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Is My Phone Recording Everything I Say? Researchers Investigate

30 points by mmaanniisshh 8y ago

wjnc 8y ago
The simpler explanation, with a grounding in marketing and cognitive science: we basically train ourselves to ignore ads. If successful our active brain doesn't register, while our passive brain might. Have we recently activated subject X in conversation, we notice ads around X a bit more. Hence the creepy feeling. Another explanation might be: I just discussed a holiday and promptly got an ad for the exact island. The person visiting me probably uses Facebook, so FB knows we were together and knows where he went via location. Logical conclusion: people discuss intercontinental trips and hence: show ads.
speg 8y ago
On vacation this week. My wife accidentally bought some Flaming Hot Sweet Chili Cheetos instead of the regular kind. They were talked about many times the first evening. Yesterday my wife is scrolling through Instagram and what does she see? Flaming Hot Cheetos. How?
- ec109685 8y ago
  They were there always and she just notices them now that she recently purchased such Doritos.
  - froindt 8y ago
    I've heard this, and it's a reasonable explanation. It'd be interesting for someone to make a browser extension which logs all the ads you see, allowing trends over time to be spotted. It would also allow hard evidence in a situation like this.
    - influx 8y ago
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases#Frequency_illusion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases#Frequ...
- eboyjr 8y ago
  Her credit card and per item purchase history is in a database somewhere linked with her social network identities. Combine that with targeted ads and you have a consistent personal reminder of your purchase history.
  - blakesterz 8y ago
    I'm not saying that's wrong, but why would Cheetos advertise to someone that just bought Cheetos? I don't know much about how advertisers by these types of ads, but why would someone throw ads for something that was just bought? Wouldn't they wait until next month or something?
    - froindt 8y ago
      It could be a reinforcement strategy. "Oh yeah I bought Cheetos yesterday and they were really good! I should buy them again soon."
    - flashman 8y ago
      Maybe because she just bought that variety of Cheetos for the first time. They're trying to promote repeat purchases. Of course, when there are millions of opportunities for coincidences to occur, and when coincidences are much more memorable than non-coincidences, the chances that everyone has a couple of these stories is pretty high.
- pedalpete 8y ago
  she is already a cheetos customer, someone somewhere knows that. You could say that she saw another Cheetos ad, which wouldn't raise a red flag. Seeing a "Flaming Hot Cheetos" ad just could also just be the Cheetos is pushing this variety on their existing customers.
blakesterz 8y ago
I feel the same way about this "my phone is recording me" thing as I do about Bigfoot. I really want it to be true, but there's so many people walking around with phones all the time everywhere that it seems like it would have been caught by now, so I'm starting to think it's just not true.
rags2riches 8y ago
When the advertisers know people so well that they think they are being spied on, does it really matter how this is achieved?
asdsa5325 8y ago
TL;DR: No
fricative 8y ago
Somewhere along the line, some shitbird scum-fuck outfit ratted me out to Facebook, and some really specific, interstitial targetted ads started to intrude when I logged in an started browsing Facebook to goof off and browse through whatever trash my feed tried to show me. I do not install Facebook on my phone. In fact, I would only browse Facebook on my laptop, but here and there I opted to use my laptop, while tethering through a pre-paid mobile device, not registered in my name. The Facebook account did not use a real name, nor was the login email anything but a spam catcher email. Nevertheless, based on credit card events and a few other real world circumstances, possibly geolocating based on IP address/cell tower info and ISP/carrier data share agreements, suddenly I was being solicited for shit that was nobody's fucking business. For sure, those ads were gunning for me. My wallet, at a moment when I would surely be forking over cash, dumping wads of cash on the thing being hawked. Oh well, whoopty doo! Facebook locked me out of the account, because coincidentally, probably since I wasn't using a real name, it incorrectly assessed that I was either a fake account or hacked by evil supper villains. Wrong on both accounts, lol! They really did manage to accurately target me, and then immediately locked me out, and demanded a scan of what? My fucking passport? My driver's license? My fucking social security card? YEAH FUCKING RIGHT. But thanks for locking me out, dipshits! I hate your garbage service, and your creep ads anyway. I'm never logging into that account again, and all the better that you can't seem to make heads or tails about whether I'm actually me, or whether I'm a real person or not.
gorkemcetin 8y ago
That has been an issue for several years. Several companies have been secretly recording your screen and (deliberately or not) recording your PII. I always read privacy policies but it seems like it is not enough, either. I believe Google should be very cautious when it comes to such analytics vendors (e.g Appsee et al).

30 points by mmaanniisshh 8y ago

wjnc 8y ago

The simpler explanation, with a grounding in marketing and cognitive science: we basically train ourselves to ignore ads. If successful our active brain doesn't register, while our passive brain might. Have we recently activated subject X in conversation, we notice ads around X a bit more. Hence the creepy feeling. Another explanation might be: I just discussed a holiday and promptly got an ad for the exact island. The person visiting me probably uses Facebook, so FB knows we were together and knows where he went via location. Logical conclusion: people discuss intercontinental trips and hence: show ads.

speg 8y ago

On vacation this week. My wife accidentally bought some Flaming Hot Sweet Chili Cheetos instead of the regular kind. They were talked about many times the first evening. Yesterday my wife is scrolling through Instagram and what does she see? Flaming Hot Cheetos. How?

ec109685 8y ago
They were there always and she just notices them now that she recently purchased such Doritos.
- froindt 8y ago
  I've heard this, and it's a reasonable explanation. It'd be interesting for someone to make a browser extension which logs all the ads you see, allowing trends over time to be spotted. It would also allow hard evidence in a situation like this.
  - influx 8y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases#Frequency_illusion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases#Frequ...
eboyjr 8y ago
Her credit card and per item purchase history is in a database somewhere linked with her social network identities. Combine that with targeted ads and you have a consistent personal reminder of your purchase history.
- blakesterz 8y ago
  I'm not saying that's wrong, but why would Cheetos advertise to someone that just bought Cheetos? I don't know much about how advertisers by these types of ads, but why would someone throw ads for something that was just bought? Wouldn't they wait until next month or something?
  - froindt 8y ago
    It could be a reinforcement strategy. "Oh yeah I bought Cheetos yesterday and they were really good! I should buy them again soon."
  - flashman 8y ago
    Maybe because she just bought that variety of Cheetos for the first time. They're trying to promote repeat purchases. Of course, when there are millions of opportunities for coincidences to occur, and when coincidences are much more memorable than non-coincidences, the chances that everyone has a couple of these stories is pretty high.
pedalpete 8y ago
she is already a cheetos customer, someone somewhere knows that. You could say that she saw another Cheetos ad, which wouldn't raise a red flag. Seeing a "Flaming Hot Cheetos" ad just could also just be the Cheetos is pushing this variety on their existing customers.

blakesterz 8y ago

I feel the same way about this "my phone is recording me" thing as I do about Bigfoot. I really want it to be true, but there's so many people walking around with phones all the time everywhere that it seems like it would have been caught by now, so I'm starting to think it's just not true.

rags2riches 8y ago

When the advertisers know people so well that they think they are being spied on, does it really matter how this is achieved?

asdsa5325 8y ago

TL;DR: No

fricative 8y ago

Somewhere along the line, some shitbird scum-fuck outfit ratted me out to Facebook, and some really specific, interstitial targetted ads started to intrude when I logged in an started browsing Facebook to goof off and browse through whatever trash my feed tried to show me. I do not install Facebook on my phone. In fact, I would only browse Facebook on my laptop, but here and there I opted to use my laptop, while tethering through a pre-paid mobile device, not registered in my name. The Facebook account did not use a real name, nor was the login email anything but a spam catcher email. Nevertheless, based on credit card events and a few other real world circumstances, possibly geolocating based on IP address/cell tower info and ISP/carrier data share agreements, suddenly I was being solicited for shit that was nobody's fucking business. For sure, those ads were gunning for me. My wallet, at a moment when I would surely be forking over cash, dumping wads of cash on the thing being hawked. Oh well, whoopty doo! Facebook locked me out of the account, because coincidentally, probably since I wasn't using a real name, it incorrectly assessed that I was either a fake account or hacked by evil supper villains. Wrong on both accounts, lol! They really did manage to accurately target me, and then immediately locked me out, and demanded a scan of what? My fucking passport? My driver's license? My fucking social security card? YEAH FUCKING RIGHT. But thanks for locking me out, dipshits! I hate your garbage service, and your creep ads anyway. I'm never logging into that account again, and all the better that you can't seem to make heads or tails about whether I'm actually me, or whether I'm a real person or not.

gorkemcetin 8y ago

That has been an issue for several years. Several companies have been secretly recording your screen and (deliberately or not) recording your PII. I always read privacy policies but it seems like it is not enough, either. I believe Google should be very cautious when it comes to such analytics vendors (e.g Appsee et al).