Thanks past me!
I have all my histories turned off and once a year or so I go in and make sure they haven’t added anything new for me to turn off.
Now the question is, are they really not collecting my data or have I just made it so I can’t see what they have on me?
I would assume the latter until proven otherwise. No doubt they hide that.
That’s how I think about it too.
I do the same thing, and always wonder that too. These companies have been caught lying consistently and repeatedly about what they collect and how, so even with all the right settings I’m very skeptical that they actually respect my choices.
They collected incognito session info, whose entire existence was ‘not keeping a history’, so almost 100% the latter.
It just not stores the session >_> Nothing was ever fully incognito about it beyond the icon looking like a spy.
Also it’s made by Google. Not much of a surprise.Now for Firefoy I would be interested.
I never assumed that incognito mode did anything more than not save my history and searches in my browser. And maybe some other stuff like cache and cookies.
It took me a while to realize that less tech-savvy people wouldn’t know about that stuff and assume that it meant that Google isn’t watching you.
And unless you’re very privacy-conscious, even your ISP knows where you get your internet porn from
i have only YouTube enabled (personalization is good enough that i actually do care about it) and google search (since it also affects google maps) and both are set to the lowest auto delete option
Same here. Disabled it a year back.
Yep, same here. I turned off all that tracking a long time ago.
Same here… disabled this AGES ago.
Alternative title: People creeped out after woman discovers what tech literate people have been saying to do for a decade
Same can be said for any field, academic or not. For example, it won’t do any good to dismiss cancer awareness campaigns because doctors have been saying about it for decades. It’s for the public’s benefit, and everyone deserves privacy.
In my country, we had been saying that the government was doing business with Israel, even though they were condemning on every public forum. It took only 1 journalist until the whole public saw the hypocrisy. 1 journalist against all TV channels and internet trolls. (Here 95% of all TV channels are sponsored by government).
I remember telling this years ago, yet this man, who also had to leave the country for his other journalist work said it at the right time with the right tools.
So, what I get this is, don’t stop telling the truth. Even though nobody listens now, people will when the right time comes.
what’s wrong with doing business with Israel? I believe most countries do so… and they have some of the smartest engineers in the world.
In case you somehow missed the news: they’re currently killing lots of innocent people in Gaza. Not doing business w/ Israel puts pressure on the Israeli government to stop doing that.
does it? has that ever worked for any country?
I actually don’t think it works. It’s better if we retaliate in the same way Israel does.
What 7 October taught is the hypocrisy of our leaders. I am specifically talking about Muslim leaders and Erdogan, but in general I think this is also true.
There isn’t a soul in your country that isnt aware cancer exists.
Cancer you say? Like the star sign?
But seriously the campaigns are about spotting signs and importance of early treatment
lol k
LoL, I clicked the link above, and EFF’s Privacy Badger had replaced the TikTok widget. Thank you, EFF.org!!
I’ve had mine turned off for years, but it doesn’t really matter, Google and all these tech giants will still collect whatever info they want regardless.
Also one or a few people turning it off doesn’t matter much. The tech giants still get their demographic statistics from the ones who haven’t (which is the larger percentage of the population). You could be spending money on things based on targeted ads for your demographic.
In other words, you are creeped out about wondering what they could do with your personal data if you turn it on. But you should be even more creeped out about how your daily decisions are already influenced by them using others data
I mean, you need the fucking money to buy shit in the first place. Lol
lol it has almost nothing on me. Even has my relationship status wrong
ADHD - The ultimate Info Tracking killer
I supply mine with fake info with the google rewards app :p
I answered the question as if I was a mother (am not and male) of 4 children, which has higher education, is into tech and fashion, has 4 children and a house.
So far I made 29,30€ in total in Play Store cash. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Sadly some of the funds lapse after some time but I have used it for smaller apps and such.I used to do surveys as a CEO of a megacorp making lots of money
Turns out they give more money to you if you’re already rich…(probably because rich people don’t really do that stuff so they want more of their data)
Same lol
Between that and the random shit it has listed as what I get ads for…it isn’t a whole lot. I spend most of time looking up highly specific things on Wikipedia or out of immediate utility, so I suppose I’m just not that interesting…also ublock origin ftw
I tried to check mine and was extremely glad but underwhelmed that all my accounts have personalized ads turned off. I’m sure Google has tons of info on me anyway though lol 🙃
I turned off my Google account entirely by deleting it in January of 2022. And I use add and tracker blocking DNS functionality on all devices on my network and primarily use open source software. So good luck. They may very well still know stuff about me, but the stuff they are going to know is going to be limited and or very old.
Doesn’t tell me anything becasuee I would need to verify I’m over 18, but I’m sure it still collects all that information.
some people might like that it helps them get targeted ads - after all, the tech has crunched all the data, and can advertise things to you that you might actually want.
Hahahahaha Next best thing to ad blocking, is generic ads that you don’t care about and can ignore more easily, and you know that the company is getting paid less for those ads showing.
What I want to know is why when I’m talking to my wife in the car about buying new shoes do I get a YouTube ad that evening about new shoes, when I never got that kind of ad before.
Are our phones listening to us while we talk in the car, and then ads are generated from that?
I’d really like to know the answer to that question.
Edit: fixed typo, shoes, not shows.
What are the odds than anyone in the household searched for the shows? Targeting ads to all devices on the same IP or even devices that have previously been on the same network happens.
I was able to predict that my mom had been researching “bunion shoes” after I started seeing ads, seemingly randomly, for them not long after she came to my house to visit.
It’s not even just that, humans a incredibly predictable and that predictability is able to be microtargeted based on trends and past activity of an individual.
It’s not even just that, humans a incredibly predictable and that predictability is able to be microtargeted based on trends and past activity of an individual.
I literally let years go by between buying shoes, no kidding. So I don’t think that what you described would cover my specific case.
Especially out of the blue, and not shown ads for that at all before, and exactly around the same time when that discussion comes up in a moving vehicle.
(As an aside, and in case you’re curious, when it comes time to buy new shoes, I usually buy two or three pairs of the same shoe, and then stick the other ones in the closet (usually buy at a really good sales price). Then when the first ones wear out I throw them away, and grab the next pair out of the closet.)
You just described a pattern, though.
You just described a pattern, though.
From where I see it, there is no pattern of purchasing shoes there, unless you truly expect Google AI/servers to track you multi-years long (with the required CPU and storage requirements needed to do so), to establish an unique shoe purchasing pattern, instead of what they more likely are doing, which is looking at recent online and microphone activity.
AKA, Occam’s Razor.
And also, how would Google know beforehand, that I will walk into a shoe store and buy shoes, if I didn’t do any search for them ahead of time online?
What are the odds than anyone in the household searched for the shows?
It’s just me and my wife, and we were both in the car together.
Also, I meant to say shoes, not shows. The voice-to-text doesn’t always get me perfectly, and sometimes I miss the typos it creates.
It most likely is.
I highly doubt phones are always listening. Surely at some point by now there would be proof.
There’s no evidence of extra network activity ( your data would be through the roof ).
There’s no evidence of battery drain.
This is of course the phone OS we are talking about. Software like TikTok or Meta could / be when allowed to by the user.
I highly doubt phones are always listening.
But, they already are.
Some people like the option where they just say “Hey Google” (or whatever) and then the phone talks back to them, so they’re always listening so they can hear that initiation sequence. This old article from Vice describes what I’m speaking of.
Personally I’d like the ability to turn that feature off, so I have to explicitly enable the microphone to have Google listen to what I’m saying.
Isn’t the activation phrase on a separate piece of hardware that’s not networked?
NGL I don’t the the guy with the anti ai blurb in all his comments is very knowledgeable about tech lol
NGL I don’t the the guy with the anti ai blurb in all his comments is very knowledgeable about tech lol
You know, if you have to try to “Kill the Messenger” to win a point, then you’re not really winning anything, and you’re just disrespecting another human being.
but they already are
Not in the context of this
postthread.“ Always listening ” would suggest they are recording at all times in a way that can be used for advertising.
It’s already well understood wake words are processed on device.
It’s usually not a case of the phone listening but, more creepily, that your behavior before and after talking to your wife about new shoes signaled that you want to buy new shoes.
Ad algorithms are surprisingly perceptive about signals that aren’t obvious.
that your behavior before and after talking to your wife about new shoes signaled that you want to buy new shoes.
There was no previous or after behavior.
We were in a car, long road trip, I mentioned needing to buy new shows during the trip, and when I got home late that evening YouTube was serving me up ads for shoes on my PC. No searches was done before or after the trip (as I mentioned elsewhere, I just go to a store and buy multiple boxes of the same kind of sneakers/shoes on sale).
I am skeptical about listening not only because it was not proven, but also because almost the exact same result is achievable via much, much simpler and omnipresent means.
I am skeptical about listening not only because it was not proven,
This old article from Vice seems to have proven it, back in 2018.
And their conclusion was completely wrong.
Because unless you’re a journalist, a lawyer, or have some kind of role with sensitive information, the access of your data is only really going to advertisers. If you’re like everyone else, living a really normal life, and talking to your friends about flying to Japan, then it’s really not that different to advertisers looking at your browsing history.
These days, a private conversation about pregnancy, abortion, voting, or your feelings about geopolitical stuff like Gaza or Ukraine could absolutely be used against you, depending on where you live.
I’m not aware of any research that’s proven that phone are listening on conversations and serve ads based on that, just a bunch of anecdotal evidence. there has been some research a few years ago that proved the opposite, though.
there has been some research a few years ago that proved the opposite, though.
Could you supply a link for that article? I would very much like to read it. Also, I would want it to be a recent article, to be believable for the current conversation we’re having.
just a bunch of anecdotal evidence
Well, we all are just black boxing this, as we do not have access to these corporation’s servers and what data they collect.
But you have to admit, that in my case at least, Occam’s Razor would definitely point you in a certain direction.
Edit: You should also take a look at this old article from Vice.
https://gizmodo.com/these-academics-spent-the-last-year-testing-whether-you-1826961188
this is the most recent one I know of.
you have to admit, that in my case at least, Occam’s Razor would definitely point you in a certain direction.
it points me in the direction of you either being in the demographic currently targeted by the ad provider, or you having been shown the ad before without noticing it, and only paying attention after talking about the topic, and experiencing frequency illusion afterwards.
https://gizmodo.com/these-academics-spent-the-last-year-testing-whether-you-1826961188
this is the most recent one I know of.
Gizmodo? 2018? Yikes.
Interesting enough, in that same article is one from Vice, which backs up what I’ve been stating and assuming.
Gizmodo? 2018? Yikes.
it’s a summary of a paper posted here: https://recon.meddle.mobi/panoptispy/
in that same article is one from Vice, which backs up what I’ve been stating and assuming
do I get to say “Vice? 2018? Yikes.” now?
feel free to link more up-to-date research results.
Gizmodo? 2018? Yikes.
it’s a summary of a paper posted here: https://recon.meddle.mobi/panoptispy/
Thanks for the link. Checking the bottom of it …
© Copyright 2012-2024 by David Choffnes, Northeastern University. This work is generously supported in part by a DHS S&T contract (#FA8750-17-2-0145), a Comcast Innovation Fund grant and the Data Transparency Lab.
… and from the paper …
This material is based upon work supported by the DHS S&T contract FA8750-17-2-0145; the NSF under Award No. CNS-1408632, IIS-1408345, and IIS-1553088; a Security, Privacy and Anti-Abuse award from Google; a Comcast Innovation Fund grant; and a Data Trans- parency Lab grant. Any opinions, findings, and conclu- sions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of our sponsors.
Ignoring ‘Gizmodo’ for a moment, not sure if its an unbiased paper or not (its a bit ‘sus’), and the date is from research done in 2017 and published in 2018. Today’s corporations most likely do not follow the same practices they did in 2017.
in that same article is one from Vice, which backs up what I’ve been stating and assuming
do I get to say “Vice? 2018? Yikes.” now?
Yep, you sure do, especially since it comes from the article you supplied. The point being that showing proof from 2017 does not necessarily cover today’s situation.
But it definatley defines that listening in on your phone used to happen back in 2018 at least. Wish we had today’s “word” on the subject.
feel free to link more up-to-date research results.
Considering I was asking you originally, you shouldn’t expect one from me. I was asking you about your initial point, since you were replying to mine, and would not have if I already the information that backs up what you stated.
Hi.
I work with and for most of the major tech companies worldwide and yes, we are listening to your cell phone even when you turn off the settings.
It most likely is. And if it’s not your phone, then it’s your car (assuming it has been built in the last few years)
It most likely is. And if it’s not your phone, then it’s your car (assuming it has been built in the last few years)
Yeah, that’s really creepy. I would only want the phone to listen when I actually ask it a question, not 24/7.
I would only want the phone to listen when I actually ask it a question, not 24/7.
If the phone does not listen 24/7, then how does it know when you are asking a question? It should discard all information until the wake up word is called in theory. Only way it could work if you have to press a button to start listening to your question. This was the case in the past, however people wanted to ask questions while showering or something since they introduced this “improvement”.
If the phone does not listen 24/7, then how does it know when you are asking a question?
I pushed the microphone button on the keyboard editor when I want the microphone to listen to me.
For example, when I comment here on Lemmy, I use the voice-to-text option to type out my comments, via the microphone.
It should discard all information until the wake up word is called in theory.
But even with always-on listening mode, it shouldn’t actually be taking any of your data for advertising (or legal issues for that matter) and using it, unless you explicitly authorize it to do so.
And it has to be very explicit, not buried down in some long multi-page license somewhere that only a knowledgeable lawyer would be able to know and find.
Oh, and you should be able to opt-out of that mode as well.
