Your phone is listening to you all the time

[TikiBabe]

Facebook is the bigger issue.

I also have siri disabled on my phone because I don't like her and also for privacy.

 

[low-key]

Im gonna have to kill it

 

[DisneyOma]

Just another reason why I have Siri off (never had it turned on) and no FB app on my phone, and log out of google every time. I have pretty much everything turned off on my phone (it's old, it's cranky, and is full of stuff, just like me) Of course, I can be traced by my Fitbit

 

[Floridaman999]

Now I'm gonna have to go back to my flip phone.

 

[kimblebee]

I’ll let you know if I start getting ads for tin foil on Facebook.

 

[Pamlur]

I have Siri disabled; don't remember why, but I do. Probably because I rarely would use it and can turn it on if I do need it.

 

[Brett Wyman]

I have Siri disabled; don't remember why, but I do. Probably because I rarely would use it and can turn it on if I do need it.

Probably because every time you accidentally held down the home button she went off. I hated that feature!

 

[MrsJackSparrow4Life]

When my husband and I were house hunting we mentioned to our realtor the only piece of furniture we didn’t have already was a couch. I never once searched for a couch online or looked at furniture websites but after this conversation both Facebook and google ads were for couches.

 

[MillauFr]

Facebook is the bigger issue.

I also have siri disabled on my phone because I don't like her and also for privacy.

Privacy for whom? Privacy is a myth.

 

[TikiBabe]

Privacy for whom? Privacy is a myth.

 

[DLgal]

Of course it is listening. If you have a smart TV, that is always listening too.

Doesn't bother me at all. I have nothing to hide and my life isn't that interesting anyway.

 

[Dumbo777]

https://www.google.com/amp/amp.time...-to-turn-off-phone-microphone-facebook-spying

This is a pretty interesting article talking about this very subject and how different apps use your phone's microphone to listen in.

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

I can answer this!!! I used to work for Google (as a contractor for another company) as an Ads Quality Rater. I can't give details, but I can tell you that Google employs tens of thousands of people each year to help them assess how various parts of their search algorithm is working. Google is listening in on you, not your phone. Anything you do in a Google browser is tracked. Every website you visit, every page you read. Every time somebody searches for something it is logged, and when many people are found to search for the same things those things become an important part of how Google generates search results. That's how those Google autofills that are scarily specific happen. If you find this creepy you can opt out. Incognito searches are still logged, by the way, so don't think you are being stealthy. I had to assess some freaky search queries, back in the day

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

I do know that it is like sometimes google reads my mind. I cannot count how many times I start to type in a search or question and I get a little ways in and it autofills the rest for me. I have always that that was strange.

Also, a few times I have said "seriously"... and Siri will come up, also I have been talking about "Sarah" and it is happened. That I can see because they are close enough to the prompt word.

 

[PollyannaMom]

and when many people are found to search for the same things those things become an important part of how Google generates search results

Just today, I'm on facebook, with my phone on my desk, and I watch a video about a man who bought a Rolex watch to use when flying and he's getting it appraised on Antique Roadshow. He has all of the original boxes and even the receipt which shows he paid $543 for it in 1973...I wonder how much $543 in 1973 is today adjusted for inflation? So I open another tab and type in "$543" and google auto-fills "in 1973". How could it possibly know I was going to type in "1973"?

I always assumed, like MrsCobraBubbles said above, that it filled in based on what other people had recently searched. So I would have assumed a lot of other people were also watching Antiques Roadshow, and wondered the same thing.

(That doesn't, of course, prove your phone isn't listening too.)

 

[DisneyOma]

I can answer this!!! I used to work for Google (as a contractor for another company) as an Ads Quality Rater. I can't give details, but I can tell you that Google employs tens of thousands of people each year to help them assess how various parts of their search algorithm is working. Google is listening in on you, not your phone. Anything you do in a Google browser is tracked. Every website you visit, every page you read. Every time somebody searches for something it is logged, and when many people are found to search for the same things those things become an important part of how Google generates search results. That's how those Google autofills that are scarily specific happen. If you find this creepy you can opt out. Incognito searches are still logged, by the way, so don't think you are being stealthy. I had to assess some freaky search queries, back in the day

I bet mine is interesting - I research online for a book I'm writing It's got a murder in it, some magic, and a lot of local history.

 

[Mermaid02]

I was talking to my Mom about something my son wanted for Christmas and an ad came up for it on FB shortly thereafter. It wasn't anything popular, it was "creepers" to put on his boots in the winter.

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

I bet mine is interesting - I research online for a book I'm writing It's got a murder in it, some magic, and a lot of local history.

I love mysteries! Your description has me intrigued.

 

[sam_gordon]

Incognito searches are still logged, by the way, so don't think you are being stealthy.

I figured incognito searches are still logged, but are they associated with the user/device?

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

I figured incognito searches are still logged, but are they associated with the user/device?

I have no idea. Everything that I saw was anonymous, but I'm not sure whether higher-ups have access to that info.