3 ms·
One time I was with some friends and we tested something like this. We chose a random thing I've never purchased, looked at, or have any interest in: "lawnmowe
by weird-eye-issue 5y ago
One time I was with some friends and we tested something like this.
We chose a random thing I've never purchased, looked at, or have any interest in: "lawnmowers".
We put my phone on the table and said lawnmowers a lot, waited a few minutes, then I went to a website I know that has a lot of ads (Notebook Check - not that it matters).
Then I scrolled down and waited for an ad to load and it was FOR A LAWNMOWER. I don't even have a lawn!
- mherdeg 5y agoI have in mind a YouTube original tv series hosted by cold reading psychics ("Crossing Over With John Edward") except instead of guessing your grandma's maiden name they just talk about mesothelioma then have the audience open their phones and look for spooky targeted ads.
- vmception 5y agoAn ad and analytics package in any app with enterprise credentials could have this permission (or in an app you authorized to listen for a different reason) And then the data brokers share this with all the other apps Every app creator can honestly say “noo we dont listen wdym” to you, to Congress, to everyone and the analytics package creator and data brokers are going to be laughing for decades
- weird-eye-issue 5y agoThis was a few years, it does make me wonder if I had a malicious app on my phone. Now on Android there is a green light when the mic is on so presumably that would catch this? Unless it is at the OS level
- vmception 5y agoAdditionally, I’ve seen ads served by being on someone else’s home wifi or the same residential wifi together. You get stuff they looked up (or said). I’ve seen it happen in proximity with shared contacts too. Meeting a friend on vacation and they start getting ads about where I live.