Is google secretly listening to me?

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gregmcc

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#288952 3-Aug-2021 09:00

So a few days ago we had a car trip with my parents, about 1 hours drive, amongst conservation they talked about HelloFresh, the meals, the vouchers to give to another person. Phone was in the car not been actively used, but turned on.

I have never done any searching on my phone for this or similar services.

So today when I go to Youtube, this comes up as the first Ad.

This is totally different to what I usually watch on youtube, why was this ad dished up.....phone must have been listening?

Should I now start wearing the tinfoil hat?

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#2754232 3-Aug-2021 09:09

TBH I notice the same thing with google and facebook frequently... I know there will be comments about tinfoil hats and confirmation bias, etc but it happens way too often to all be coincidence IMO.

(Might not necessarily be your phone "listening" - maybe if one of your parents googled it and Google has some sort of link between you and them, then their algorithms could decide it might be something you'd be interested in too? Either is a slightly scary thought.)

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kobiak

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#2754237 3-Aug-2021 09:15

yes they do. google assistant is constantly on. turn off personalization - and ads will be random :D

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Fred99

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#2754246 3-Aug-2021 09:22

I'd suspect rather than google / android that it could be an app with microphone access permission.

Check permission manager in settings.

Block access to the mic for all apps except for apps where you need the mic and set those to "only when in use".

xpd

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#2754248 3-Aug-2021 09:25

I just want to remember what I was talking about thats caused Facebook to start displaying "hot women looking for husbands" adverts all the time.......

Wife started getting adverts for Samoan car sales, yet she had not spoken about cars or Samoa :D

These devices are listening all the time now, probably even that new wifi bulb you plugged in, to have pretty colors in the toilet.

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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Handsomedan

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#2754257 3-Aug-2021 09:45

Yeah, I get served ads all the time that are based on conversations and not web searches.

It's something I have felt is going on for a long time, but I chalk it up as a price of having smart devices everywhere I go.

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dafman

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#2754258 3-Aug-2021 09:46

I visited a friend in the weekend who uses a Google Home Mini. While we were chatting, it inadvertently 'woke up' and chimed in about the subject we were talking about.

I found it genuinely unsettling.

After years of Android use I switched to iPhone this year, solely for reason of reducing the level of corporate 'listening in' to my life.

Handsomedan

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#2754264 3-Aug-2021 09:57

dafman:

I visited a friend in the weekend who uses a Google Home Mini. While we were chatting, it inadvertently 'woke up' and chimed in about the subject we were talking about.

I found it genuinely unsettling.

A couple of years ago (pre-pandemic) I was at a conference where a futurist spoke about a rather unsettling experience in her home - she shouted something to one of her kids across the house and Alexa answered - this set off Siri who then replied, sparking a "conversation" between the two smart assistants.

She apparently promptly unplugged them both.

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SirHumphreyAppleby

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#2754266 3-Aug-2021 09:59

I hope Google isn't paying too much attention to what I say. Having worked for many years with content filters, I have a bit of a habit of using the same dodgy phrases that triggered the filters when testing my own code. Often I utter these out loud when I use them or see them pop up in logs. Hmm.

sidefx

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#2754273 3-Aug-2021 10:16

Handsomedan:

Yeah, I get served ads all the time that are based on conversations and not web searches.

It's something I have felt is going on for a long time, but I chalk it up as a price of having smart devices everywhere I go.

Pretty much this ^

I find it somewhat unsettling but also find smart devices too useful to do without. I'm willing to give up some privacy for convenience...

"I was born not knowing and have had only a little time to change that here and there." | Octopus Energy | Sharesies
- Richard Feynman

CYaBro

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#2754277 3-Aug-2021 10:28

dafman:

After years of Android use I switched to iPhone this year, solely for reason of reducing the level of corporate 'listening in' to my life.

Happens with iPhones too sorry. :)

Many examples of it happening to myself and my wife and we both have iPhones.

EG: was at a friends place one day and they had a dart board up and the kids were playing darts and talking about it.
I didn't use my phone while there except had it in my pocket.
That night back at home I started seeing ads for Darts and other things related to playing darts in my Facebook feed.
I've never searched for anything like that in the past.

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

dafman

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#2754279 3-Aug-2021 10:38

CYaBro:

Happens with iPhones too sorry. :)

Many examples of it happening to myself and my wife and we both have iPhones.

EG: was at a friends place one day and they had a dart board up and the kids were playing darts and talking about it.
I didn't use my phone while there except had it in my pocket.
That night back at home I started seeing ads for Darts and other things related to playing darts in my Facebook feed.
I've never searched for anything like that in the past.

Yes, but you have greater ability to minimise the snooping on iPhone than you do on android.

The key difference is that iPhone allows you to block apps tracking you across third party apps, you can't do this on android.

And with the upcoming iOS15, iPhone will introduce the equivalent of always on VPN privacy for Safari.

(and I think the main culprit above was not iPhone, but the app beginning with F and ending in K).

Dairyxox

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#2754305 3-Aug-2021 10:49

They don't even need to listen to you to get this level of evesdropping.

For example one method they use is to look at proximity - might not even be GPS, even just bluetooth. They know you spent a decent chunk of time in close proximity with other specific people. They know what that person had been looking at online. It is then flagged to cross over some of that users interests with your own advertising profile. etc