cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/25882429
scarily... They don't need to to be this creepy, but even I'm a tad baffled by this.
Yesterday me and a few friends were at a pub quiz, of course no phones allowed, so none were used.
It came down to a tie break question of my team and another. "What is the run time of the Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the ring" according to IMDb.
We answered and went about our day. Today my friend from my team messaged me - top post on his "today feed" is an article published 23 hours ago.....
Forgive the pointless red circle.... I didnt take the screenshot.
My friend isn't a privacy conscience person by any means, but he didnt open IMDb or google anything to do with the franchise and hasn't for many months prior. I'm aware its most likely an incredible coincidence, but when stuff like this happens I can easily understand why many people are convinced everyone's doom brick is listening to them....
[citation needed]
Not a single one of those links is useful. They're either talking about Alexa/Siri listening out for wake words, CIA-compromised/hacked devices, or they're just reporting on the vibes of the public.
I'm still waiting for anybody to show evidence that my phone is listening to conversations.
"Phones don't listen" was the initial statement. Not your phone. And that's wrong. Voice assistances listen, third-party apps listen, CIA listens etc. Yes, maybe not on your phone specifically. But definitely Temu on the one next to you on the bus.
So these all have to do with voice-activated assistants. If you have these on, you're explicitly asking your phone to listen to you. There's nothing nefarious about that.