I think its coincidence… unless we’re being lied to, which I don’t think we are, they should not be listening in on us unless we agreed to it within the terms of service. I’ve had this happen to me and the only thing I have that could be listening is my Android phone which doesn’t eavesdrop… thus I say its a coincidence.
Are you using an Amazon echo or any sort of smart speaker like that?
No smart speakers. I have the android and my wife has an I phone 8. This has happened to both of us. I hadn’t thought about the possibility of something on our phones activating an ad just by certain words being spoken within range. It ought to be illegal.
The last computer device I actually knew how to operate all the functions on was a Commodore 64. What’s frustrating is there’s no manual that comes with phones that tells you all the capabilities the phone has, let alone how to figure out how to use those capabilities. You can’t even look something up online if you don’t even know it’s on there to begin with.
I think it is illegal if the terms of services you agreed to don’t mention it.
Woo hoo! C64! I’ve been working on a project that uses the C64 SID sound chip as the basis for a music synth. Sorry, geek tangent there.
That should be documented somewhere, but probably online. Just go to the manufacture’s website or do a google search for your phone make and model. Sadly, its not like the old days where you got nice spiral bound thick instruction manuals.
I’m sure it’s to reduce cost. I still would prefer to have a paper manual. Pecking and scrolling… With a manual, you can find a lot by flipping through the pages.
If you’re watching a tv channel that has a mypillow ad you’re already telling us what demographic you are. Your internet browsing habits, location services, time of use…etc, taught your phone all that and more about you long ago.
Just visiting anything related to Hannity, fox, or republican will send anyone a few extra mypillow ads.
Less and less. User profiling is a consolidated industry. If your TV is smart, or if you are streaming shows, or your cable box is smart then chances are high that your TV habits are being folded into profiles that are for sale.
Mostly, unless you’re streaming everything but the point of the examples were how a very simple dumb data point tells us a lot about the user already, so of course the phone with tons of data points is even more specific.
That’s what I was afraid of. I expected that streaming would affect it, but less so the set-top box and definitely not the smart TV. I doubt that most smart TVs are aware of the content they are playing from an STB.
It’s hard to know how good they are at aggregating all of this, but it is less a technical issue than a business issue.
If you have smart cable or stream then somebody has this data. Whether or how deeply they sell this I do not know. It’s not like they would give up their trove of detailed data, but they could integrate with an aggregator to help select ads.
This is all a terrible experiment in my opinion. Consumer data streams are big big business and we are hemorrhaging data from phones, cars, purchases, government, cameras, genealogy services, … with no fundamental legal philosophy on the boundaries for the use of this data.
I am less concerned about ads. My biggest concerns are:
Foreign intelligence services (who steal all these data troves)
Pricing/competition/markets (from products to insurance having the vendor able to purchase my psychology, habits and heath information puts them at an advantage in any negotiation involving an individual human being)
And this is kind of what I’m getting at. SOMETHING triggered my wife’s phone right at the moment we were discussing bedding. IF that’s true, then SOMEONE or some agency has to be getting a benefit from that. I was thinking in terms of an agency actively listening, but if the info can be stored and then used or sold later that opens up a huge can of worms…
Have to say, I hadn’t thought of that either. My wife does usually have the TV up…
