Phone listening to you

83% Normal

My wife has the walgreens app on her phone. Last month we said in conversation right by her phone "Hey we need to go to Walgreens and also see if makeup is on sale" and not even 10 seconds later she got a notification from walgreens that was a link to their current sales. We didnt really think anything of it

Fast forward today and same sentence "we need to get prescriptions and see if makeup is on sale" and again not even 10 seconds later the phone beeps and its walgreens linking us their sales.

I knew the phone spies on you but its just plain creepy. I bet there's also keywords you can say that sends info to the government about your conversation. For example saying something like "how do you make TNT?" or "How do you make this AK47 fully automatic" you really have 0 privacy this day and age around your phone. Your camera can also be compromised by only god know who.

Voting Results

83% Normal

Based on 6 votes (5 yes)

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Comments ( 15 )

Correction

2 years ago

Ehh could be coincidental timing, but our phones and the apps on them(and the third parties they sell our information to) have access to so much information they really don’t even need to use the microphone or camera.

A few months ago a guy wrote about how he spent a week at his mom’s house and then started getting Twitter ads for her brand of toothpaste. If they had talked about it at some point, people would probably think the phone had been listening in and that’s where the ads come from, but they hadn’t. As he explained, those third parties know what toothpaste she has at her house from her purchasing history(and maybe her online searches, if she buys it online), they know he was there from GPS tracking, and they know what his Twitter account is. He didn’t have to say a word about it. It’s all information we’ve agreed to let them track by agreeing to terms and services and privacy policies and such.

You can minimize it by turning off cookies and restricting access and permissions as much as possible, but they’re going to get more information than you probably want them to no matter what you do.

EDIT: opened TikTok immediately after posting this and the first video I saw was about Google collecting user data. So, there’s that.

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- Boojum
  
  2 years ago
  
  "EDIT: opened TikTok immediately after posting this and the first video I saw was about Google collecting user data. So, there’s that."
  
  Sorry, but I found that fricking hilarious, even though I know damn well I shouldn't.
  
  Oh, and what the hell is an intelligent person like you doing on flipping TikTok? You feeling an urge to cull some braincells in the hope that will make modern life more tolerable?
  
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  - Correction
    
    2 years ago
    
    Ha, I think TikTok has gone more mainstream now, like Twitter did a while ago. You’d probably be surprised how many people are on there making good, informational content. And there’s a lot of funny stuff too. It’s not just dancing anymore.
    
    Just don’t read the comments. Don’t ever read the comments.
    
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- Anonymous Post Author
  
  2 years ago
  
  I thought it was generally accepted that the phone is listening to what you say and gives you advertisements based on it.
  
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  - Correction
    
    2 years ago
    
    They certainly could be. If you give an app permission to access your microphone, there’s nothing stopping them. Especially apps like Siri and Google that are always listening for certain triggers. It’s allowed under their terms and conditions, and it’s legal under current laws, but only they know for sure.
    
    I personally kind of doubt it, just because there’s other(easier) ways for them to get enough information to give you targeted ads. But I still deny microphone(and camera and GPS) permission to every app either way…
    
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donteatstuffoffthesidewalk

2 years ago

why do you think they made the phones with nonremovable batteries?

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- LloydAsher
  
  2 years ago
  
  To facilitate better construction and compatibility of the phone?
  
  Plus you dont want a lithium ion battery to be anywhere near the tampering hands of the (presumed idiot) consumer.
  
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  - donteatstuffoffthesidewalk
    
    2 years ago
    
    modern design & manufacture are definitely geared towards warranty & liability control with a heavy lean towards fuck you to the consumer
    
    the non removable battery is also to make it less convenient to retain & repair an otherwise serviceable phone and push you towards gittin a new one
    
    keep it in mind when they start preachin about substandard aftermarket parts & such cause their potential profits are less from it
    
    and also a big fuck you for them continually designin planned obsolete crap that you gotta buy over & over then i git scolded as the consumer for consumin this shit like im responsible
    
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  - Anonymous Post Author
    
    2 years ago
    
    I looked up what googles opinion on this was. It said it was to make the phone smaller. However I had a phone just as thin as the one I have now with a removable battery. I also read that even when your phone is turned off it is listening to what you say. So he might have a point.
    
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    - donteatstuffoffthesidewalk
      
      2 years ago
      
      keep your phone in the microwave if you want it off line
      
      its a faraday cage
      
      just dont accidentally microwave it
      
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      - Correction
        
        2 years ago
        
        Lots of reasonably priced faraday bags out there too. They’re usually marketed as protecting your key fob and credit cards but it’d work just as well on cell phones.
        
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- Anonymous Post Author
  
  2 years ago
  
  Ohhh shit son you just made the hair on the back of my neck stand up..
  
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olderdude-xx

2 years ago

This is why I have no apps on my phones related to my personal life.

If someone gets my phone they will find contacts, phone calls, texts, Skype, and Voxer, and all the preloaded apps that you cannot delete.

Nothing that indicates a shopping preference, financial accounts, or medical.

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Cuntsiclestick

2 years ago

Yeah, my phone will sometimes have ads on websites that were based on shit I spoke. Advertising can be invasive. XD

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[Old Memory]

2 years ago

I think it secretly videotapes my pnus.

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Phone listening to you