this post was submitted on 03 Apr 2024
33 points (85.1% liked)
Privacy
32165 readers
134 users here now
A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.
Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.
In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.
Some Rules
- Posting a link to a website containing tracking isn't great, if contents of the website are behind a paywall maybe copy them into the post
- Don't promote proprietary software
- Try to keep things on topic
- If you have a question, please try searching for previous discussions, maybe it has already been answered
- Reposts are fine, but should have at least a couple of weeks in between so that the post can reach a new audience
- Be nice :)
Related communities
much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)
founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
I can see the devices you use mattering. Where were you watching the videos? Do you have the Amazon app installed on the same device, or on a device with a microphone? My tin-foil hat theory is that the Amazon app is always listening from your phone, based on similar things happening to my wife.
It's not.
Source: professional app developer who has also worked for big G
cautiously lifts tinfoil hat off head
Don't entirely take it off: ad companies are as malevolent as you think. They're just not wiretapping you constantly.
There are plenty of easier ways to spy.
Something on stock Android phones is always listening though. I had a similar experience as OP where I had an IRL conversation once with my son about a product I don't normally talk about. My phone was unused & "asleep" nearby. An hour later at work I was inundated with ads for said product all over the internet in my Chrome browser on my work computer. It was way too heavy handed to be a coincidence. The phone had listened to our conversation.
(That day marked the first on my journey to de-Google and take serious steps preserve my privacy online)
It's great that you're focused in on privacy but that's not what's happening.
You can examine every byte of traffic off your phone. There isn't an open audio stream: it'd be too obvious. On phone analysis is too computationally intensive to be inobtrusive.
You're experiencing some combination of frequency illusion and priming when you experience these "phone listening in".
It is far more likely that you had seen the product advertised before but not consciously considered it (priming) followed by a discussion which made you more aware of it so you noticed the ads more (frequency bias).
The fact is companies don't even need to record your conversations to know how to get you to buy what they want you to buy.
I hear what you're saying and it makes sense. But I do not believe that my particular case was one of priming/manipulation/freq bias. The topic of conversation was too uncharacteristic, too random, and there were too many similar ads within moments. It was either a colossal coincidence or a breach in privacy.
I suppose it doesn't matter. My phone is much more locked down now.
Linux pc. There is no Amazon nor YouTube app for that, that I know of.