So I had a verbal conversation with a coworker yesterday and now I’m getting fed very specific ads. No possible way it’s accidental. I have most of the microphone access to apps limited, I have Google assistant turned off and no VPA setup in my home. I use a Oneplus 9 pro, does anyone have recommendations on how to further root cause this or just par for the course for using any standard android OS? Have other folks had similar experience after locking down their stock phones?
Every single example of this happening is anecdotal. The people who tried to properly investigate this have not found it to be true. If you find a video of an actual serious research who proves this is true then I’ll admit that I’m wrong. Otherwise these types of posts are useless
404 Media has been investigating it. They have evidence of companies offering this service, both on their websites and through sources who say they’ve been pitched the product by company representatives. Many questions still remain but I’m not sure this issue can be dismissed as easily as it once was.
Can you summarize their findings? Did they find evidence that this is being done in the wild without opt in or disclosure? Just because it’s possible doesn’t mean it’s being used. Obviously the tech to spy on people via microphone isn’t crazy complicated. The question is whether most apps use it. The amount of data that would be uploaded on people’s data plans would be absurd. I’m very skeptical that this is actually widely used in mainstream apps.
There have been SO many tests of this and not a single one has showed this actually happening… Just because one single company tried to brag about a tech project to get free PR doesn’t mean this is actually used…
It was more than one company. Please read the article or listen to the podcast. And no, I will not summarise them for you. Stop being lazy.
I can’t read the damn articles because the site is paywalled…I much rather read an article than listen to a 45 minute podcast. That is why I asked you to summarize. Thanks for being unhelpful though!
Also, the podcast stream itself has like 2 minute ads interrupting me every time i skip forwards or backwards. For a source so dedicated to anti-intrusive advertising, it sure as hell is riddled to fuck with intrusive advertisements. Thanks for the amazing source ;-).
The podcast doesn’t have 2 minute ads every time you skip. Get a better podcast app.
Well I just tried it on 3 browsers and 2 mobile browsers and they all say i have to be a paid member to read the articles. I’ll watch the video then but I much rather read.
@[email protected] you should have a listen to this as well (or read the articles it’s based on). What you are describing may not be as tinfoil as some people believe.
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A few years ago, I’ve read an article where the journalists investigated this. They asked to Facebook it they actually do it and Facebook confirmed.
Gonna need to see a source on that one, please.
I saw at least one serious video about it. It was in Russian though and it’s quite old. And maybe I saw one in English too. I don’t remember. But I do believe that the microphone usage for targeted ads is true (or at least used to be true) on phones with Google apps installed