Smart Phones

[brewmaster15]

I once read about a couple having sex and Alexa started laughing

I think it was latter found out the kids were in the closet.,

No Alexa ..no siri here ... and every option I can turn off on software and info gathering is off. Privacy settings to the max. .. do not track is on.. cookies are restricted.. and I use linux as OS. Theres alot of things people can do to minimize footprints,tracking,and scams. but theres so many ways to gather data.

I will say though that those of you hooked on Facebook... your facebook junk is all free to use because they are making so much good financial use of your data.

I've mentioned it before here. ..but there was a particular advertiser I was trying to get as a sponsor here to raise funds for the forum. They wanted access to all our members Data.. emails,Ip addresss.. computer info..I refused. They walked away from being a sponsor but I would have felt dirty otherwise.

[Second Hand Pat]

There is for sure a relationship between between when I buy something online and then ads appear on FB related to my purchase. I would love to be able to turn that off. I wonder if a VPN to help with that?

As my dad aged his ability to use his smart phone became less. Quite often when we visited him we would have to undo whatever he missed up. We would catch him giving his SS to whomever was on the phone and soon we took away his cell phone and replaced it with a landline. We did this because he forgot how to use his cell phone but figured he would remember how to use a landline. My dad was a great story teller and as he aged his stories moved back in time to his childhood by the time he passed. I hear those stories so many times there is not way I will forget them. Miss him.
Pat

[Charlyc11]

Ok besides all the conspiracy theories going around a few things are certain. I wait for a nice coupon from Home depot and it never comes and as soon as I buy something next day it's there in my inbox. Most devices are regulated by the FTC so a lot that you hear about Alexa is bull and some is not. As soon as you give it the trigger word all you say is fair game and online it's all fair game don't let VPN's fool you it won't give you total protection. Fair game not in your favor. Then again if somebody wants hack into our devices you are crewed anyway. We don't need chips since most people have cell phones so we can be tracked and hacked even turning off GPS. I doesn't matter if you don't have a smart phone all cell phones can be tracked by triangulating.

[brewmaster15]

Ok besides all the conspiracy theories going around a few things are certain. I wait for a nice coupon from Home depot and it never comes and as soon as I buy something next day it's there in my inbox. Most devices are regulated by the FTC so a lot that you hear about Alexa is bull and some is not. As soon as you give it the trigger word all you say is fair game and online it's all fair game don't let VPN's fool you it won't give you total protection. Fair game not in your favor. Then again if somebody wants hack into our devices you are crewed anyway. We don't need chips since most people have cell phones so we can be tracked and hacked even turning off GPS. I doesn't matter if you don't have a smart phone all cell phones can be tracked by triangulating.

True true true Chuck. Watch any real crime shows and you get a very good idea how easy it is to track you. Almost ridiculous how many criminals get caught by location data.. leave the phone home if committing a crime you idiots

Still I do have to rib you a bit on this comment

Most devices are regulated by the FTC so a lot that you hear about Alexa is bull and some is not

For dissing conspiracies, you kind of vindicated them

[Charlyc11]

True true true Chuck. Watch any real crime shows and you get a very good idea how easy it is to track you. Almost ridiculous how many criminals get caught by location data.. leave the phone home if committing a crime you idiots

Still I do have to rib you a bit on this comment

For dissing conspiracies, you kind of vindicated them

No not true everybody keeps saying the Alexa (Echo devices) listens and records everything. Well It was found the it does the recording after the trigger word not before so it can use that data to train it's algorithms. If you intend to commit a crime do not say Alexa, Echo, computer or ziggy because one of those might be the trigger. There have been some cases that the data was request due to a crime but no useful information was found.

[jeep]

There is for sure a relationship between between when I buy something online and then ads appear on FB related to my purchase. I would love to be able to turn that off. I wonder if a VPN to help with that?

The caulking and bathroom remodeling ads thrown in my face didn't come from online activity. I believe they came straight from our live voice conversation, which means some sort of voice recognition software was listening in. It's not new technology, the NSA has been doing it for decades, but it most definitely is an invasion of privacy that has been taken to a new low. I've heard identical stories from several other people. They talk about an item to a friend on the phone and the next day they see ads for that very item blasted all over their computer. What was once claimed to be done in the name of "national security" is now done as a marketing tool.

[jeep]

I've mentioned it before here. ..but there was a particular advertiser I was trying to get as a sponsor here to raise funds for the forum. They wanted access to all our members Data.. emails,Ip addresss.. computer info..I refused. They walked away from being a sponsor but I would have felt dirty otherwise.

Good for you!!!

[Charlyc11]

The caulking and bathroom remodeling ads thrown in my face didn't come from online activity. I believe they came straight from our live voice conversation, which means some sort of voice recognition software was listening in. It's not new technology, the NSA has been doing it for decades, but it most definitely is an invasion of privacy that has been taken to a new low. I've heard identical stories from several other people. They talk about an item to a friend on the phone and the next day they see ads for that very item blasted all over their computer. What was once claimed to be done in the name of "national security" is now done as a marketing tool.

I think that's not legal and you would need a tap warrant from a judge to able listen to your conversation. See the phone conversations are settled law even with cell phones the internet and apps not so much.

Disclaimer I am not a lawyer but I watch a lot of Law and order.

OK I am tapped out

[brewmaster15]

Chuck the problem with something being "not legal" and "needing a warrant" is thats these things are done all the time and no one is the wiser until its made public or they get caught. .

Earlier in this thread I posted this link..

https://www.marketplace.org/2024/04/...eir-knowledge/

worth a read. There will be alot of fall out from this.. I am positive its not limited to GM.

I'm not a conspiracy guy.. but I am well versed in History. Never trust people with Power not to abuse it.

[jeep]

It very well could be some app that has been given permission to access the phone. If so, I'm certain they don't make this ability well known. I've just heard and read too many similar stories to think it's a simple random coincidence.

In the case of the caulk, I've applied around 150 tubes during customer remodeling projects in the past 3 months. Someone else purchased them and I have some left over, so no online browsing or in store purchases. Pat and I chat online almost daily so I searched our chat history and there was no mention there. The only reference to calking my bathtub was during a live conversation less than a day before the ads appeared. I have ad blocking software on my PC that does an excellent job, but it doesn't keep Farcebook from trying to show me customized ads. If I didn't have this software, I'm sure I would be seeing caulk ads everywhere, so this must be a FB thing, lol...

I agree this type of stuff is or at least should be illegal, but when have companies respected the law? They break the law and settle the lawsuits later after already collecting more money than the value of the lawsuits. Bank of America is a prime and early example with their illegal excessive surcharge fees and interest rate manipulation.

In the case of GM, their actions are just despicable! While GM may have done this secretly, it's also another example of people volunteering to give up their privacy. Insurance companies use this technology and want us to install it in our vehicles to determine driving behavior so they can extort more money from the consumer. My insurance company tried this with me and I told them if 40 years of driving with no tickets or accidents wasn't good enough for them then it's time for me to go elsewhere. They dropped the subject immediately, lol...

[Charlyc11]

Chuck the problem with something being "not legal" and "needing a warrant" is thats these things are done all the time and no one is the wiser until its made public or they get caught. .

Earlier in this thread I posted this link..

https://www.marketplace.org/2024/04/...eir-knowledge/

worth a read. There will be alot of fall out from this.. I am positive its not limited to GM.

I'm not a conspiracy guy.. but I am well versed in History. Never trust people with Power not to abuse it.

I get you, it also falls in obscure dealings of these large companies. I don't know if it's illegal but it should be.

[jwcarlson]

There is for sure a relationship between between when I buy something online and then ads appear on FB related to my purchase. I would love to be able to turn that off. I wonder if a VPN to help with that?

Pat, there's *some* ability to turn some of that ad stuff off, but it's not easy to find. It's now kind of hidden in "privacy checkup" at least on the phone application. I used to be something under Ads. Anyway, there's a number of settings you can turn off to limit target ads. I did this some time ago and the ads did change.

True true true Chuck. Watch any real crime shows and you get a very good idea how easy it is to track you. Almost ridiculous how many criminals get caught by location data.. leave the phone home if committing a crime you idiots

Al, it is absolutely WILD how much data is available. The guy who "allegedly" murdered those college kids in Idaho had left is phone off or at home during the murders, but they could find months worth of data where he'd been in their neighborhood multiple times at very weird hours.
The Alex Murdaugh guy who killed his wife and kid, if you want to know how insane the data available forensically:
67261349-11703281-image-a-1_1675359170401.jpg

67261347-11703281-image-a-2_1675359250199.jpg

This was eye opening for me. There was more than just these two pictures. But you get a decent idea of how much is actually there...

The caulking and bathroom remodeling ads thrown in my face didn't come from online activity.

You hadn't looked up the options on Home Depot or something like that? Years ago during the spring, I mentioned to my wife that I might take an Allegra because my nose had been running. And that day there was an Allegra ad on Facebook. I was convinced it was because they are listening. And it certainly could be. But it was also allergy season... so... *shrug*

[jeep]

You hadn't looked up the options on Home Depot or something like that? Years ago during the spring, I mentioned to my wife that I might take an Allegra because my nose had been running. And that day there was an Allegra ad on Facebook. I was convinced it was because they are listening

Actually, the decision to work on my bathtub was spawned about 5 minutes before the call, lol...

Things we talked about during our 30 minute conversation - caulk, mold, dirty, hard to remove old caulk, a friend had hers remodeled and did a crappy job.

Ads I saw the next morning - caulk sellers, disinfectants, caulk removal tools, bathroom remodelers.

Trust me, I'm not angry or venting, I'm actually laughing. For the most part, I just move on by their ads without paying attention, but how in the world would FB ever know I may need a caulk removal tool, and how did they just happen to have an advertiser that specializes in them that lands on my page? lmao!!

[jwcarlson]

I think something important for the people who have the Alexa type devices that they can talk to and have a special word to start it listening... how did it hear the special word to begin with?

[Charlyc11]

I think something important for the people who have the Alexa type devices that they can talk to and have a special word to start it listening... how did it hear the special word to begin with?

The device itself is listening but not outputting to the net or recording. If I disconnect the router and ask alexa it tells you that it can't connect but it listens.