3 ms·
I’m not really sure who this article is trying to convince. Besides, who thinks it’s the “phones” listening to us? It’s the apps that do the listening. Only rec
by dev_dull 7y ago
I’m not really sure who this article is trying to convince. Besides, who thinks it’s the “phones” listening to us? It’s the apps that do the listening. Only recently are iOS and android finally clawing back errant permissions on these apps to prevent such behavior.
- nikhilbagadia 7y agoWhich apps were these?
- kennywinker 7y ago> The security specialists kept apps open for Facebook, Instagram, Chrome, SnapChat, YouTube, and Amazon with full permissions granted to each platform.
- kennywinker 7y agoIf you read the article, test were conducted with some popular apps open (e.g. facebook). “My phone is listening” is just shorthand for “various apps on my phone are listening, i’m not sure which ones but ads for things i’ve never looked at online keep uncannily showing up after i talk about them”.
- parineum 7y agoA possible route for this info that I've considered is that whatever service is serving you ads knows who your friends are and perhaps they are interested in this thing you spoke of together. That or you and I are just a lot more predictable than we think (which is actually what I think).
- garmaine 7y agoThe baseband firmware almost certainly has backdoors exploitable by certain national intelligence agencies to listen in on you, selectively.
- ncmncm 7y agoI know someone who worked at Qualcomm with access to that baseband code, who had a personal project to scan it for backdoors. He came up empty. So if they are there, they are subtle. At least in Qualcomm basebands. Exploits probably provide all the backdoors the spooks need.
- DoctorOetker 7y agowhy put it in baseband? does baseband have access to the raw audio buffers? just put it in ARM's secure world, that's what it's designed for...
- garmaine 7y agoBecause the baseband is opaque to the software running elsewhere on the phone, proprietary, and not visible to inspection by security researchers.
- ncmncm 7y agoBaseband processor has access to absolutely everything on all but Purism phones. Android is a guest OS.
- DoctorOetker 7y agoI always thought baseband referred to the processor and firmware/software that responsible for the radio modem? Do Android and baseband firmware run on one and the same processor(s)? Or are we calling ARM Secure World / TrustZone baseband these days?
- ncmncm 7y agoAndroid runs on a processor that operates, or not, at the pleasure of the baseband processor. The latter has complete access to all memory, and complete control over the Android's CPU cores. Android and the cores it runs on have no access to the baseband processor's memory, or any control over its execution.
- crummy 7y agoThe title says "phone" but the article refers to apps from "Facebook, Instagram, Chrome, SnapChat, YouTube, and Amazon", so I think they include apps. I haven't used iOS in a while but hasn't it always been extremely obvious when an app was using the microphone in the background?
- goatinaboat 7y agoBesides, who thinks it’s the “phones” listening to us? It’s the apps that do the listening It’s a distinction without a difference.