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Posted

I saw todays Tech story :

 

Bug or feature? WhatsApp engulfed in privacy firestorm as users report app recording them while they SLEEP - here's how you can protect yourself

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So Saturday DI and I were talking about honeymoon locations later in the year. I was leaning toward a Carribean + US tour together as opposed to Lisbon/Portugal. This was the first time I was floating it. 

Pickup my S21 and blow and behold my google feed is showing adverts for Disneyland/LA/NY. It isn't the first time it has happened. Only a few weeks back we were discussing dog breeds that appeal. Bingo Bongo Bango, stories on those breeds started appearing on my feeds.  There were no Google searches in either case. Simply verbal banter with the phone nearby. 

Coincidental?  :lookaround:

 

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Posted

In a word, no. At least I’m not surprised. I try to keep my app settings as restrictive as possible, even if it means having to grant permission each time I want to use it. Is that foolproof? I doubt it. App companies have given us little reason to trust them. 

Posted

Been happening for years. "Legal" everywhere it seems. Google 5 eyes. I would take what they SAY they're looking for and multiply it by infinity. Infinity = everything!

Saw this 25 years ago when some friends and I were computer........hobbyists. Yea, that's a good term for it. Everyone said we we're nuts. Lo and behold now they went so far as to spy on you AND make you pay for it! Brilliant!. 😎

Posted
35 minutes ago, El Presidente said:

Coincidental?  :lookaround:

Anecdotally I've noticed it or seen it happen to friends.

It's hard to know if it's the listening unless it's really out of left field. Like you talk about North Korea and you get ads for a trip to North Korea.

Otherwise they're usually things that could be targeted to normal people, and a lot of websites are tracking you and sharing the data with google/fb/etc, so it doesn't have to be just listening or google searches, it could be from accessing any content on the web, or even the contents of your emails if you use gmail.

Edit: also cause and effect, the ads were targeting one of you already, and made you talk about it in the first place. I think this is most common when I'm talking on the phone and someone mentions, something and I come across it on my news feed. Did they also see the same articles and that's why they mentioned the subject?

Edit 2: tldr they're tracking everything they can when you touch a computer or phone, so hard to rule out the 24/7 spying vs eavesdropping vs non-stop advertising.

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Posted

I was talking to some friends recently, about their grandkids, and they mentioned technics lego in the conversation... next day I was being served ads for it on Insta.

I bought some, of course, but that's not the point... right...  

Seriously. Happens all the time. They are all listening! Even if you turn the app permission off for the microphone. 

I was also listening to Lex Fridman's podcast with Simone Giertz recently, and she said she'd quit using Google Home etc because she was stunned and freaked out by how you could talk in almost a whisper and it would still hear you and respond. 

 

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Posted
2 hours ago, El Presidente said:

Coincidental?  :lookaround:

Nope! Its happened to me before as well, its creepy. I'm a heavy Whatsapp user (its really the only way to communicate with cubans reliably, without worry) so I'll have to double check the permissions.

36 minutes ago, MoeFOH said:

I was also listening to Lex Fridman's podcast with Simone Giertz recently, and she said she'd quit using Google Home etc because she was stunned and freaked out by how you could talk in almost a whisper and it would still hear you and respond. 

I was a very early adopter of Amazon Prime and I have never wanted, nor will I ever use a Dot/Echo/Alexa device. If this is what happens when they don't have your permission, imagine what they're doing if they do. There are also documented cases of recordings from this type of device being acquired by law enforcement and used in prosecutions, despite the fact they aren't supposed to keep/store any of it. 

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Posted

Any app you allow to use the mic on your phone can and will access it when not explicitly in use for other things, like asking Siri or Google to text your wife or kids. I had a similar instance to the one mentioned above, I went to lunch with a few coworkers that are both musicians and were discussing a specific pedal for their guitars, they mentioned it by product number. My phone was in the center console and plugged in for charging. I saw an Amazon ad for that same item later that day in Facebook, I knew they had me then. 

You could turn off access to the mic for all of your apps, but that would limit the way many people utilize their phones. 

Posted
Been happening for years. "Legal" everywhere it seems. Google 5 eyes. I would take what they SAY they're looking for and multiply it by infinity. Infinity = everything!
Saw this 25 years ago when some friends and I were computer........hobbyists. Yea, that's a good term for it. Everyone said we we're nuts. Lo and behold now they went so far as to spy on you AND make you pay for it! Brilliant!.

With respect to five eyes collection you can choose to believe what you want, but collections on US and five eye persons is way more restrictive than on collection by private entities like meta. Executive order 12333 got revised and enforced a whole lot more after Snowden
Posted
17 minutes ago, rolaand said:


With respect to five eyes collection you can choose to believe what you want, but collections on US and five eye persons is way more restrictive than on collection by private entities like meta. Executive order 12333 got revised and enforced a whole lot more after Snowden

Governments enforce orders that restrict themselves. I like your humor.

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Posted

A few years back, I was with one of my supper clubs.  Throughout the night my phone was within earshot of a diverse array of conversations, some of which I only had an ear to.  The ads and suggestions populating my phone over the next week confirmed what I’d always suspected.  
 

Prior to recent rollouts of consumer-facing AI tools, I tried to harness that power.  Actually came in handy with my London honeymoon last year!  Just talk the research into existence!

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Posted

A joke I read: My wife asked me why I was whispering at home I said I was worried that Mark Zuckerberg was listening, She laughed. I laughed. Alexa laughed. Siri laughed..We all laughed...

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Posted

Is your phone listening to you? Simple answer, yes. The phone is constantly listening for key words like "Alexa", "Hey, Siri" or "Ok, Google". But it can't just listen for those words, it needs to listen to all conversations.

If you don't want your phone to listen, just pop it into a soundproof box. With the window in the door, you will see if your phone is ringing!

Sysracks 15U 35 inch Depth Soundproof Quiet Silent Server Rack Cabinet  Enclosure Acoustic Cabinet up to 36% Noise Reduction : Amazon.ca:  Electronics

 

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Posted

IMG_4959.jpeg.3920259b90cf63c9777954f4565b52b8.jpeg

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Posted

My wife uses WhatsApp as she has friends all over the world. I refuse to even have it on my phone as I’m in finance and I like to have as few issues with my compliance folks as possible, easy call. 

Whenever we have serious conversations my wife will insist all phones are in another room. She says it is obvious her phone is listening to her. I tried to tell her to speak more quietly but as a Dominican woman that is effectively impossible. 

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Posted

I dont use WhatsApp but I swear my phone or PC is listening.  There are far too many times when I'm getting served an ad for something I never googled or browsed for, but may have spoken about or uttered a word that triggered it.  :lookaround:

Posted

locally, MOST bankers, government employees, lawyers, private sector...etc use WhatsApp as their main communication method when dealing with customers/ clients. 

once you are on the internet, you are exposed. data is the new oil.

Posted

There is no way around this as the iPhone/Andriod has built in vulnerabilities that let some Govt agencies capture the microphone regardless of what Apple says.  It's a part of the phone and iOS.  The worst is that the govt then allows apps like WhatsApp to use this these holes to make money.  Facebook would not be where it is unless it cooperates with govt and in return they get to use these holes. 

You can have a bare bones phone with no additional apps and you're still being recorded.  Encryption keys and protocols mean nothing.

Assume you are always being recorded if your phone is on.  Just the fact of life.   If you want secrecy, send a letter, shut off all phones, or leave phones in the house and go outside to talk.

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Posted

I've been testing this for a few years now. I've been trying to coax the spies to send me advertising about SPACE HOPPERS for ages! Never have!

I'd love to buy a space hopper again. I remember fondly from my days of youth. I WOULD BUY LOADS OF SPACE HOPPERS. FOR EVERYONE.

Yet .. nothing ..

You do know that there's no you any more. We are not alone. You are but a profile in a mesh or network. Everything/everyone you are connected to, interested in, thought about is collected and used to sell you $hit. Amoung other uses ofc.... 

I reckon your spouse to be googles something they know to send you an advert to buy it for her!!!

It's all graphs - simples.

 

 

 

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Posted
2 hours ago, BrightonCorgi said:

If you want secrecy, send a letter, shut off all phones, or leave phones in the house and go outside to talk.

No need to go to all that effort. Just buy on of these...

The portable cone of silence was introduced in 1966, it consisted of two  large bubbles for each speaker's head, and a long connecting tube between  the two bubbles, for communication purposes. Maxwell

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Posted
2 hours ago, BrightonCorgi said:

Assume you are always being recorded if your phone is on.  Just the fact of life.   If you want secrecy, send a letter, shut off all phones, or leave phones in the house and go outside to talk.

On an Android phone you can install:

https://grapheneos.org/

I did run it for a while. It will default to all permissions off, and won't have the google play store, though you can install it. It will even deny most permissions to google, unless you enable them.

Also it will show an icon on the top whenever location, microphone, etc is active.

Even this only secures the software and assumes you can trust the hardware.

It's worth doing but breaks certain software that needs stock OS (mainly banking apps, but also Netflix, etc. at times).

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Posted

Consider this, your proximity to other users who are searching for or purchasing Legos might factor in to the algorithm that sent you Lego advertisements.  Our phones know who we are hanging out with and their interests.  It doesn't have to listen to us to know what we are discussing.

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Posted
27 minutes ago, rjake100 said:

Consider this, your proximity to other users who are searching for or purchasing Legos might factor in to the algorithm that sent you Lego advertisements.  Our phones know who we are hanging out with and their interests.  It doesn't have to listen to us to know what we are discussing.

This is definitely a factor. I get suggestions based on what my wife has been searching the Internet for. 

I don't know why divorce lawyers keep popping up though, that's weird. 

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Posted
43 minutes ago, Bijan said:

Even this only secures the software and assumes you can trust the hardware.

Bingo.  This stuff is embedded to the lowest levels on the phones.  Can be running on reserved memory addresses etc...  Phones are not secure.

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