Who's listening?

[Spin Drift]

Yesterday afternoon I was speaking to the publisher of the local interest magazine for our neighborhood. He wanted me to be one of their at-large photographers. I showed him some of my equipment and some of the pics that have been published in "Parker Pages." He had his wife's phone with him as his had died that day.

After taking some landscape photos for the magazine we went to my living room and he asked about my favorite Parker. I told him it was the 20ga 30" Damascus one. I thought that was an odd question as nobody had ever asked what my favorite Parker was before as I never told him I had any just that I took some pics for PP.

The really odd thing is that this morning Facebook sent me group requests for both a Nikon group and the Double Gun group with a picture of a Damascus G grade. I've never mentioned Nikons or Parkers on FB ever. I'm only mentioning this because as collectors we are now on the radar for TPTB or for nefarious characters to target for future action.

A friend of mine once said "if everybody is out to get you, paranoia is a good frame of mind." I am assuming that his phone picked up the conversation and through connected AI to the Eavesdrop State had decided that I needed to get information from those two groups. I'm sure that most of you don't advertise your collections on the intertubbies or discuss Parkers at any other place but here or one of the other dedicated collector sites.

Needless to say, I have declined the offer to become a photographer for his publication and have forbidden him to publish pics of our house and grounds. So be careful out there.

[Timothy Salgado]

I learned a similar thing a few weeks ago while doing checks for my bills, I was about to write out a check for the Lehigh County Authority who administers our water/sewer service. I decided to check on my I-phone , (as I was using the phone's calculator in the bill paying process) to look up whether they were taking in person payments so I could pay in cash instead of dealing with the mail. When I typed in the word Lehigh , the Lehigh County Authority came up as my first choice. How did the phone know what I was going to check? I'll assume the phone picked up info from the bill papers laying on the table? How did it know I wasn't going to search for the Lehigh River Flyfisher's association, or the Lehigh River White Water Adventures, or the Lehigh County Government Center? My wife was in another room so we didn't discuss the bills I was paying so I'll assume the phone picked up something off of the bill papers. At work I tested this with a couple other detectives and their I-Phones and had them search the word Lehigh and other government entities came up as their first choices. It's not paranoia since the tech companies have admitted to gleaning information with these devices on a regular basis. It just hit home with me when I saw it in black and white right in front of my eyes.

[OH Osthaus]

Originally Posted by Timothy Salgado

I'll assume the phone picked up info from the bill papers laying on the table?

really?


search engines work based on the history of previous searches, sites visited and location if that is on. different search engines use different logic paradigms.

my wife will look up something on google on explorer and will later ask me to look it up, I use Bing on firefox - the results are usually different

we are tracked by tech companies for data mining- and some paranoia might be good, but ?

[Kevin McCormack]

This kind of intrusive "help" is everywhere. A few days ago I directed an individual to another collectors association's website so he could take advantage of the PayPal method of payment for some small items. Yesterday I got a way too cheerful e-mail from an entity using the term 'pAYpAL in its address, thanking me for my recent "substantial item payment using PayPal, and directing me to their site for 'processing' of my payment. My account history shows I haven't purchased or paid for anything from PayPal in over 8 months! Like robocalls and IRS alert scams, this stuff is rampant lately.

[Andy]

I had a similar experience this very week. In our Tuesday morning staff meeting, we made small talk among the 18 of us afterwards and an employee asked if I had any chain saw recommendations. We talked about Stihl and Husqvarna and pros/cons. I had my phone in my lap since I was expecting a call from my physician. I had at least three banner ads for chain saws on my phone (Fox News) and on my desk top (shotgunworld and other sites I can't recall). I have NOT searched for anything related to chainsaws in years. I don't think it was cooincidence.

[Kensal Rise]

Hey Siri... is anyone listening-in on me??

[Timothy Salgado]

I don’t how else you’d explain it with my water bill, I normally pay it in person because I drive by their office regularly. Because of the Covid shutdown they closed the customer service windows at their office so I’ve mailed the past two in. The bill only comes every quarter of the year so I figured I’d check if they reopened the customer service for in person payments since other offices are reopened. They are not and I never had a need to look them up on my phone before. I live in the “Lehigh Valley” so there’s “Lehigh “ everything around here, why else would the water authority be the first thing on the list when I typed in the word Lehigh. It is what it is, all these devices are a fact of life now. I’ve been a law enforcement officer for going on 37 years and I’m amazed at what our digital forensics lab is able to retrieve from all these devices, and that continues to advance rapidly. So if my phone was able to read what I was doing and then assist me , it doesn’t surprise me.

[Mark Kircher]

Komando.com
You’re not paranoid, your phone really IS listening to EVERYTHING you say
Komando Staff Komando Staff
2 years ago
Have you ever had an ad show up on your screen about something you were just discussing with friends or coworkers? How about suddenly seeing a sponsored Facebook posts about products and services you were just talking about with your co-workers?

Are these mere coincidences or a result of all the tracking algorithms that tend to follow us all around nowadays? Or … are our devices listening to us?

One researcher says, nope, it’s no coincidence: Your smartphone is definitely listening to everything you say.

Your smartphone spies on you, but maybe not the way you think
Back in the summer of 2018, a reporter for the online site Vice conducted an experiment to see if his phone was listening to his conversations. For five days in a row and two times daily, he uttered phrases to his phone and monitored his Facebook feed for changes, specifically for sponsored posts.

He said the changes to his Facebook ad content “came literally overnight.” He tested phrases like “going back to the university” and later saw ads for mid-semester university courses, and after he said “I need some cheap shirts,” he saw ads for cheap apparel.

The Verge’s article got a lot of press and even inspired more scientific studies to test the secret listening abilities of smartphones.

A group of researchers from Northeastern University tested the theory. They weren’t able to prove or disprove whether our phones are listening (they found no evidence of recorded conversations), but they make an unexpected finding. Apps installed on smartphones have the ability to record your screen and whatever you type, including user names and passwords.

Your voice triggers smart speakers and smartphones
Your smartphone is similar to smart speakers like the Amazon Echo and Google Home — they listen for “wake” words like “Hey Siri” and “Okay Google” all the time.

These wake words are required for your smartphone to actually start recording. But without these triggers, your voice inputs are processed only within your smartphone and are not sent anywhere, so say the manufacturers.

If this temporary voice data is not going anywhere, then what’s the problem? In some cases, third-party apps like Facebook or Instagram may still have access to this local data.

So similar to how virtual assistants work, it’s safe to assume that smartphones listen all the time waiting for the wake word and voice data continuously gets recorded, albeit temporarily, on the gadget itself.

Is listening to you without your knowledge legal?
Using voice tracking for marketing purposes is legal because the privacy policies and end-user agreements you agreed with plus current laws actually allow it. Since it’s a very effective targeted ad tool, it’s not a surprise if companies are using it.

This app voice-tracking technology is certainly scary, but the thing is, all these companies really care about is effective advertising. Voice triggering is just yet another available tool, similar to browser cookies and location tracking, they utilize to efficiently target ads.

Privacy dangers exist, of course, but for regular folks, this probably shouldn’t be a cause for big concern. Who cares if you’re looking for fluffy pillows and ultra-soft bedsheets, right?

However, if you’re still concerned about this, I don’t blame you. Here are ways to turn off your smartphone’s “always-listening” abilities:

What to do to make your phone stop listening to you
Disable “Hey Siri”

Like the Echo, Siri is always attentive, even when you’ve forgotten your iPhone can hear you. With iOS 8, Apple introduced the “Hey Siri” wake phrase, so you can summon Siri without even touching your iPhone. If you turn this feature on, this means your iPhone’s mic is always listening, waiting for the phrase “Hey Siri.”

Apple says this is processed locally on the device and your iOS device does not start recording your voice until it hears “Hey Siri.” Once your request is recorded, it then uploads the audio file to Apple’s servers for processing.

But that may still give you the willies, and luckily, you don’t have to disable Siri completely to stop the “Hey Siri” feature. Here’s the easiest way to turn off “Hey Siri:” Navigate to your iOS device’s Settings >> General >> Siri, then toggle Allow “Hey Siri” to off.

Disable “Ok Google”

Google wants more voice-activated tech, and the company recently released its latest masterpiece, “OK Google.” This serves as Google’s new wake phrase, just like “Alexa” and “Hey Siri,” calling the attention of Google Assistant on Google Home speakers, Android smartphones, and the Chrome browser.

Every time you use “OK Google” or use another voice-controlled function, your request is recorded and the snippets are saved to your Google account.

Luckily, Google introduced a new My Account tool that lets you access your recordings and delete them if you want. You can also tell Google to stop recording your voice for good.

Here’s how to turn off the “OK Google” wake phrase: On Android, just go to Settings >> Google >> Search & Now >> Voice and turn “OK Google” detection off.

Disable “Hey Cortana”

Finally, there is Cortana, the voice-activated system from Microsoft. Similar to the others on this list, Cortana can answer questions, do searches, set appointments, and open applications. The wake phrase is “Hey Cortana.” Just like the others, Cortana has raised some eyebrows.

Here’s how to turn off “Hey Cortana:” Open Cortana on your Windows computer, select the Notebook icon in the right column, click on Settings then toggle “Hey Cortana” to off.

Disable Facebook’s mic access

Although all the evidence supporting the allegations that the Facebook app is “listening” through your phone’s microphone for advertising purposes is purely anecdotal, it’s still your choice if you want to disallow it or any other app from accessing your mic. It’s actually quite easy!

If you are an iPhone user, go to Settings >> Facebook >> Settings >> slide the Microphone switch to the left so it turns from green to white. That turns it off.

Alternatively, you can go to Settings >> Privacy >> Microphone >> look for Facebook then do the same. Note that you can toggle the mic on and off for other apps, too.

For Android users: Try Settings >> Applications >> Application Manager >> look for Facebook >> Permissions >> Turn off the mic.

Important: Keep in mind that turning off Facebook’s microphone access will affect and disable specific features of the app such as Live Video. If you’re going to use these features, you will have to toggle the mic back on.

[Spin Drift]

So I put up a warning on my Koobecaf feed for what had just happened. Within a couple of hours those 4 unsolicited group requests disappeared down the old memory hole. A word to the wise, anybody that visits now has to leave their phone outside. We keep our phones in the fridge.

[Larry Mason]

Thank God I'm a Barney Rubble in a George Jeston world.