{"id":545109,"date":"2023-01-29T15:00:30","date_gmt":"2023-01-29T12:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/is-your-phone-listening-to-you\/"},"modified":"2023-01-29T15:00:30","modified_gmt":"2023-01-29T12:00:30","slug":"is-your-phone-listening-to-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/is-your-phone-listening-to-you\/","title":{"rendered":"#Is Your Phone Listening to You?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_84 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a2578336117e\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a2578336117e\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/is-your-phone-listening-to-you\/#%E2%80%9CIs_Your_Phone_Listening_to_You%E2%80%9D\" >&#8220;Is Your Phone Listening to You?&#8221;<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-2' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/is-your-phone-listening-to-you\/#Your_Phone_Isnt_Listening_to_You_Its_Worse_Than_That\" >Your Phone Isn\u2019t Listening to You; It\u2019s Worse Than That<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/is-your-phone-listening-to-you\/#Advertisers_Dont_Need_to_Eavesdrop\" >Advertisers Don\u2019t Need to Eavesdrop<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/is-your-phone-listening-to-you\/#Recording_Conversations_Is_Completely_Impractical\" >Recording Conversations Is Completely Impractical<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/is-your-phone-listening-to-you\/#Your_Conversations_Arent_Really_That_Valuable\" >Your Conversations Aren\u2019t Really That Valuable<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/is-your-phone-listening-to-you\/#How_to_Stop_Those_Creepy_Ads\" >How to Stop Those Creepy Ads<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"%E2%80%9CIs_Your_Phone_Listening_to_You%E2%80%9D\"><\/span>&#8220;Is Your Phone Listening to You?&#8221;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<div>\n<figure style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"type:primaryImage size-full wp-image-866065\" data-pagespeed-no-defer=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/52559941165_9251f46ddd_o.jpg?width=1198&amp;trim=1,1&amp;bg-color=000&amp;pad=1,1\" alt=\"Close up of the Google Pixel 6a's rear camera bar\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"type:primaryImage imagecredit\">Justin Duino \/ How-To Geek<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>We hear it all the time: \u201cI swear my phone is listening to me because I just saw this ad about the exact thing I was just talking about.\u201d Online ads undeniably have a way of promoting the same products and services we talk (and think) about. So is your phone really spying on your conversations?<\/p>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Your_Phone_Isnt_Listening_to_You_Its_Worse_Than_That\"><\/span>Your Phone Isn\u2019t Listening to You; It\u2019s Worse Than That<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>No, your phone is not recording your conversations and uploading them to some remote server to be analyzed for generating ads that are then beamed back to your phone. Yes, it\u2019s hard to believe that\u2019s not h<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>ening, considering how creepily relevant some ads can seem. Nonetheless, we can assure you the reason is not your phone spying on your conversations\u2014at least not your voice conversations.<\/p>\n<p>Now, technically, it\u2019s true that virtual assistants like Alexa and Google Assistant will record clips of audio when you use their wake words, and at least some of the time, upload those clips so specialists can refine those assistants\u2019 responses. Sometimes background conversations end up recorded in those clips too, so, in a way, <em>parts<\/em> of your conversations could be heard by a real person somewhere. In fact, that\u2019s the premise of the 2022 HBO Max thriller <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/redirect.viglink.com\/?key=e7eab128eb8d1c53e14db14f4c632447&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fplay.hbomax.com%2Fplayer%2Furn%3Ahbo%3Afeature%3AGYeB2LgKJ1cIOjAEAAABQ&amp;cuid=xid:{xid}&amp;___trxnet=vg\"><em>Kimi<\/em><\/a>, if you want to see a movie rendition of that voice analysis happening.<\/p>\n<p>But those recordings are not how those creepy ads got there. The truth about your phone\u2019s surveillance on you is, in some ways, actually scarier.<\/p>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Advertisers_Dont_Need_to_Eavesdrop\"><\/span>Advertisers Don\u2019t Need to Eavesdrop<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>It\u2019s unsettlingly easy for advertisers to make accurate guesses about what you\u2019re talking and hearing about without doing any audio recording. They can take current trends and pair them with basic information they have about you\u2014like your demographics, location, search history, shopping habits, daily routine, and more\u2014to judge what people like you (and the circles you run in) are interested in. Whatever you\u2019re interested in, you will also tend to talk about.<\/p>\n<p>For example, let\u2019s say you meet up with a friend at a coffee shop. Just beforehand, your friend decided to glance at prices for panini makers on Amazon. Then, somewhere during your conversation, they casually drop the line, \u201cMan, I\u2019ve been really craving a good panini lately.\u201d You ignore the comment and move on, but the next time you go online\u2014bingo\u2014the first ad you\u2019ve ever seen for a panini maker.<\/p>\n<p>Did your smartphone analyze your friend\u2019s comment and decide it should try to sell you a panini maker? No, Google just grabbed a few simple data points and put two-and-two together. It was easy to see from your friend\u2019s browsing history they had paninis on the brain, and geolocation data gathered from both your phones made it obvious you were spending time together. No audio recording was necessary to show you something relevant, just standard data tracking and a bit of logical guesswork. The fact that paninis came up in conversation was just an unsurprising coincidence.<\/p>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Recording_Conversations_Is_Completely_Impractical\"><\/span>Recording Conversations Is Completely Impractical<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Promoting ads that coincide with what you\u2019re thinking and talking about is really that simple, but it\u2019s also just plain efficient. In fact, what ad companies do is far more efficient than snooping on your in-person conversations.<\/p>\n<p>Yes, it is technically possible for software on your phone to record audio and upload it to a remote location at the same time. But all of that work would put a huge strain on your phone\u2019s resources, draining your battery and likely driving your data usage through the roof. Some <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/news\/2021\/jul\/18\/what-is-pegasus-spyware-and-how-does-it-hack-phones\">advanced kinds of spyware<\/a> might behave like that, but the difficulty and costs of infecting a phone mean you\u2019d need some seriously powerful enemies to have cause for concern.<\/p>\n<p>Another problem is the simple fact that,\u00a0in terms of bytes, a decent-quality voice recording is gigantic when compared to data points like your most recent search and location history, which are much more compact. Imagine the resources it would take to transfer, store, and process the audio from <em>every<\/em>\u00a0smartphone mic at the same time all day long. It\u2019s just not feasible, not even for Google.<\/p>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Your_Conversations_Arent_Really_That_Valuable\"><\/span>Your Conversations Aren\u2019t Really That Valuable<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Okay, let\u2019s say big tech companies with their vast resources\u00a0<i>were\u00a0<\/i>hiding a huge underground lab where everyone\u2019s real-life conversations were being stored and analyzed for ad targeting. The problem is that the entire project would be a tremendous waste of time and energy. Why? Because, at the end of the day, for advertisers at least, your chats with friends and family aren\u2019t even worth listening to.<\/p>\n<p>Whatever you\u2019re talking about right now, ad-serving software probably knew you and your friends were interested in a long time ago. Your hot takes and new obsessions are old <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">news<\/a> for companies like Google. That movie you saw last week and liked so much you told your coworkers about it? Google probably guessed you were going to see it before you decided to and may have known you enjoyed it by the way you interacted with your phone during and after the showing.<\/p>\n<p>On top of that, people lie and mislead about their interests in conversation all the time. Who hasn\u2019t faked interest in a friend\u2019s boring hobby out of politeness? Any secret eavesdropping lab would quickly have to shut its doors thanks to that low-quality, inaccurate data. But you know what doesn\u2019t lie? Your browsing history.<\/p>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_to_Stop_Those_Creepy_Ads\"><\/span>How to Stop Those Creepy Ads<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>So if muffling your phone\u2019s microphone closed won\u2019t actually get you any real privacy, what can you do to stop those suspiciously relevant ads from appearing? Unfortunately, not much.<\/p>\n<p>Privacy on the internet is a myth. Your smartphone is a little sponge <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kicksecure.com\/wiki\/Mobile_Phone_Security#Data_Harvesting_by_Most_Phones\">soaking up every bit of valuable data it can<\/a>, and <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/news\/privacy-technology\/new-records-detail-dhs-purchase-and-use-of-vast-quantities-of-cell-phone-location-data\">anyone asking for that data generally can have it<\/a>. You can minimize the amount of data being collected and shared with changes like tweaking your Google account\u2019s privacy settings or switching to privacy-centered alternatives to popular services like DuckDuckGo for search and Signal for messaging. Using a VPN in combination with private browsing mode\u00a0can also make your browsing activity harder for advertisers to track.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s no bulletproof solution, though. Your behavior itself can be fingerprinted, cataloged, and tracked across browsing sessions, weakening many privacy tools. You can try getting a reasonable amount of anonymity\u00a0by\u00a0browsing with Tor, but that comes with its own drawbacks and pitfalls. Even\u00a0disabling GPS tracking\u00a0doesn\u2019t help like you\u2019d think because other data points like nearby Bluetooth and Wi-Fi signals <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kicksecure.com\/wiki\/Mobile_Phone_Security#Bluetooth_and_Wi-Fi_Threats\">make geolocation tracking difficult to stop<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>So instead of worrying about voice recordings, you should really just remember one thing: don\u2019t do anything on your phone or take your phone anywhere you aren\u2019t comfortable with advertisers (and other authorities) knowing about.<\/p>\n<p><strong>RELATED:<\/strong> <strong><em>How to See What Data Google Has on You (and Delete It)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script>\n setTimeout(function(){\n  !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)\n  {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n  n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};\n  if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';\n  n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\n  t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\n  s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s) } (window, document,'script',\n  'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n   fbq('init', '335401813750447');\n   fbq('track', 'PageView');\n  },3000);\n<\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more like this article, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/technology\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Technology category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/865551\/is-your-phone-listening-to-you\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Is Your Phone Listening to You?&#8221; Justin Duino \/ How-To Geek We hear it all the time: \u201cI swear my phone is listening to me because I just saw this ad about the exact thing I was just talking about.\u201d Online ads undeniably have a way of promoting the same products and services we talk&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":545110,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/52559941165_9251f46ddd_o.jpg?height=200p&trim=2,2,2,2","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-545109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=545109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545109\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/545110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=545109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=545109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=545109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}