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I still don't think companies serve you ads based on your microphone

simonwillison.net

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Re: I still don't think companies serve you ads based on your microphone

#81

Post by MrMcCall »

gruez wrote: post #60
alvah wrote: post #29

Every time I read some technical description about why this isn't happening, the technical description seems convincing. However... A friend tested the theory a few years ago. He doesn't own a swimming pool, doesn't want to, and has never expressed any desire to. He put his and his wife's phone on the table and said to the wife (loudly), "Why don't we look into pool fencing?". She agreed with him. Shortly after, on b…

Confirmation bias makes it hard to extract much from these types of anecdotes. On a daily basis you might be talking about dozens of products. If your lookback period is a few days, that could 100s of products, and you'll get spooky coincidences pop up from time to time from pure chance alone.

Technilogical causes are much more likely than accidental causes for such effects to appear, in today's world.

Occam's Razor and the answer to the question, "What kinds of companies are at work in the environment?" push that probability in a specific way, because the motives and means are definitely there. Do you think they are the kinds of companies that would waste such an opportunity?

Their Chief Councel's recommendation depends on how slimy they are, right?

What would happen if they got caught? Slap on the wrist would be all, if that, no?

Re: I still don't think companies serve you ads based on your microphone

#82

Post by derekp7 »

darknavi wrote: post #51
alvah wrote: post #29

Every time I read some technical description about why this isn't happening, the technical description seems convincing. However... A friend tested the theory a few years ago. He doesn't own a swimming pool, doesn't want to, and has never expressed any desire to. He put his and his wife's phone on the table and said to the wife (loudly), "Why don't we look into pool fencing?". She agreed with him. Shortly after, on b…

Why did they pick a swimming pool? Did they see people in their area installing pools? I think that's often people's best guess, is that the "random" thing people use to test this actually isn't random and subconsciously they already had this topic seeded to them.

Something similar -- while on a family visit at my parents' house, my brother was talking about his upcoming Hawaii trip, Specifically he was going over a snorkeling adventure he signed up for.

For the next week or so, I got many ads on my phone about underwater packages for Hawaii, along with ads for various snorkeling and swimming gear. Now I had never researched any of that on my phone, however obviously my brother has. And the ad trackers saw that both my phone and his had communicated out over the same IP address (my parents wifi) on other random internet connections, so that is probably why they were then targeting my tracker cookie with ads that would be related to his tracker cookie. (This is all technically "easy" for the trackers to do, and seems logical that they would, because "why not").

On an unrelated note, I was making a peanut butter sandwich, started browsing some sites, and started getting ads for Skippy peanut butter. My phone must have smelled the peanut butter in the air.

Re: I still don't think companies serve you ads based on your microphone

#83

Post by monkpit »

bluedevilzn wrote: post #47
linsomniac wrote: post #27

They don't need to: they can read your mind. My proof? Yesterday I was driving home and I saw an old Toyota Previa minivan and thought to myself "Oh, a Previa, you don't see those very often these days." When I got home, I started scrolling through my Google News and it showed me an advert for the new Previa. I agree with Simon: you basically aren't going to convince someone that their phone doesn't listen to you and…

This is due to ad blindness. The Previa ads were always there but that was the first time you noticed it because it was on your mind.

Baader-meinhof phenomenon

Re: I still don't think companies serve you ads based on your microphone

#84

Post by orev »

Another option not mentioned is that the thing they’re talking about might have been in their subconscious because of an ad they’d recently seen but didn’t notice. The topic/concept/product eventually bubbles up to consciousness, they talk about it, then start noticing the ads that were already there.

Re: I still don't think companies serve you ads based on your microphone

#85

Post by gruez »

hobs wrote: post #39
jere wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most of the post is disputing the point you're making. Did you read it?

Absolutely caught red handed - but I dont think Apple paid out 100m because "eh its easier this way".

If you look at the court filings, the only part where they were "caught red handed" was that they knew they were recording audio for inadvertent activations, but didn't take steps to stop it. There's remotely close to proving that they were using it for advertising.

Re: I still don't think companies serve you ads based on your microphone

#86

Post by block_dagger »

What I worry about sometimes is malware sniffing for hardware wallet seed phrases being practiced out loud by users when they think they're alone. I always tell people if they keep crypto on a hardware wallet - NEVER speak your seed phrase aloud. This could also be spied on by laser microphone surveillance.

Re: I still don't think companies serve you ads based on your microphone

#87

Post by zw123456 »

OK, but query me this batman. Lately, I have been inundated by ads for anything to do with Kayaks. I do not own a Kayak. I do not want to own a Kayak and have never even spoken the word as far as I can remember. But for some reason, I am seeing ads for a Kayak carrier, a Kayak launcher, roof rack, you name it. It is so weird. I cannot figure out why suddenly these idiots think I am remotely interested in Kayaking. Kayaking, it is just so random. But way back in the 2000s, a friend of mine worked for a web site dev company. Her job was to visit with clients and take pictures of whatever they were hawking, write some copy and the dudes back in her office would turn it into a web page. She would occasionally ask me to come along and stare at whatever crap they were selling and act like I cared about it while she snapped some photos. I joked that meant technically I was a model. But then one time she was doing a web page for a marketing company that did focus groups. That was back before we had smart phones tracking your every move. I posed in a fake focus group with some other people and after that, the dude that ran the place asked me if I wanted to be in real focus group and I agreed. They seemed to think there were certain connections that made no sense. For example, they were sure that they could market adult diapers to nerds that play video games who were to absorbed in their game to get off their ass to take a simple dump. Apparently that is actually a thing? Then I went to this one focus group where they were asking if you own a dog and buy a lot of peanut butter. Read between the lines. So gross. So, I am guessing, some marketing weirdo thinks there is some weird connection between something else in my life an Kayaks. It would be interesting to know what that is. But, I think, a lot of times, they might be right about those weird connections that make you feel like they are reading your mind. Just in this case, whatever it is, maybe that I watch a lot of documentaries and that means I like Kayaking? I guess they only have to be right some percentage of the time. Just not in this case.

Re: I still don't think companies serve you ads based on your microphone

#88

Post by cloudking »

Maybe the algorithms simply concluded that you might interested in things your friends are interested in.. that's part of why you're friends?

If any of your friends searched for something online, and you're connected to them in a social network, they might show you the same ad by proximity.

Re: I still don't think companies serve you ads based on your microphone

#89

Post by cschep »

zw123456 wrote: post #87

OK, but query me this batman. Lately, I have been inundated by ads for anything to do with Kayaks. I do not own a Kayak. I do not want to own a Kayak and have never even spoken the word as far as I can remember. But for some reason, I am seeing ads for a Kayak carrier, a Kayak launcher, roof rack, you name it. It is so weird. I cannot figure out why suddenly these idiots think I am remotely interested in Kayaking. Ka…

someone probably googled “kayak” from your wifi?

Re: I still don't think companies serve you ads based on your microphone

#90

Post by amyames »

MrMcCall wrote: post #63

My wife has a very new ( I sh_t you not. She was a bit gobsmacked. I was neither surprised nor disturbed. That's real anecdata, my friends. It could have been coincidence, and while we have nothing to hide, it's not an optimal situation, whatever the cause. Besides, we ain't buying no Gucci slippers, no way, no how.

What social media apps does she have installed? Just curious
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