Sunday, September 20, 2020

Your phone is listening to you!

 So this weekend, I was discussing fun restaurant experiences with a friend. He was telling about how he went to a restaurant in Europe and they don't have tap water. Instead, he had to order large bottled water of a random European brand. "Acqua Panna or something, whatever the heck that is" he said.

The next day, I was scrolling through Instagram, and low and behold, Acqua Panna showed up as an ad. At that moment, I became a fervent believer that my phone is listening to me. The stories like this are endless! I started talking to all of my friends. One was telling me about how she had like an uncle talk about the military and now she gets targeted ads for joining the military. Another mentioned how he needed a pull-up bar and boom, they were everywhere.

Naturally, as part of my investigative journalism, I asked my friend who worked at Apple if the phone was listening. He said the targeting might happen on a local basis but he's unsure. Upon further Googling, it seems this is indeed a thing.

https://www.welivesecurity.com/2020/02/24/is-your-phone-listening-to-you/

Is it an invasion of privacy? 

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