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[NSC] Phone listening to you / adverts



Kuipers Supporters Club

Kuipers Supporters Club

Well-known member
Feb 10, 2009
5,649
GOSBTS
Today at lunch with colleagues we were discussing ways to sleep better.

Someone mentioned an Ooler sleep system, I'd never heard of it or googled it.

Sit down at my desk, and guess what advert pops up on my Social Media ...

https://chilisleep.co.uk/products/o...Va0bDNtDGe_wPSN9Rrie2h80spxQoiLhoCRLUQAvD_BwE

I used to be a bit wary about stories like this, but I am now convinced that the phone is listening 24/7 and selling my voice for adverts ...
 




Poojah

Poojah

Well-known member
Nov 19, 2010
1,881
Leeds
I'm not even on Facebook, never have been - partly for this reason. However, my missus (who uses Facebook extensively) once, some considerable time ago, logged-in using my phone. Now, whenever I search for something or visit a particular web site, ads start circulating on HER phone.

This is bloody annoying, as it makes things like buying Christmas and birthday presents much less of a surprise, whilst of course I have to be err...careful, of the kind of web sites I access on my phone.

It feels like there should be a simple, universal opt-out option for stuff like this but to the best of my knowledge no such thing exists - there's just too much money in it.
 


Poojah

Poojah

Well-known member
Nov 19, 2010
1,881
Leeds
Mustafa said:
Might be stating obvious, but have you tried deleting cookies?
Click to expand...

delete-cookies.jpg
 


beorhthelm

beorhthelm

A. Virgo, Football Genius
Jul 21, 2003
35,332
Poojah said:
It feels like there should be a simple, universal opt-out option for stuff like this but to the best of my knowledge no such thing exists - there's just too much money in it.
Click to expand...

its called incognito mode. they can still track IP etc so could link to ads, but seems to be recognised that incognito mode means dont follow me.

as to the listening apps, i recall there have been apps doing this but its not supposed to be allowed by Apple/Google app store policies. searches and proximity cross-referencing is perfectly fair game though. the timing is partially this and recency effect, could have been seeing them all week and not noticed until after the discussion.
 


Audax

Audax

Boing boing boing...
Aug 3, 2015
2,956
Uckfield
Poojah said:
I'm not even on Facebook, never have been - partly for this reason. However, my missus (who uses Facebook extensively) once, some considerable time ago, logged-in using my phone. Now, whenever I search for something or visit a particular web site, ads start circulating on HER phone.

This is bloody annoying, as it makes things like buying Christmas and birthday presents much less of a surprise, whilst of course I have to be err...careful, of the kind of web sites I access on my phone.

It feels like there should be a simple, universal opt-out option for stuff like this but to the best of my knowledge no such thing exists - there's just too much money in it.
Click to expand...

Universal opt-out ... yeah, unlikely to happen. But you can opt-out in a lot of cases. I'm opted out in my master Google account (via https://myaccount.google.com/data-and-personalization) so in Chrome I just get Ads from whoever is paying the most to bombard people. Unfortunately I've never done it in Facebook, so it still grabs what it can from cookies and hits me with personalised ads.

In other news - the major browsers are all moving away from cookies. (In Google world, they call their replacement solution being worked on the "Privacy Sandbox" - and they're working with the EU regulators on it).
 




Grassman

Grassman

Well-known member
Jun 12, 2008
2,567
Tun Wells
Me and the wife were in an opticians earlier, she mentioned she liked the Marc Jacobs sunglasses. 1 hr later a Marc Jacobs ad popped up on my Facebook, it could be a coincidence of course, but…….
 


bhafc99

bhafc99

Well-known member
Oct 14, 2003
7,107
Dubai
Mustafa said:
For example, if one or more of your friends did Google it - and you are part of the same social media network - it is likely it will turn up on your advertising stream.
Click to expand...

Christ.

I hope the new version of NSC that Bozza’s promised us isn’t part of this “social media network”.

Because if WE all start getting ads based on each others’ browsing history, we’re all truly FOOKED!
 


brighton_tom

brighton_tom

Well-known member
Jul 23, 2008
4,903
If you search 'microphone' in the settings section on an iphone you can select which apps have access to it. Obviously things like zoom or whatsapp will have genuine use for it, but no need to also have apps like instagram/facebook on there.
 




cloud

cloud

Well-known member
Jun 12, 2011
3,030
Here, there and everywhere
You can turn off the feature to listen in. I used to get fed up with my phone interrupting and making suggestions while I was having a conversation.

How to Stop Google From Listening on Android
Open Settings on your phone and enter the Google category.
Under Services, select Account services.
Next, tap Search, Assistant & Voice.
Hit Voice on the resulting page.
You'll see a Voice Match entry; tap it.
Disable the Hey Google slider to disable "OK Google" detection.

https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/stop-google-android-listening/
 


Kuipers Supporters Club

Kuipers Supporters Club

Well-known member
Feb 10, 2009
5,649
GOSBTS
Mustafa said:
It's not listening to you.

...but it is collecting lots of other data, which has probably resulted in this ad.

For example, if one or more of your friends did Google it - and you are part of the same social media network - it is likely it will turn up on your advertising stream, especially if it knows you were together (location data is one thing the cloud does openly collate). Word of mouth is the most powerful form of advertising.

So while your phone is not listening to you - you should probably be even more concerned about all the other data the cloud has on you, if that worries you.
Click to expand...

Thank you, yes I wish Smart Phones didn't exist ...

I am only connected to the colleague via Linkedin
 


BNthree

BNthree

Plastic JCL
Sep 14, 2016
10,966
WeHo
If you're genuinely curious about this sort of thing spend a couple of minutes reading this twitter thread by a chap that ended up with adverts for his mum's brand of toothpaste after visiting her:

https://twitter.com/RobertGReeve/status/1397032784703655938

It's to do with cookies and those "allow" buttons you (and everyone else) click on every website you visit and also for agreeing to those "terms of service" on various apps without reading them.
 


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