Tonite…the Rolling Stones in LA! The marijuana, heroin and LSD has been replaced by Statins, arthritis drugs and Viagra…. Can’t wait for 8pm.
How often have you had a discussion about something, even if it is obscure, and 5 minutes later you receive ads for it on your laptop or your phone. Maybe I’m paranoid but it seems to happen to me all the time.
For example, the subject of Botox injections comes up during a meeting with friends. It’s a procedure I’ve never personally been interested in and, therefore, have never searched Botox online or clicked an ad for it. And yet, while scrolling through Facebook on the ride home, there it was: an ad for Botox. Is it possible that my phone was listening in on our conversation?
Facebook has stated that its phone app doesn’t listen to users in order to serve us ads; the ad-targeting algorithm is just that good and obviously has ESP. However, the company recently admitted that human workers had been reviewing and transcribing a small portion of user audio recordings in Facebook Messenger, a practice it says it has since ended. Facebook isn’t the only company that’s been listening in, either. According to a recent tweet people suspect the Safari iPhone browser might be listening in too.
The Twitter user wrote that after having a phone conversation about bedbugs, his iPhone began serving ads for bedbug removal services. The logical conclusion? Safari was listening. The “Camera & Microphone Access” toggle for Safari is tucked away in privacy settings separate from where you allow all other apps access…strange??
According to Zohar Pinhasi, a cybersecurity expert there are a number of reasons why Safari would need access to your microphone and camera. In recent iOS updates, Safari has access to both your mic and camera by default; you must manually change the setting in order to rescind access. Most people probably don’t even realize Safari has access. Some web-based video conferencing tools have a natural need to access your microphone and camera if, say, you don’t have the service’s app installed and are using the service via mobile browser
So, it is not necessarily sinister for Safari to need access to your mic and camera, but it’s getting access by default whether or not the user knows it and that is intentional on Apple’s part. They are banking on the fact that most people will simply accept the settings as they are and not opt out.
Apple recently admitted that third-party contractors can and do listen to your interactions with Siri. Siri is accidentally triggered often and has recorded private exchanges, such as doctor’s appointments and addresses, as a result. In addition to Apple’s Siri, recordings by similar voice-activated virtual assistants are also reviewed by human workers for the purpose of improving Alexa’s understanding of human speech patterns. The same is true of Google Home.
The truth is that any equipment that has the capability of recording audio and video has the ability to record it even when you don’t engage it to do so. Even if the company itself has completely benign reasons for accessing your camera and microphone, you could end up with malware on your device that allows somebody to remotely activate audio and video recording. You should assume that either through a glitch, or malware or by design, you will be listened to. You could have your picture taken. You could have your video taken.
So what can you do to protect your privacy from prying ears and eyes? Start by turning off the voice-to-text feature, which is how the app gained access to recordings in the first place. You can also revoke the app’s access to your microphone and camera: On the iPhone, go to Settings, scroll down and select Facebook and switch off access. For Android, visit Settings > Apps and notifications > Facebook > Permissions > Microphone and select “Deny.” Facebook also has a “secret conversation” option that uses end-to-end encryption, making it impossible to transcribe voice messages.
The only way to really create off-grid conversations is to have them away from any devices with recording capabilities ― smartphones included.
“I was washing the car with a friend, then Siri said, ‘Can’t you just use a sponge?’”