Probably all of us, while talking about what to eat or planning a vacation with those around us, have seen a notice or advertisement on our phone about the very topic we are talking about. As these “coincidences” increase, so naturally, the theories that our phones are eavesdropping on us.
But rest assured, the reason you’re getting these ads isn’t because your phone is listening to you. Because he doesn’t need to listen to you, and he already gets more information than necessary with your permission.
A similar incident happened to Robert G. Reeve, who shared on Instagram his explanation of why he was getting toothpaste ads on Twitter. The privacy technologist explained that after staying at her mother’s house for a week, she started getting custom ads for a brand of toothpaste she used, even though she never spoke about the brand or did a Google search.
In his statement, split into several posts, he states that all of your smartphone apps collect massive amounts of data from our phones, and data collectors pay to aggregate them.
This data includes an enormous dataset of things like your location, demographics, unique device ID, and discount code you use in a store, for example.
After you accept all data sharing terms in the terms of service and privacy policy, everything you buy or sign up for can be linked. However, data collectors take this into account if your phone is regularly in the same GPS location as another phone.
Then they start rebuilding the network of people you’re in regular contact with, and advertisers can cross-link your interests, purchase and browsing history, and people around you.
In other words, it starts showing you different ads based on people around you, such as your family, friends, and even coworkers.
Therefore, they show you these advertisements because they know that you know someone who may be interested in that product and you are in regular contact, even if you are not personally interested in them. In other words, the information we give our phones without thinking much is much cheaper and much more powerful than the ability to listen to our conversations at the right moment.
Instead of “listening” to us, as Robert says is a “conspiracy theory” that has been “refuted many times over,” our social media apps are “just” comparing the metadata they’ve gathered together, which includes a lot of different information, from the steps you take to the purchases you make.
Apple’s iOS 14 feature now lets you know whenever your microphone or camera is turned on. A small orange dot appears in the upper right corner of the screen when your phone’s microphone has been accessed recently. If your camcorder is recording, this light is green.
If you want to make sure your apps can’t listen to you, open the settings app and tap on privacy. Next, click on the microphone or camera and turn off the microphone or camera for any applications you are not using. If you change your mind and want to give permission back, just follow the same steps and open your choices.
Android users can follow the same steps in your settings by tapping personal, privacy & security, then App Permissions.
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