Google IS listening

Snowseer

There have been some of these threads about Google hanging on your every word. Many are dismissed as “White Van Syndrome”, in that the ads that you notice as relating to a conversation, are actually for popular products.

Was wandering around an apartment that I’ve just moved into (outside of Ireland), and said out loud that I had to get dishwasher tablets.

Next ad on boards is for Irish dishwasher tablets.

Checked the “My Activity” and “History” for my Google account, and there’s nothing recorded. Nothing should be recorded - even if there’s some time delay in showing what’s been logged to a Google account.

Now, I don’t think a tinfoil hat would work with my look, but it’s not the first time I’ve seen something like this. Anybody else seeing this?

Rackstar

Ok google

TheChizler

Did you notice all the times you said things and the next ad you saw was completely unrelated?

nullzero

TheChizler wrote: »

Did you notice all the times you said things and the next ad you saw was completely unrelated?

I was just thinking that. Get out of my mind!

Touchee

Excuse my ignorance (I'm not a tech person), but how could your phone just record a conversation?

I agree to some extent, I was checking out some apartments on airbnb a few days ago and ever since there's ads for airbnb everywhere.

unfortunately

The real test is say something unusual and see if an ad comes up for it. Saddle polish.

Snowseer

TheChizler wrote: »

Did you notice all the times you said things and the next ad you saw was completely unrelated?

No. That would take quite some time.

The random correlation between the ad, and I what I said out loud, would be against the odds.

super_furry

No we're not.

sgthighway

This happened to one of the lads at work last week. He was talking to somebody about a product while having a coffee. His phone was left on the table. Sure enough the next day there were adds about the product in his internet feed. He never researched the product online before that.

Snowseer

Touchee wrote: »

Excuse my ignorance (I'm not a tech person), but how could your phone just record a conversation?

I agree to some extent, I was checking out some apartments on airbnb a few days ago and ever since there's ads for airbnb everywhere.

Well, this is the question. For many apps that are installed, you’d grant a lot of permissions for the convenience.

I’m wondering if - being logged into a device, under your Chrome credential, are things being recorded without your knowledge.

ozmo

This has happened often to me - I really do think Android phones are listening for key words....

Alun

ozmo wrote: »

This has happened often to me - I really do think Android phones are listening for key words....

Often I'll be talking to my wife about something, and a question pops up about it, and I'll Google it on my phone. After only literally typing in two characters it pops up with what I was searching for in the first suggestion even when the word I was searching for is very uncommon. It happens far too often for it to be coincidence.

ardinn

Messenger is worse for this than google - It says it somewhere in the messenger terms that keywords can be picked up!

Google allready knows how much of a pervert I am with my sometimes ridiculous porn search terms so Im not really worried about them knowing what washing powder i need.

ozmo

The phones know also who you are associated with- so if you partner says they might like go somewhere or searches for something- you may start seeing adverts for it on your phone.

Google and Facebook invest heavily in data mining.

Snowseer

sgthighway wrote: »

This happened to one of the lads at work last week. He was talking to somebody about a product while having a coffee. His phone was left on the table. Sure enough the next day there were adds about the product in his internet feed. He never researched the product online before that.

Yep, but this is something that could be explained by it being a popular product, or one Googled by an associated account. Not saying it is, but that’s some reasoning.

The washing tablets that I mentioned are less easy to explain - I reckon.

marcbrophy

It's the same way as when you're in work and at lunch time you or someone quotes a line from the Simpsons and everyone has a good chuckle.
Then, you get home from work and the same damn episode is on TV :eek:

It's a coincidence is all!
Unless Sky One is listening to me on my lunch breaks?

*shifty-eyes.gif*

uck51js9zml2yt

Anyone who thinks Google isn't listening in needs to go back go a button phone.
But so are the Americans, English, french, Germans and Moldovans ( probably) but getting a button phone won't stop them!

Snowseer

Alun wrote: »

Often I'll be talking to my wife about something, and a question pops up about it, and I'll Google it on my phone. After only literally typing in two characters it pops up with what I was searching for in the first suggestion even when the word I was searching for is very uncommon. It happens far too often for it to be coincidence.

Yeah - same. As I said, not to be a tinfoil hat person. But it is happening a lot - moreso than would be a coincidence. I think it’s worth a discussion/being aware of.

WoollyRedHat

You never got this nonsense with Ask Jeeves. He listened when you wanted him to, like the good butler he was.

McMurphy

ardinn wrote: »

Messenger is worse for this than google - It says it somewhere in the messenger terms that keywords can be picked up!

Google allready knows how much of a pervert I am with my sometimes ridiculous porn search terms so Im not really worried about them knowing what washing powder i need.

You picked your 3000th post to inform us of your ridiculous porn appetite.

Congratulations.

Wheeliebin30

It was already established here a while back that Google are recording certain things.

I thought people knew this???

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

Atlantic Dawn

Your location data is used to map traffic volumes on roads based on how slow your phones movements are reporting back to Google at various times of the day, simularly if you enter a shop it's recording your time in it and calculating how busy that shop will be based on this, kind of useful but scary too in what that data could be used for.

s7ryf3925pivug

I found myself getting a lot of targetted ads for private jets when I was out of work for a couple of months. Going to say I'm not concerned.

Cienciano

Has that thinks Google is listening to them changed their phone?

Cienciano

Cienciano wrote: »

Has that thinks Google is listening to them changed their phone?

Did google write that post

I totally agree with you OP. I've had this sort of thing happen countless times. The technology is very advanced, why wouldn't google take advantage it.

The other day I was recalling with my brother that scene in the simpsons where Homer is daydreaming that he is the worlds tallest man and made of gold. Next day, the first suggestion I see when I open youtube was that scene, and I hadn't been looking at simpsons clips previously or anything.

edit: just saw another poster talking about the simpsons .. ha

prinzeugen

I have had this happen more than once. I have 2 apps on my phone (Dublin Bus and the bank), no Facebook, Instagram etc, so it must be Google.

We were watching the last ever episode of Dave Gorman on Dave a while back and I mentioned to the OH that he was doing no more as he was going back touring.

15 mins later adverts for Dave Gorman live in Dublin started popping up on almost every site I visited.

I have never searched for his name in Google or on YouTube ever.

kneemos

Don't see it as a negative. If I need dishwasher powder and google have their finger on the pulse well enough to tell me where to get it I say damn good show.

prinzeugen

kneemos wrote: »

Don't see it as a negative. If I need dishwasher powder and google have their finger on the pulse well enough to tell me where to get it I say damn good show.

Do you need Google to tell you that you can buy it from a shop?

Pointless adverts. I don't need them to tell me I can buy stuff in a shop. I have been doing it for 30 years now.

And who buys dishwasher powder online anyway? Either you are lazy, or run a hotel.

StupidLikeAFox

Touchee wrote: »

Excuse my ignorance (I'm not a tech person), but how could your phone just record a conversation?
.

My phone has a microphone at the bottom, check to see if yours does too

Del2005

I passed a sign for Plant hire or something on the way to work and now there is an ad for Plant hire on my work phone. So not only is Google listening it can also see from a pocket in a car and can also send the ad to a different account!

Solomon Pleasant

I’m not sure why people try to deny the fact that these extremely powerful tech companies are listening, analysing and calculating trends in the consumer market.

Information is so accessible for them, they are practically the biggest part of the lives of many people and what we spend the bulk of our free (and sometimes professional aswell) time doing.

Rory28

Good way to test it is to put on some Spanish tv or radio and leave your phone beside it for a few hours. If you start getting ads in Spanish then they are listening.

Gravelly

Two of my younger work colleagues claimed they tested this theory out by opening a dictionary at random pages with their eyes closed, then pointing at a random word. If the word was something they didn't normally use in conversation or Google searches, they then said the word to each other several times in conversation. They repeated this with 20 words. According to them, more than three quarters of the words appeared in ads on their social media over the next 24 hours. Would love to see this experiment repeated under scientific conditions.

silverharp

Rory28 wrote: »

Good way to test it is to put on some Spanish tv or radio and leave your phone beside it for a few hours. If you start getting ads in Spanish then they are listening.

they would know the phone is in Ireland though?

srsly78

OP how was this possible? Everyone uses adblock surely?

Rory28

silverharp wrote: »

they would know the phone is in Ireland though?

If the ads are targeted then that shouldn't be an issue.

kneemos

What was that film where the advertising hoardings knew your name and bombarded you with personalised adverts as you walked along.
It's from a while back now,but was prescient.

Wibbs

Have observed this stuff with a couple of mates. Where we would be discussing something oddball or arcane(as we do) and then ads or youtube suggestions on the subjects would come up on their phones.

Not mine though. I just keep my location services off. I almost never go online with my phone. Couple of times a year tops. Don't use it for email either. I don't do Twitter. I use it for mad stuff like making calls texting and as a camera. On occasion I have used it as a GPS device, but even then only the GPS app is allowed to access my location, well it kinda has to. Every other app is set to not access it. That's an iPhone, I expect you can do all that with Android.

Online on the 'puter I set browsers to private non tracking mode and regularly clear out cookies etc. I have Arsebook, which I almost never use and is set to as private as poss. Only got it for a singular reason a few years ago. I have a google account(for Youtube), but again have it set to as private as possible and also clear the decks there on the regular. I have a program that runs in the background checking if the microphone/camera is being accessed and blocks it until I OK it. A fair few times processes have tried to access both. Not often but still. Even then I have some tape over the camera lens. Well when that creepy git Zuckerberg among others high up in the industry do the same... Firewall set to Feck Off!

TBH other than the occasionally clear out I don't think about it, but I'd not use a phone or PC outa the box in basic setup with all the ears and eyes open. The level of power these unelected faceless corporations run by weirdo Sheldon Cooper nerds have is scary and that's today. The stuff in labs coming down the line, stuff the mass of humanity won't be privy to, that sh1t's scary. When you have eejits in the western world and beyond whispering conspiratorially about "big government" on Facebook, Google and the rest, you have to laugh. Or cry.

That's the ironic and a bit hilarious thing... When Orwell wrote 1984 he had Big Brother imposed upon an unhappy population from the top down, I doubt he imagined the population would have lined up eagerly falling over themselves to sign up for it.

Wibbs

srsly78 wrote: »

OP how was this possible? Everyone uses adblock surely?

Adblock just well, blocks ads, it does nada or close to nada as far as tracking you goes.

Gravelly

kneemos wrote: »

What was that film where the advertising hoardings knew your name and bombarded you with personalised adverts as you walked along.
It's from a while back now,but was prescient.

Minority report.

Ubbquittious

Snowseer wrote: »

Yeah - same. As I said, not to be a tinfoil hat person. But it is happening a lot - moreso than would be a coincidence. I think it’s worth a discussion/being aware of.

Try it with a few more things on purpose, just for divilment

Mena Mitty

I'm not a techie person either. I think when you download apps. and give permission for access to your camera, you are really inviting those apps. to come and join you in your Living room 24/7

It gives me the creeps some nights when I can't sleep and I'm resting in the dark and the phone justs turns on and lights up the bedroom for no reason. I'm wondering is there somebody remotely viewing my photo albums or e-mails. I have nothing to hide and have no state secrets but still....leaves you feeling a bit paranoid.

ozmo

Ubbquittious wrote: »

Try it with a few more things on purpose, just for divilment

Ahh - but now you've typed this - your mobile knows you are onto it and doing testing - and it wont do it anymore....:pac:

givyjoe

Touchee wrote: »

Excuse my ignorance (I'm not a tech person), but how could your phone just record a conversation?

I agree to some extent, I was checking out some apartments on airbnb a few days ago and ever since there's ads for airbnb everywhere.

You'll see on installed apps that some will ask for permissions to various aspects of your device, e.g. microphone. Once you agree/install the app, it then has access to do things such as this (in theory anyway).

ozmo

And also there is this:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-31296188
https://www.thedailybeast.com/samsung-dont-talk-in-front-of-smart-tv

Samsung: Don’t Talk in Front of Smart TV

Samsung is warning customers about discussing personal information in front of their smart television set.

The warning applies to TV viewers who control their Samsung Smart TV using its voice activation feature.

When the feature is active, such TV sets "listen" to what is said and may share what they hear with Samsung or third parties, it said.

ozmo

Oh - and you can play back some of the audio Google has captured at this link...

https://myactivity.google.com/myactivity?restrict=vaa


If you browse around that site (https://myactivity.google.com/myactivity) - you will see many of the physical places you have been to with your phone, everything you searched for - and vids you watched etc...

MaccaTacca

Was just having this conversation the other day.

Myself and my girlfriend rarely buy Ben and Jerry’s ice cream an odd weekend if we’re staying in.

Tesco often sell it for a reduced price of 3.50, and I would never buy it at it’s full price of 6.60.

The other day we were in tesco, and about to buy a tub, but we left it and didn’t bother. (As it was 6.60)

Three days later I get a featured add on Facebook messenger.

“Ben and Jerry’s ice cream 3.50 special offer at Tesco”

Seems too random and too personal to be a coincidence.

Not only was I offered a product I seldom purchase, but I was offered it at the only price I will buy it at.

No one pays 6.60 for a tub of icecream.

givyjoe

MaccaTacca wrote: »

Was just having this conversation the other day.

Myself and my girlfriend rarely buy Ben and Jerry’s ice cream an odd weekend if we’re staying in.

Tesco often sell it for a reduced price of 3.50, and I would never buy it at it’s full price of 6.60.

The other day we were in tesco, and about to buy a tub, but we left it and didn’t bother. (As it was 6.60)

Three days later I get a featured add on Facebook messenger.

“Ben and Jerry’s ice cream 3.50 special offer at Tesco”

Seems too random and too personal to be a coincidence.

Not only was I offered a product I seldom purchase, but I was offered it at the only price I will buy it at.

No one pays 6.60 for a tub of icecream.

I don't really see a problem with the above, so long as people are actually aware of what is really happening. Apps/devices really need to be made to a better job of informing people how and why info is being collected.

That being said, using the info to try and sell you ice cream and other such tasty stuff isn't bad. The problem is the potential to completely misuse the info for dodgy stuff, e.g. getting blackmailed for your dodgy search history (porrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrn :eek:)

jiltloop

kneemos wrote: »

What was that film where the advertising hoardings knew your name and bombarded you with personalised adverts as you walked along.
It's from a while back now,but was prescient.

Minority Report!