Yes, it is listening. Was on a baht bus going into Pattaya for an Indian restaurant with my bro and wife. Our phones were in our pockets. There were several of said restaurants around and my bro said 'I wonder which is the best?' Within a minute his phone beeped and a message recommending a certain one was there, as was the restaurant right next to us.

It was NOT the best we have been to.

Yup, a lot of sht is happening. 

Can you disable the mic on your phone, and only turn it on when needed?

 

 

Yes you can.  How to Turn Off the Microphone on an Android (lifewire.com)

Hopped on the Google bandwagon during its infancy. People would marvel and ask how I could have my name @gmail address. I delighted in the amazing sign in features for heaps of web based services, and all for free! And then I wised up and degoogled myself. As a Mac user, I was similarly inclined to avail my entire personal info and history to another corporation and have also now de appled myself. It can be done, it's easy and it's lovely.

Arguably, until its automatically ordering dog toys and taking money from my account, i don't really care.

 

Same with Alexa or Siri. Everything heard by the microphone is sent to the servers for “processing“... 

8 minutes ago, gargamon said:

Same with Alexa or Siri. Everything heard by the microphone is sent to the servers for “processing“... 

Well they would have to. otherwise how would they know if you are talking to them. 

But the google thing is disturbing. 

This video was posted to youtube over 5 years ago,!

 

If you want to stop it try this link.

 

https://www.komando.com/privacy/stop-smart-devices-from-listening/753004/

 

Use Brave Browser and It'll stop.

Thailand..............Toyland THAILAND !............. Toytown

15 minutes ago, racket said:

Use Brave Browser and It'll stop.

 

this. 

 

how people still use chrome or any google search is beyond me. don't even get me going on the ads.

 

 

1 hour ago, gargamon said:

Same with Alexa or Siri. Everything heard by the microphone is sent to the servers for “processing“... 

I don't use Alexa or Siri. I cannot see how that affects me.

 

I have just done a simple test with my smartphone on standby as usual and my computer is using Google Chrome.

 

The silence is deafening.

 

I suppose that it may work on a smartphone, if 'show my location' and either Google's Alexa or Siri is on at the same time.

 

As I don't use any of them it doesn't seem to happen to me.

 

If you use them, perhaps switching them off when not actually in use, may help

My work colleague leaves his phone unattended. When he's not around I speak into it...

"penis enlarger, artificial vagina, thrush cream...."

It pops up in his feed, and he can't understand why.

3 hours ago, racket said:

Use Brave Browser and It'll stop.

The ads will stop showing yes.....

But if you still have Google/alexa/Siri/Cortana/idrive etc enabled all your info is potentially theirs...........

I've got google home voice automation everywhere.

Turns on my lights/TV/sockets, my son asks it for spellings and for help with his homework.

Why would I care if it's listening all the time, nothing much of interest spoken in my home?

20 hours ago, BritManToo said:

I've got google home voice automation everywhere.

Turns on my lights/TV/sockets, my son asks it for spellings and for help with his homework.

Why would I care if it's listening all the time, nothing much of interest spoken in my home?

Well all that's true enough until you start noticing pages of "relevant" adverts getting in the way of your normal browsing.

It's an unwelcome intrusion which, as far as I am aware, cannot be opted out of.

2 minutes ago, Muhendis said:

Well all that's true enough until you start noticing pages of "relevant" adverts getting in the way of your normal browsing.

It's an unwelcome intrusion which, as far as I am aware, cannot be opted out of.

I have adblockers and never see any adverts, except those in the middle of FB videos, then I just move on.

I have seen hairy, giant, tarantulas.   Hundreds of them at a time.   

I am not eating one!   

On 11/12/2023 at 12:14 PM, sirineou said:

Well they would have to. otherwise how would they know if you are talking to them. 

But the google thing is disturbing. 

I'm not convinced that Alexa is always listening. Until one uses the word "Alexa" its microphone is not activated. 

1 minute ago, fittobethaied said:

I'm not convinced that Alexa is always listening. Until one uses the word "Alexa" its microphone is not activated. 

Yes indeed, supposedly that's the trigger word, 

But how would it know you used the Triger word if it was not listening?

So you must depend on Amazon to be listening but not use the info until alexa is triggered. 

But if that's true  then why am I getting beer and viagra adverts everywhere I look 

On 11/12/2023 at 11:13 AM, KannikaP said:

Yes, it is listening. Was on a baht bus going into Pattaya for an Indian restaurant with my bro and wife. Our phones were in our pockets. There were several of said restaurants around and my bro said 'I wonder which is the best?' Within a minute his phone beeped and a message recommending a certain one was there, as was the restaurant right next to us.

It was NOT the best we have been to.

I find this very hard to believe. Phones in pockets are not going to allow any decent audio reception. How did Google know he was referring to Indian restaurants? And push recommendations? He has all that, and his mic, turned on?

13 minutes ago, bradiston said:

I find this very hard to believe. Phones in pockets are not going to allow any decent audio reception. How did Google know he was referring to Indian restaurants? And push recommendations? He has all that, and his mic, turned on?

OK, we are four liars. Read my post again where I said we were looking for Indian restaurants. 

The recommendations came via Google I guess.

It’s not just the phone companies.
There were several reports, both in the U.K. and US about all those Chineses manufactured security cameras having ‘back doors’ in them

Apparently, even if the camera and microphone were turned off, it was still possible to listen in on conversations in the rooms where they were places.

 

I think the U.K. government were warned to remove them from many buildings and /

2 minutes ago, KannikaP said:

OK, we are four liars. Read my post again where I said we were looking for Indian restaurants. 

The recommendations came via Google I guess.

or offices. The US likewise.

OP. Not saying you are wrong, but Google’s suggestions might just be location based. 
if you had previously searched for a restaurant, it might just be a suggestion sent based on your location.

if you have Google Maps running on your phone, they can probably track you by that.

1 hour ago, fittobethaied said:

I'm not convinced that Alexa is always listening. Until one uses the word "Alexa" its microphone is not activated. 

And I thought the same with Hey Google.

I remember reading an account where a couple was have "vocal" sex and somehow triggered the device to record and send it to her parents.  😱

 

🤣🤣🤣

11 hours ago, KannikaP said:

OK, we are four liars. Read my post again where I said we were looking for Indian restaurants. 

The recommendations came via Google I guess.

But you didn't say "we were looking for Indian restaurants". You said you were "going into Pattaya for an Indian restaurant". And from what you've written, Google didn't know that. The only clue was your brother saying out loud "I wonder which one is best?", which could refer to bars, tailors, massage parlours, you name it. So why is Google, or whoever, recommending an Indian restaurant? Sorry, I'm not calling you a liar, just that from what you've written, I can't see how Google would know what he was referring to. Despite conspiracy theories to the contrary, I'm not sure it cannot read your mind.

 

Maybe your brother did an earlier search for Indian restaurants on Google?

4 hours ago, bradiston said:

But you didn't say "we were looking for Indian restaurants". You said you were "going into Pattaya for an Indian restaurant". And from what you've written, Google didn't know that. The only clue was your brother saying out loud "I wonder which one is best?", which could refer to bars, tailors, massage parlours, you name it. So why is Google, or whoever, recommending an Indian restaurant? Sorry, I'm not calling you a liar, just that from what you've written, I can't see how Google would know what he was referring to. Despite conspiracy theories to the contrary, I'm not sure it cannot read your mind.

 

Maybe your brother did an earlier search for Indian restaurants on Google?

Sorry I was not more specific. We were discussing Indian restaurants as we travelled into town. 

On 11/12/2023 at 4:16 PM, topt said:

 

But if you still have Google/alexa/Siri/Cortana/idrive etc enabled all your info is potentially theirs...........

 

I use google... Of course what I browse is going on a database somewhere..

 

would have to a complete moron to think otherwise.