. Couldn’t fucking believe it.

It wouldn't have been from them unless you've signed up for emails, since they can't legally email you without your permission.

So either it was a fake scam email or you have actually signed up for their emails and don't remember.

This weekend, my DS was bemoaning the fact that he'd bought a lovely drink from the local Spar a few months back but he couldn't remember the name of it and they'd stopped selling it. He said all he could remember was that it was in a dark blue can. Within about ten minutes, he and I both had ads on our social media feed for that very drink.

Alexa is definitely always listening. How else would she know when you day 'Alexa'

But I guarantee you have got ads for live events before, you just never paid any attention to them. This one stands out because it occurred within a short time of a song you had a connection with. You've just forgotten all the similar ads that happened at other times. Our mind is really good at screening out extraneous noise and only keeping the bitss it thinks are important.

There are two routines within Alexa. One is on a 7 second loop and it's only job is to listen for "Alexa". If it hears it, it 'wakes up' the second routine that actually listens to what you've said, processes and interprets it, and gives you your answer. You could talk about anything you want, but unless Alexa hears it's wakeup phrase, it doesn't get recorded, doesn't get processed or used for anything.

OK playing along who is listening? And physically how is it happening? It doesn't actually make sense

Also this. You got an ad for the singer of a song you say it heard. But why didn't you also get ads based on the dozens of other pieces of music it must have heard during the day? Or the thousands of other objects you must have mentioned? Why just pick one?