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How much proof is there that smart tvs and phones listen to you? (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 7 months ago by to c/privacy@lemmy.ml
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Like, we all know they're listening , but can we provide proof?

My friend was complaining about all the new super surveillance that will be government required in cars after 2027, and I said to him dude you have a stock android, you use every AI slop feature, you use a smart TV on your unsecured network, and uses x every day. They have everything they could possibly need on him. Oh and he posts questionable things to fb daily under his real name.

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[–] 14 points 7 months ago (2 children)

The very notion of proof implies that you can reproduce it. So I would suggest you forget what anybody here or elsewhere said. Instead, you :

  • get a cheap phone (so typically Android)
  • reset/format/flash it to a blank state
  • make a new testing account on it
  • use for random browsing, using app, etc and you log your history, namely what did you actually do AND what ads you actually see
  • test for something outside of your new habits with a search query, then log and compare again, seeing the threshold to change
  • repeat the last step for something said using e.g. a voice assistant, log&compare
  • repeat WITHOUT explicit search, log&compare

Yes this takes a of time but that will help you make YOUR own opinion on the matter if you genuinely care.

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  • [–] [S] 2 points 7 months ago (1 child)

    How has no one done exactly this???

    Or try this. Start saying something nefarious involving government near your phone every day and see how long it takes you to fall out a 12th story window.

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  • [–] 1 point 7 months ago

    You can try.

    FWIW I imagine security and privacy researchers have done that already but my point precisely is that anybody can do so. Even if some researchers might have done it showing results you agree, or disagree, with you should still be able to replicate. It's just a process.

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