Is your phone listening?
Everyone has heard about it; everyone is curious. We all talked to somebody about a certain subject — and then, later on, see a Facebook ad for it.
It feels like your phone or any of the apps on it are listening.
Is this a fact or just a myth? Let’s find out…
Considering your phone is set on default settings, everything you say can be recorded on it. Our phones collect our voice data, store it in a server, and then use it for marketing purposes.
Hold on; this may not be the case.
Why it might not be true
Researches led by Northern University computer science professor David Choffnes set out to see whether they could detect any smartphone spying.
Using an automated test program, they analyzed more than 17,000 popular apps on Android OS. They didn’t find a single clue where an app activated the phone’s microphone and then leaked audio data. Similar researches have been performed focusing on large-scale data collection, which includes: Amazon, Chrome, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. There was no evidence of secret recordings.
Choffnes explains that, given the current technology, recording audio just isn’t a very practical way of gathering intelligence. Translating that audio into text for analysis would require massive amounts of computing power.
From what I’ve gathered, this makes perfect sense, right? But there are still way too many people that believe they are targeted with ads as a direct result of a private conversation.
Why it might be true
There are plenty of ways for algorithms and AI to “listen” to you. While we are aware of the popular audio triggers like “Hey Siri”, “Hey Google” or “Alexa”, these sites and apps may also have hundreds of their triggers. They are used to store data points when you say what you like and where you go.
There are lots of online tests which prove that your devices (not just smartphones) are actively listening to you. In one test, a person closed their internet browser and started talking about dog food. He intentionally spoke louder and more clearer. As a result, he opened his browser again only to find that the ads targeted him with exclusive, high-quality, premium dog food.
In another case, if the devices we are using every day are listening, targeting ads is not their only goal. AI such as Alexa or Siri is not evolving just by being programmed and updated every so often. Real audio data is needed to build their vocabulary and improve their ability to understand things like slang and regional dialects. Which, in other words, clearly indicated that our devices are always listening, whether we trigger them or not.
These are the real facts
Since researching this topic, I’ve realized that no one can say for sure if our smartphones and other devices are listening to us. No matter how many “facts” an individual can provide regarding this topic.
I’ve experienced similar situations. I’d talked about a subject and later on see it pop up as an ad on my social media. If you ask me, I’d say yes, they are monitoring us. But is it all that scary? I guess it all depends on the individual. If you are complaining all day long about your problems, does your phone care? Does he find the information valuable? He might just target you with dryable tissues.
When it comes to collecting data on customers, there’s no shortage of efficient options. Companies from Google to the tiniest developer of online video games routinely record personal information such as names, birthdates, credit-card info; simply by asking us.
Facebook, for example, monitors our browsing habits beyond its platform, thanks to a tiny, transparent image file known as Facebook Pixel that’s placed on other websites across the internet to track our movement.
Let’s say you’ve found the type of shoes you were looking for on the internet. Now you’re entering the shop’s address on your GPS. The chances that you will get an ad with the same type of shoes are inevitable.
Even if our devices are listening to us, we often forget the amount of personal information we give daily in a blink of an eye.
There is no need to feel paranoid. If, by all means, you want to feel less paranoid, simply turn off your device’s location services and/or turn off your virtual assistant.
