Is your smartphone listening to you?

#1

Post by CarolineW » Sun, Jun 05, 2016, 11:30 AM UTC

Is your smartphone listening to you?
bbc.co.uk

Re: Is your smartphone listening to you?

#2

Post by ck2 » Sun, Jun 05, 2016, 1:37 PM UTC

Doesn't this need a visible permission in an app or are there workarounds like using the google play api?

Re: Is your smartphone listening to you?

#3

Post by stephengillie » Sun, Jun 05, 2016, 1:42 PM UTC

I'd be interested to see low-power voice recognition. My PowerShiri demo uses ~12% CPU on a Core2 Duo laptop when it's listening.

Re: Is your smartphone listening to you?

#4

Post by jimhefferon » Sun, Jun 05, 2016, 1:53 PM UTC

If a vendor provided a physical switch with which I could turn off the mic, that would be a feature that I at least would consider very attractive.

Re: Is your smartphone listening to you?

#5

Post by etatoby » Sun, Jun 05, 2016, 1:58 PM UTC

stephengillie wrote: post #3

I'd be interested to see low-power voice recognition. My PowerShiri demo uses ~12% CPU on a Core2 Duo laptop when it's listening.

I'm pretty sure most apps use the default OS services, which just send the compressed voice data over to a server, where the actual recognition is performed (and your voice data stored forever, for "research and development" reasons...)

Re: Is your smartphone listening to you?

#6

Post by internaut » Sun, Jun 05, 2016, 2:00 PM UTC

jimhefferon wrote: post #4

If a vendor provided a physical switch with which I could turn off the mic, that would be a feature that I at least would consider very attractive.

After Snowden I just took a pliers to my laptop and ripped out the mic and webcam. It felt great.

Re: Is your smartphone listening to you?

#7

Post by ck2 » Sun, Jun 05, 2016, 2:00 PM UTC

also related:

RSA key extraction in one hour via mobile phone microphone placed next to PC

http://m.cacm.acm.org/magazines/2016/6/202646-physical-key-e...

Re: Is your smartphone listening to you?

#8

Post by etatoby » Sun, Jun 05, 2016, 2:02 PM UTC

ck2 wrote: post #2

Doesn't this need a visible permission in an app or are there workarounds like using the google play api?

You only need to put in the app an obscure functionality that makes use of the mic, and then explain what it is in the app description, for the 1% of people who will even bother to ask why Super Candy Smash Tournament is asking for permission to use the mic.

Re: Is your smartphone listening to you?

#9

Post by voidz » Sun, Jun 05, 2016, 2:04 PM UTC

The article takes it into a boring direction, and they didn't mention Samsung who is most active in this field. Vendors bypass appstores with their proprietary apps. Once upon a time I had a Samsung phone, and when I configured its email app, I saw Samsung's own servers, and not my phone, logging in to my email server. Which means they stole my password. That's when I tossed out Samsung devices once and for all.

But anyway, here's the courtesy tl;dr of the article:

Can it be done? Absolutely. Will it be done? Most likely. Have many people suggested that it's already happening to them? For sure, all over the place.

Is it allowed by Google, Facebook and the like? Most definitely not. So is it happening? Probably not, it's just a coincidence that you talk about something specific, and then suddenly find all kinds of ads about it.

Here's a dictionary definition of 'coincidence' followed by an explanation from a professor about how our minds have evolved to correlate stuff all over the place and see patterns in them, even though they're just coincidences.

Re: Is your smartphone listening to you?

#10

Post by jameslk » Sun, Jun 05, 2016, 2:08 PM UTC

This is why I use an app called DVasive which tells me when my mic or camera is in use. It's pretty good at figuring this out it seems, although I haven't found any nefarious apps yet that use my mic or camera unexpectedly (I've been using the app for a couple of years). It probably wouldn't work for vendors or other rogue ways to get access to my phones devices however.