The simplest explanation is that yes, the phone is listening. I had this same suspicion a few years ago. It was only ads for stuff I talked about, never searched for. I decided a test was in order, someone I knew I never typed in anywhere, but only talked about. So I started talking, out loud, about how I was suddenly interested in Utah Jazz, and I should get tickets, and buy a jersey and a hat. I was getting ads within days.

quote:

Originally posted by pbslinger:
Is this an opportunity to brag about your new Suunto watch and Ryobi post hole digger?

Unfortunately not. I am going to run this watch into the ground I have decided.

I was so very close to buying a auger but this garden project is a project with my boys. They do a little and I mean very little of the digging but they are all under 8 so they are doing just fine.
But I am really trying to teach them not to take the easy way out and to spend money wisely.
Spending $350 on an Auger that uses a new battery system that I likely won’t use for years to come when I can do the labor myself.

I truly don't believe the device causes data leakage. I believe the apps do. A small difference I know, but the more apps you download, the leakier. Most people accept and permit the hell out of anything that pops up to request. Then they're amazed at the coincidental things that happen.

This stuff never happens to me. I've been an iPhone user since 2010. But I would pass a pop quiz on what apps have access to my location, Bluetooth and microphone. I believe most people would not.

I do feel I've got work to do on the data correlation that is happening to me on my Mac/browsers. I'm getting the hell tracked out of me there, and I'm honestly not as diligent as I could be.

Facebook and Amazon apps may also have microphone access.

We notice this a lot.

I will say it happened once without my saying a word. Walked in a rural hardware store displaying a unique item out front. Got home and had ads for it.

^^^I asked the question previously re: Amazon & facebook apps specifically due to their usage of the microphone as my wife had an mysterious occurrence where she was receiving ads for piano music/lessons, etc seemingly out of the blue. She assumed my son or I had searched on a device linked to her at home and asked me about it, but that was definitely NOT the case. I reminded her that I had 'strongly suggested' that she remove the Amazon and facebook apps from her phone as I was aware of the prolific data mining tactics/activities they employ. It turned out that there was a side conversation at her small office during lunch that a co-worker had with her boss on the subject, and once again, my guidance was proven correct.

It happened to me again week before last. We had a friend visiting. Wife and I have Android and friend has iPhone. Don't know if they were actively on Facebook or not. They were sitting in the kitchen talking about something. I was merely walking by and my wife said something about Big Buford. Apparently, she thought that there was an oil rig with that nickname. I never said a word but was thinking to myself that there was a burger chain that had a Big Buford and I couldn't remember which one. The next day, on my Facebook feed, was an ad for Rally's/Checkers and the Big Buford.

They listen.

^^^Regardless of whether they are 'actively' on facebook (or Amazon), those apps are listening...

It is part of Big Data you see in the commercials. The phone is listening and and various apps tap this service. Most are running an API that gathers the information and makes it available. The device is always listening like Siri or Alexa they have to be or they would not hear the 'wake' word to do the task you wish. So they have started also listening for other words like SUUNTO and Tool or Gardening, etc. The algorithm then sorts this data into the various slots looking for commonalities between you and stuff you are subscribed to. It then notifies appropriate parties of your interest.

SUUNTO isnt told you were talking about your watch, only that the interest was their, so thus the email.

It's not coincidence. Keep that in mind if you ever have conversations that would offend a liberal because now that conversation is stored somewhere for future use.

quote:

Originally posted by r0gue:
I truly don't believe the device causes data leakage. I believe the apps do. A small difference I know, but the more apps you download, the leakier. Most people accept and permit the hell out of anything that pops up to request. Then they're amazed at the coincidental things that happen.

This stuff never happens to me. I've been an iPhone user since 2010. But I would pass a pop quiz on what apps have access to my location, Bluetooth and microphone. I believe most people would not.

I do feel I've got work to do on the data correlation that is happening to me on my Mac/browsers. I'm getting the hell tracked out of me there, and I'm honestly not as diligent as I could be.

On an iPhone, who do you think approves the apps before they land in the store - and Apple gets their 1/3 cut?

Between myself, and two immediate family members who all have worked with data (1 at a mobile phone company), I guarantee you’re being listened to. It doesn’t mean the apps don’t spy on you as well through your activities and Location.

In another thread I read, the poster was talking about how he trained his parrot to say something, and after a week that was the focus of the ads he was getting. And no, I can't say what it was here, but it certainly did work.

If the device is listening, and the algorithm is connecting you to others by family or their number in your phone, then that is how they can target you. Not only for ads, but also for other purposes.

If enough connections are made - donations to the Canadian Truckers? Purchases online for firearms? then you are likely part of a larger group to monitor in terms of "metadata," not specifically, as much as overall. This information is accessed and sold - it's part of political research and it's very much part of what Homeland does now. It's publicly accessible info - and it can be used as parallel construction when NSA data was the actual confirmation.

Take, for example, someone's laptop that was left at a shop for service, and after time wasn't picked up, so, the shop owner then seizes title to the goods to pay off the repair bill. His intent is legal - his next step would be to reset it to a cleaned up ready to use unit for resale, but what the heck, he pokes around a bit and voila - potentially illegal contents. No different that a cell phone ignored at a shop, either. What to do next?

It's why corporate research professionals like to get into competitors gear, or governments into other governments. You can lay out all the wire diagrams of relationships and get an idea who is the "influencer" or supervisors in a social organization. That can highlight who would be prime for exploitation ie headhunters, which can be nice. FBI, not so much.

But with your phone, smart TV, tablet, and TIoT all listening, recording your activities etc they can Venn diagram where you fit into society and not only entice you with commercials but also monitor what you are doing.

Attend a political rally with 35,000 others? Or, just off shooting in the desert when other indicators are checked off? Two other phones owned by LEO, gun fire, and one turned off? Yup, they sure can do things we don't expect.

Keep your eyes open for small four doors with dog dish hubcaps. Last time I saw one my neighbor was scamming a temporary disability and recorded installing 4x4 fence posts. That's just rudimentary surveillance. They can watch your bank account transactions and see where your credit card is going. Korean servers?

Nothing is private with electronics. I keep GPS off, vocal assistance off, etc down a long list of options, same on my laptop. BTW, last winter some were signing up for a utility app, didn't read the fine print, found their wifi enabled thermostat turned down to 55 when they got home. It was in the fine print, "we can do that since you gave us permission by default in the app."

If you let the internet into your home all this is to be expected, not a surprise.

quote:

Originally posted by konata88:
Do you disable Siri?

If they're listening in on you, disabling Siri won't stop it.

You should understand that this was happening with OnStar navigation back in the 1990s. This is nothing new.

Anyone ever wonder how Oracle got it start as a database company? Federal contracts for surveillance captures in the IC.

quote:

Originally posted by Black92LX:
But seriously, Sometimes these coincidences are way too pointed at specific conversations I have literally just had with folks and have done zero internet browsing in regard to the topic.

As I've said before: If phones and so-on were really listening to their owners, snagging bits of conversation out, relating it to the owners, and passing it along to advertisers--including their contact info: Don't you think somebody would've spilled the beans by now?

I do. In fact: I'm certain of it.

Most of you have no idea how much time and effort all kinds of organizations and individuals spend trying to find just such things and busting them wide open.

quote:

Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:
My guess? iPhone. This invasive crap happens more and more with my wife when we discuss certain items and boom, there it is on her facebook feed. It only happens around my wife, and she has an iPhone.

Except Apple has a very clear policy in their ToS: They never share any information with any third parties, ever. Period.

Here's the relevant bit:

quote:

Apple does not share personal data with third parties for their own marketing purposes.

Ref: Apple Privacy Policy

If they were found to have been violating that contract with their customers they'd be facing class action lawsuits of biblical proportions--and probably criminal sanctions from the U.S., E.U., and world+dog.

Hell, "just" when they were considering putting child sexual abuse material scanners on their phones and tablets, and in MacOS, they received such intense and wide-spread back-lash they indefinitely suspended the program. Apple's "we don't snoop on you or share your data with anybody" policies are a big part of their products' cachet

quote:

Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:
So yes, they are that good at listening. It isn't a coincidence.

Given the two points I've made, above, I'm inclined to say no, they're not, and yes, it is.

Want to hear of another coincidence? The only places I ever hear of these things are on...



...wait for it...



gun forums.

Well I don’t know about y’all, but I read far more than just gun forums.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

quote:

Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:
My guess? iPhone. This invasive crap happens more and more with my wife when we discuss certain items and boom, there it is on her facebook feed. It only happens around my wife, and she has an iPhone.

Except Apple has a very clear policy in their ToS: They never share any information with any third parties, ever. Period.

Here's the relevant bit:

quote:

Apple does not share personal data with third parties for their own marketing purposes.

Ref: Apple Privacy Policy

Here's the relevant part: Apple might have that in their TOS but Facebook and every other app on the phone doesn't which is why he said it showed up on his Facebook feed. Oh and Apple shares in the revenue of all those apps so while they get to claim the moral high ground their device is designed to listen in and help those apps with their marketing revenue that is split with Apple.

quote:

Originally posted by Hildur:
Here's the relevant part: Apple might have that in their TOS but Facebook and every other app on the phone doesn't ...

Except Apple's ToS with app providers similarly prohibits them from doing that kind of thing, too.

Do they do it, anyway? Yes, sometimes they do. And when they get caught Apple punishes them.

That being said: Facebook is utterly evil. Full stop.

I don't mean just their promotion of leftism and their bias against anything left. They are Just Plain Evil. They have been caught so many times violating end-users' privacy it's a running joke.

The solution is simple: Do. Not. Use. Facebook. Ever.

If you insist on doing so, despite Facebook's well-known reputation: It's on you. Not the mobile devices. Not the companies making them. Not Facebook. You.

In short: Frog. Scorpion.

quote:

Originally posted by Flash-LB:

quote:

Originally posted by konata88:
Do you disable Siri?

If they're listening in on you, disabling Siri won't stop it.

I haven’t had Siri enabled on my phone in a good five years or so.

Here is a good article that discusses it. FWIW, it is NOT a gunforum.

Does your phone listen to you for ads?

quote:

Originally posted by redstone:
Here is a good article that discusses it. FWIW, it is NOT a gunforum.

Does your phone listen to you for ads?

That's a good article and I'm pretty sure it's factual.