An hour after a conversation with a friend regarding our favorite Voluspa candle scents -- an intellectually rigorous discussion topic, to say the least -- the mysterious, omniscient Instagram algorithm served me an advertisement for Voluspa candles. I do not follow Voluspa, nor any candle companies for that matter. I am not sure if I have ever even searched on my web browser for Voluspa. How did Instagram know I was just talking about this specific brand of overpriced aromatherapy? Was my phone... listening... to me?
"Of course your phone is listening to you," writes Forbes author Nathan Pettijohn. Recent research conducted at Northwestern University concluded that most of the popular smartphone apps record phone activity, including the things we say within earshot of our phones, and transmit to third parties. Aside from the obvious "Hey Siri" or "Alexa," most apps have their own triggers to know when to begin "listening" to what you say, usually about something you like or a place you want to go. These voice snippets are decoded using AI and sent to third party providers, usually advertisers, based on keywords.
While the feeling that our phones are listening to us is undoubtedly creepy, especially when we see tailored ads on our favorite sites mere minutes after uttering the name of a brand, is it really all that bad? Surely there are benefits to being an informed consumer, and some shoppers would appreciate a discount code or other ad tailored to a store of interest. But obviously there are significant privacy concerns, and we have seen many times over that companies can't necessarily be trusted to keep our digital data safe. Ideally, the consumer should get to choose between these trade-offs. We should be given the ability to opt in or out of these personal data mining and sharing techniques.
Hey Siri, stop listening to me!
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