Ok, I'm freaked out

[AndyG]

Alright guys , tell me what is going on -

I'm not into conspiracy theories, or any "big brother " type mind set , but something happened tonight that freaked me out some -

I have a Droid razor phone.
I've noticed if we talk about transfer cases , an ad for one might pop up. Ok, I get it . And sometimes I declare it hears me talking and tries to connect with ads, etc.

But here's one-

I left a gas station tonight, didn't turn on my lights , and got pulled over.

Laid my pistol on my console , got out my licence and gun registration. I tell him I have a gun first thing.

All cool, officer checks my insurance and let's me go.

I get home ...and on my phone a video pops up - "what to do if you get pulled over with a gun in the car".

I can't get over it .

I realize me pulling up my insurance cards on my e mail may have triggered the data , but this is amazing .

Is there a connection ?

 

[LieutenantJohnson]

Totally a connection.
It is creepy is what it is.

 

[lowranger]

Big brother is watching and listening to you.

 

[AndyG]

You know ,I heard a good public radio interview on Big Data, and in about 5 Google searches , Google can tell your gender , race and sexual orientation pretty accurately.

That's scary technologyy for folks that might receive a death sentence in Saudi Arabia or somewhere for that.


Now that I think about it, I'm sure they also connected his online search for my coverage, my search, my gun registration , and even our gps proximity could come into play .

It's going to be an interesting future.

 

[billiebob]

lol.... read 1984... written in 1948...

then try this.... I read it in 1970.

 

[billiebob]

folks that might receive a death sentence in Saudi Arabia

you realize there are still states persecuting on the basis of race, sexual orientation, religion and gender...

 

[AndyG]

you realize there are still states persecuting on the basis of race, sexual orientation, religion and gender...

Of course . I live in Alabama man , we had water fountains for black people , separate bathrooms and a horrible history .

I used to like the "Rebel" Flag , thought it symbolized independence or something in my juvenile mind . 40 years later, I'm in no way proud of what happened under that flag , and what a terrible reason to die fighting fellow Americans to preserve that way of life.

All in all our country has come great strides... Both for men and women and all races.

 

[Swamp Yankee]

This happens to my wife on her iPhone all the time, things that are talked about or searched start popping up, of course she is on Facebook so I’m sure someone is listening.
I switched to DuckDuckGo as a search engine because they supposedly do not follow your searches, and I also shut Siri off to help keep a little privacy.

 

[L J]

you realize there are still states persecuting on the basis of race, sexual orientation, religion and gender...

name them

 

[Equilibrium31]

Well, there's definitely a lot of work being put into targetted ads since that's the bread and butter of how most any money is made by technology these days. And it's definitely pretty advanced as shown by a lot of stories, including the one where Target determined a girl was pregnant before her parents did:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmi...-pregnant-before-her-father-did/#3f1962a36668
All that being said...I doubt it was you getting pulled over that triggered that video. More than likely that video was just generated based on other videos you've viewed or sites that you've visited. The idea that your phone will generate ads based on listening to conversations is something I've seen talked about on a lot of news articles and tech discussions and most consensus seems to point to it not being likely, even if technically possible.

https://www.consumerreports.org/smartphones/is-your-smartphone-secretly-listening-to-you/

 

[AndyG]

Well, there's definitely a lot of work being put into targetted ads since that's the bread and butter of how most any money is made by technology these days. And it's definitely pretty advanced as shown by a lot of stories, including the one where Target determined a girl was pregnant before her parents did:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmi...-pregnant-before-her-father-did/#3f1962a36668
All that being said...I doubt it was you getting pulled over that triggered that video. More than likely that video was just generated based on other videos you've viewed or sites that you've visited. The idea that your phone will generate ads based on listening to conversations is something I've seen talked about on a lot of news articles and tech discussions and most consensus seems to point to it not being likely, even if technically possible.

https://www.consumerreports.org/smartphones/is-your-smartphone-secretly-listening-to-you/

I agree , the phone isn't listening ...other than collecting data from input .

That story you quoted is the one that opened my eyes to how sophisticated it all is

I figured it was my searches and his and maybe proximity.

It was creepy

 

[Viking Jeeper]

I've always known that our electronic devices are listening to us but this takes it to a new level.

Being from a neighboring state (FL) that constitutionally does not allow gun registration I had to look up Alabama's gun laws. I see no gun registration laws and you are not required to notify a police officer you are carrying a concealed firearm. I understand that some people would want to declare though.

 

[AndyG]

I've always known that our electronic devices are listening to us but this takes it to a new level.

Being from a neighboring state (FL) that constitutionally does not allow gun registration I had to look up Alabama's gun laws. I see no gun registration laws and you are not required to notify a police officer you are carrying a concealed firearm. I understand that some people would want to declare though.

A state pistol permit is required for concealed carry , no law on open carry (aka, the wild west)

On the notification, you are correct , that's just me being respectful and using common sense....I would in no way want to be a police officer , and if they see a gun and you don't declare it , they may get the impression you plan to use it .

When they walk up, I hand them my permit, lay my gun on the console , and say sir, I have a fire arm , it has a dummy round in the chamber and it is here-

And I keep my hands up .

Also, Police don't like it when they find one and you don't tell them it's in there..gets em started .

I'm my case, I had my lights off as I started , and that got em started.

 

[Ghost]

They are definitely listening and reading our texts. I had a friend text and ask if I could bring her a cat carrier for her kittens. A hour or so later Siri popped up with a text asking if I needed a reminder to bring that person the cat carrier. Even called my friend by name. So yes get out the tinfoil hats. And turn Siri off everywhere!

 

[AndyG]

They are definitely listening and reading our texts. I had a friend text and ask if I could bring her a cat carrier for her kittens. A hour or so later Siri popped up with a text asking if I needed a reminder to bring that person the cat carrier. Even called my friend by name. So yes get out the tinfoil hats. And turn Siri off everywhere!

Wow

 

[InOmaha]

Why wouldn't they be able to listen to your conversations if they wanted. That's the purpose of a phone... to make phone calls where you speak into it. The rest is software. If you have an Amazon, Apple, Google home device that sits there waiting for you to ask it a question, there is little difference in the technology. It's job is to listen and respond when given commands. Siri, Bixby, etc. on your phones are the same software. Combine that with your typed out searches and the bots scouring the interwebs and they have accurate profiles on everyone. Even people who don't use their products.

https://www.cnet.com/news/shadow-profiles-facebook-has-information-you-didnt-hand-over/

My parents have never owned a computer or a smartphone, yet Facebook likely has shadow profiles of them developed from the rest of the family posting photos and commenting. The company Data Analytics bragged they had 5000 data points for every registered voter in the US and they aren't even the companies who collect the data. Add to the fact that even if you go into your Google/Amazon profile online (the one connected to your phone) and set all the privacy measures, turn off your location information, etc., they simply reset it every time you get an update or develop a fun little app for free that people click yes to give access to everything on the phone including general location from cell towers if your GPS is off.

https://www.pcmag.com/article/360238/how-to-manage-your-google-privacy-settings

Your smart TV is probably watching you too. Maybe not the government, but the TV manufacturer who sold you a cheap 65" TV recouping some of their money by selling data and possibly video.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/how-to-keep-your-smart-tv-from-spying-on-you/

 

[Ghost]

That’s true but I wasn’t expecting them to actually be reading my private texts to people. They must really be bored with mine lol.

 

[xxdabroxx]

Do you have facebook messenger installed? I used to get targeted ads like that about things I had only spoken about with other people at work. Not searched for online or anything like that. One day it was mini split air conditioners, I hadn't done any online research on them in years since working for an architectural firm.

I narrowed it down to facebook messenger, I had installed it to send someone some pictures and immediately started getting targeted ads like that. Once I deleted FBM (I also turned off microphone privileges to other apps) it stopped. I don't care what they want to tell you online they are listening for keywords.

Now I'm back to only getting ads for stuff I look at online which bothers me considerably less.

 

[AndyG]

Do you have facebook messenger installed? I used to get targeted ads like that about things I had only spoken about with other people at work. Not searched for online or anything like that. One day it was mini split air conditioners, I hadn't done any online research on them in years since working for an architectural firm.

I narrowed it down to facebook messenger, I had installed it to send someone some pictures and immediately started getting targeted ads like that. Once I deleted FBM (I also turned off microphone privileges to other apps) it stopped. I don't care what they want to tell you online they are listening for keywords.

Now I'm back to only getting ads for stuff I look at online which bothers me considerably less.

I do .

 

[JLLJ]

Here's one app that got caught.

https://apnews.com/67165c626c35ab0cca1ef9cbf6cea274