Unrelated to CMG, but this is my single biggest fear of having Amazon Echo devices placed throughout my home. To isolate them away from unrelated conversations would complete defeat the purpose of having them around in the first place. We're walking a razor edge with privacy and convenience these days. ~Thanks for another great vid, Lon
Razor's edge? Our privacy is gone and there is nothing we can do about it. Regulators won't regulate because they own Congress and the house of reps and it doesn't matter which party they belong to.
@@SeekingTheLoveThatGodMeans7648 Some of us have tested the bigger name devices like Amazon Echo by monitoring traffic. It's TV's I'm more concerned about. Most have microphones now and many have cameras.
Some memory foam "smart beds" have an app, supposedly to let you sleep better by raising the bed if you are detected snoring, that will "listen" to you, potentially even to the point they know if you are in your bed or not...not to mention other things you might be doing in your bed. Enjoy!
"We're not listening" fine print: "We're" not listening. Technically, it's your microphone. You're the one recording yourself dummies. we use third party software to record. And since we only get a "transcript", it doesn't technically count as listening... we're reading...
This is 100% happeneing right now, in non-Cox markets. We had a Google Nest Mini in the kitchen for timers, alarms and weather reports. One day, my daughter an I were joking around about how she could suppliment her income, and during the conversation she said casually (without a "hey Google"), "where could I sell my plasma?" That same day, we both were served up Ad-Sense ads for the nearest plasma center. The following day, my wife had several phone conversations with relatives in Portugal, she hadn't spoken with in years letting them know we were coming to visit. She spoke Portuguese with them, which is never more than a few words in our house on any other day. Same day, we get served up Ad-Sense travel ads IN PORTGUESE! The next day, the Google Nest was removed from the house.
Actual listening to our conversations by smart phones has been going on for several years. It was about eight years ago, when I was managing a television studio, that one of my employees came to me asking about a particular piece of equipment which would enhance part of his job. We discussed it for a few minutes and then I suggested that he go to his desk and research the cost and availability of the item. When he got to his desk he shouted out "I can't believe it". Before he could even type a description of the item in the search bar his screen had pop up ads for the item which he says he's never seen before our discussion. Another similar case involving a restaurant that was being discussed by our vice president occurred when ads for the very restaurant started showing up on her phone soon after that discussion.
Sure, it could be a coincidence, but the capability is there and if there's money to be made and there are no specific laws against it, do you think corporations would just give up such a lucrative income stream? How many rights have consumers already given up without a fight?
It's logical to assume that this employee was looking up details about this piece of equipment on his computer before he approached you about getting it and searches are 100% used to provide adds.
I can confirm that this has happened to me too, however , it seems in the last 2 years the techniques involved have been made to be less obvious .......but yeah it's happening, we can all blame our antiquated congress and money hungry politicians for selling us all out to the capitalist machine.
Or better yet stop being a consumer and start being a prosumer, meaning don't buy from sh*t Companies that don't respect your privacy, please stop turning to the state to fix all your problems it'll never get fixed in your favor.
The fact of the matter is that regulation is completely ignored and most people that create the regulation are either blackmailed or bribed anyway. Big tech will simply "game" the regulation and go around it on technicalities. Our very Constitution is being ignored for political gain.
For folks that think that existing technology doesn't have the capability to surreptitiously listen in on your conversations, go ask Edward Snowden 10 years ago.
Smart devices (even phones if I recall correctly) from Google listen all the time, especially for "hey Google", now playing, etc, without any warning light, etc.
Google and Apple say they display a little icon when the microphone is in use, but that must be a little white lie since it must be listening for "Hey Siri" all the time, and therefore the microphone must be active all the time. What Apple and Google meant to say is that "the little microphone warning icon is displayed when someone other than Apple/Google uses your microphone or when you are aware that Apple and Google use your microphone."
We have seen one electronic device in particular respond to voice conversations we are having when not use. I’m confident a lot of what people say is monitored. It’s easier than ever and getting easier each day.
Lon, your daughter is lucky to have parents like yourself and your wife who aren't afraid to say no when they're asked for something like a phone and you think they are too young. The day will come when she has kids of her own & will have to say the same thing but God only knows what she'll have to say no to then!
You have to parse through their denials thoroughly. They say "we don't collect data or listen in to private conversations" the part they don't mention is they purchase and resell that from a third party provider. If they didn't, how would suggestions of obscure things you discuss but don't query show up in suggestions and ads?
Thanks Lon for sharing this with us. As many have said, this has been going on for years. I guess we all want the newest, greatest thing and we don’t think about the consequences of those desires. We have no become so dependent on these systems that we couldn’t disconnect if we wanted to. Really sucks.
It's come up between my wife and I several times over the past year or two that we've talked about something and then we start getting ads for that product on web pages. It's been a "that's a weird coincidence" type of things, but now I'm wondering if it actually wasn't a coincidence. We have Amazon Alexa (Echo / FireTV) in every room.
Yes its Alexa and Fire TV. I had this issue I was talking to someone on my mobile and the next day the advertisment was on a banner on the Fire TV for sometiing I do not need but a friend does.
@@herlsone - I only have apps like Peacock, Paramount+, Hulu, Sling, and other stuff from major companies. No side-load stuff and nothing from weird Chinese or other foreign publishers.
Somewhere in an office near Ft. Meade, people are jumping up on their desks, drinking and partying after they saw your video, and the Stasi were too early to go to the party... 😂
It’s clearly possible but there are some practicalities when talking about smartphones and that is battery life. I’m a light user and my iPhone 15 Max battery tends to last 4 or sometimes 5 days between charges. While the processor is clearly capable of doing real time transcription I find it hard to believe that my phone is capable of transcribing audio for maybe 40 to 60 hours continually - if you add up the time I am having or within earshot of conversations or attempting to work out whether to transcribe it when I have the TV, radio or music on in the background - without killing my battery. That’s why I think your references to “crappy games” might be spot on. Apart from maybe less concern for ethics from some of those developers games can drain battery quite fast anyway so those users probably expect to drain their battery faster and maybe wouldn’t notice extra battery drain so much especially if the spyware only transcribes when the game is still in the foreground. Doing that actually isn’t a bad strategy because if someone is playing a game then stops with it still in the foreground it’s quite likely they were interrupted by someone starting a conversation or needed to initiate a conversation themselves for some reason.
Even if it's feasible it's up to you to decide weather to allow an app, like the casual game you're describing, usage of something like the microphone. Both Android and iOS ask you if you want to give an app permission to access things like you're microphone and allow you to refuse, or allow it only in certain conditions, like every time it want's to use it. If you automatically approve those. If you're playing a game and it asks for permissions for things like the camera, microphone, location, contacts, phone, SMS and more and you accept it without thinking why it's on you.
I agree with Lon on this one but for me personally if a app like a game asked for mic perms you are being closed and uninstalled as you shouldn't be asking for those perms in the first place (very few exceptions when it comes to games just use common sense and you'll be fine)
Thanks Lon... I keep wondering just how far WE are going to allow this to progress. It's a worry because it's almost impossible to constrain usage of "smart" devices to the point where we can control them. Thanks for all you do.. Forewarned is forearmed...
If the technology is available to do it, it's a reasonable assumption that intelligence agencies would make use of it, as they are always keen to make use of any technology that allows them to collect information. I don't believe it's paranoia to think so, I believe it would be naive to think otherwise. It is harder to believe that they would just ignore such a capability rather than avail themselves of it. As a rule of thumb, it is sensible to assume they are typically making use of such technologies well before the general public has even been made aware of the possibility.
To record a virtual multitude of conversations, feed them through translators, sift the good from the bad at commercial volumes just isn't financially lucrative, the ROI is poor to bad. People talk about a lot of things but are not so knee jerk responsive to see some ad for cough syrup and say "Hey, that's it, that's what I needed, just let me click on that ad". Case in point, what percentage of ads that you have both seen and avoided have you clicked on through to a purchase in hopes it meets a need you've priorly expressed? There may be usefulness to monitoring but I don't see it to either help you with life's woes nor to find and exterminate you.
Who is to say that it’s even being transcribed into actual language of text and instead the privacy encryption they tout is their “own” language it is translated into. That could allow it to all be legal eavesdropping and no one would ever be able to know.
Not only is this a huge problem, but the government wants to mandate always listening devices in our cars. You aaaallll know who wants your data, right? Not just car manufacturers for this purpose.
I thought some tv manufacturers got in trouble for monitoring in home conversations, years ago. I also remember (probably incorrectly) someone was going to be offering a cheaper tv for tor the same “feature”
And on that note, I've opened up all my active listening capable devices and ripped the mics out of each, and every one of them! I will not tolerate any spying from my devices. Any future tv or phone purchases will not include active listening. I'll buy old school stuff, if I have to, now.
FYI, everything is VoIP based anymore. Your data packets are bouncing through telecom servers and therefore can be captured really easily. Do this all the time when testing and fixing VoIP servers in businesses. All types of tools around it.
Once I was making a comment about how an excellent movie was like fine caviar. I went to look up some details about the cast and I got an ad for caviar. I have never once looked up caviar and had never mentioned it on any platform. It bothered me a lot and I don't know how my device picked it up, because I wasn't using it when I was speaking and we don't have other smart devices like the Echo.
Nice report. I would note however that their claim of minimizing, the data is inaccurate since they are sending the ads back to the device or user that made the comments. This is clearly targeted data and not anonymized, although it may be anonymized separately for more regional or global advertising purposes.
I think this has been going on for a while. I have had conversations about something then it will come up as an add or when I later it type I the first letter of something related, it auto fills with the exact thing I just typed.
The quote from Google is not 100% accurate (they said that when a device is listening an icon is shown). On Pixel devices, if you have background music listening enabled, where it passively identifies songs even with the phone in your pocket, the icon does not show. I'm sure other devices could have native apps that do the same thing.
This video topic is a great idea of why I don't use "smart" gadgets like Alexa products. I find it very invasive and while I don't tell other people what technology they should use, I will *NEVER* use any of it...
If you have any smart device they listen in on anything you say. That's why you see ads after you have talked about something to someone. All major companies do this and no one can tell me different. Google, Amazon, Apple and I'm sure many, many more.
Great video 👍🏾. For me there’s annecdotal evidence it’s happening. Just the other day I spoke to my wife about the country of Mongolia and how nice the food is. Next day in my UA-cam feed (Google eh?) there’s a video taking about the women of Mongolia 😂. What’s the chance of that. I use an iPhone though so suspect having a UA-cam and Google account gives them the right to record what you say somewhere in the long small print.
Is this for both Android and IOS ? How is it possible? I don't understand how technically it's possible. Is it a built-in feature/app ? Or it's some SDK that apps use somehow with what the phone offers? Or something else?
Be careful what products you buy. If you buy products from a company that relies on advertising as their business model you are vulnerable to nefarious data gathering practices and selling your targeting info to 3rd parties. I exclusively use only Apple products, there is a vast amount of evidence supporting better security and privacy. The only way this could happen on an Apple product is if a rogue app got past the app store checks, and the user gave permission for the microphone to be active, and the user ignored indicators. If a developer is ever found to have used a permission not required for their app and refuses to submit a fix their developer guid would be revoked instantly killing every app they ever made, and developer fingerprint techniques would be used to disallow that developer creating a new developer account. They would be banned for life from ever developing software for any apple product. The very few non apple products I use, I treat with extreme caution.
"Pre-purchase conversations." Wow. There are some serious a$$holes out there in powerful positions. Do they not understand they're just as vulnerable to this crap as everyone else? Yet they're ok with it evidently.
It would be a shame to restrict this technology to the degree that those who enjoy the benign benefits it affords like increased accessibility and safety, would no longer be able to do so. Example - your transcript could be used to provide closed captions, but, as you demonstrated, could be used for other purposes - even for more deleterious purposes than you described. Thanks for taking the time to research and post this video!
A friend and I regularly talk on the phone, both iOS. WAY too often, UA-cam serve one or two scarily relevant videos in the “for you” tab, at the very top after our chats. We’ve been to and fro about this for at least a couple of years, but lean towards that there must be a slight chance that our conversation topics indeed are fed through to data brokers. And yes, I have several Google apps installed. Wonder if they should go, like most of the SoMe stuff I’ve trashed a while back…?
On Android phone there’s an option to turn off microphone. Years ago i turned off assistants from Google and Siri. It was just too weird to have them join in our conversations.
no I 100% agree if you want something that connects to the internet just get a version of say a google chromecast (just stay away from the cheap 3rd party ones as 99% of them have malware built in) just go with a brand you trust and you'll be fine)
It is interesting what you were able to show just putting together several pieces of tech. I imagine purpose made AI would do an even better (and scarier) job of figuring out new and interesting things to sell you.
Yeah about those TVs especially Samsung that took away the numbers on the remote and now you're supposed to just speak what channel you want to go to which takes longer and doesn't work well, I think that's a little fishy. Is the remote a hot mic
I find it the law needs to change example the police has to get a warrant to listen to criminals talking but media companies don't, what is wrong with this picture?
Well if they are on device and not being transfered to their cloud. I am okay with that but realistically I think we have reach to a point where even the best ads won't make us buy stuff. So what's next? Showing ads on our dreams?
@@Kirby5588 I recently unplugged my Google TV device from my television when I was trying to change some settings and I kept getting a message saying that I couldn’t change certain settings unless I installed their Google Home app! I figured it was just another way to invade my privacy so I opted instead to do away with the device altogether!
I wouldn't be surprised if google is constantly listening on their phones. if you've ever disabled google play services from an android phone you can get 120-150% of your battery life easily.
its panopticon, there will be no escape! i made my "smart tv" dumb by disconnecting it to the internet. though, i bet they are listening through your phone, computer and other gadgets that you have around. oh and with gigabit speeds they are watching what you are watching and listening and doing in real time. enjoy!
In my opinion if this is actually a thing and listening to me at home, that is definitely invasion of privacy. Out in public may not be since it is after all in public.
I was taking to my partner not long ago on the phone about foot infection that a freind has and the next day it was showing on a banner on my TV advertising fungle foot creams! I do not watch TV much so it could have been advertising from the momnet I said it and not noticed. Of all the things it to advertise to me it was that. Clearly something has been listening.
@@Code7Unltdyup, I had no choice for decades, (Comcast) as soon as Verizon FiOS became an option, not only did I switch, but the prices in my market came down to Earth. competition and having a free market should be everywhere
lon i had a feeling that this crap would happen suner or later i gess if you cover the mic or a sound proof pants pocket thay would get nothing maybe ?
My question, is how can Cox get access to data from apps they don’t own? Is it just strictly the phone is on their WiFi, so therefore they can get it? That’s pretty invasive and wrong.
If they are doing this it's likely through third parties that are buying the data from the app makers. Those crappy free games generate revenue this way.
That happends to be an resaon why I hate the fact that my land lord makes me use COX Cable as my ISP. Some of the biggsest resoans I what to get an new ISP; is faster internet and more reabull at an lower cost, Cox's consmer sricve, Can't get 4K video, Can't use thing's like Palystation Now and can't download thing's like 50GB to over 200GB games form places like Steam. The number 1 resaon why I wish the PC version of Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart was on Blu-ray.
Unrelated to CMG, but this is my single biggest fear of having Amazon Echo devices placed throughout my home. To isolate them away from unrelated conversations would complete defeat the purpose of having them around in the first place. We're walking a razor edge with privacy and convenience these days. ~Thanks for another great vid, Lon
This is why I will never put any of the personal assistant garbage in my home.
Razor's edge? Our privacy is gone and there is nothing we can do about it. Regulators won't regulate because they own Congress and the house of reps and it doesn't matter which party they belong to.
@@zoiks6631 Supposedly they aren't supposed to be listening until addressed, but who knows?
@@zoiks6631 Locally hosted non-internet connected personal assistants are coming out.
@@SeekingTheLoveThatGodMeans7648 Some of us have tested the bigger name devices like Amazon Echo by monitoring traffic. It's TV's I'm more concerned about. Most have microphones now and many have cameras.
We've been all through this before, but they're going with that: We're not "listening" lie again...
Some memory foam "smart beds" have an app, supposedly to let you sleep better by raising the bed if you are detected snoring, that will "listen" to you, potentially even to the point they know if you are in your bed or not...not to mention other things you might be doing in your bed. Enjoy!
maybe us Americans need to grow a pair and not tolerate such behavior
"We're not listening" fine print: "We're" not listening. Technically, it's your microphone. You're the one recording yourself dummies. we use third party software to record. And since we only get a "transcript", it doesn't technically count as listening... we're reading...
Someone is CERTAINLY listening! Everytime I have a conversation in my home about something innocuous, I start receiving ads about that subject.
This is 100% happeneing right now, in non-Cox markets. We had a Google Nest Mini in the kitchen for timers, alarms and weather reports. One day, my daughter an I were joking around about how she could suppliment her income, and during the conversation she said casually (without a "hey Google"), "where could I sell my plasma?" That same day, we both were served up Ad-Sense ads for the nearest plasma center. The following day, my wife had several phone conversations with relatives in Portugal, she hadn't spoken with in years letting them know we were coming to visit. She spoke Portuguese with them, which is never more than a few words in our house on any other day. Same day, we get served up Ad-Sense travel ads IN PORTGUESE! The next day, the Google Nest was removed from the house.
Actual listening to our conversations by smart phones has been going on for several years. It was about eight years ago, when I was managing a television studio, that one of my employees came to me asking about a particular piece of equipment which would enhance part of his job. We discussed it for a few minutes and then I suggested that he go to his desk and research the cost and availability of the item. When he got to his desk he shouted out "I can't believe it". Before he could even type a description of the item in the search bar his screen had pop up ads for the item which he says he's never seen before our discussion. Another similar case involving a restaurant that was being discussed by our vice president occurred when ads for the very restaurant started showing up on her phone soon after that discussion.
Ever heard the term 'confirmation bias'?
Ever heard the term "Pegasus v2.0 zero-click spyware for your smartphone by the Israeli cyber arms firm NSO Group"?@@ThaedDavid
Sure, it could be a coincidence, but the capability is there and if there's money to be made and there are no specific laws against it, do you think corporations would just give up such a lucrative income stream? How many rights have consumers already given up without a fight?
It's logical to assume that this employee was looking up details about this piece of equipment on his computer before he approached you about getting it and searches are 100% used to provide adds.
I can confirm that this has happened to me too, however , it seems in the last 2 years the techniques involved have been made to be less obvious .......but yeah it's happening, we can all blame our antiquated congress and money hungry politicians for selling us all out to the capitalist machine.
Needs to be regulation and around this stuff as our privacy and security is disappearing real fast.
People click I agree without reading. What would you suggest?
No, we need to enforce the laws we already have.
Or better yet stop being a consumer and start being a prosumer, meaning don't buy from sh*t Companies that don't respect your privacy, please stop turning to the state to fix all your problems it'll never get fixed in your favor.
@@kaosapprenticeyou might only have cox internet as your only option though for good internet. I think the states do need to step in.
The fact of the matter is that regulation is completely ignored and most people that create the regulation are either blackmailed or bribed anyway. Big tech will simply "game" the regulation and go around it on technicalities. Our very Constitution is being ignored for political gain.
For folks that think that existing technology doesn't have the capability to surreptitiously listen in on your conversations, go ask Edward Snowden 10 years ago.
And the NSO Group.
I don’t want to go on a plane 10 years ago! What if he was busy?
Governments have been listening since WWII.
Project echelon..
This is an excellent video Lon, I hope you keep following this subject.
Smart devices (even phones if I recall correctly) from Google listen all the time, especially for "hey Google", now playing, etc, without any warning light, etc.
Google and Apple say they display a little icon when the microphone is in use, but that must be a little white lie since it must be listening for "Hey Siri" all the time, and therefore the microphone must be active all the time. What Apple and Google meant to say is that "the little microphone warning icon is displayed when someone other than Apple/Google uses your microphone or when you are aware that Apple and Google use your microphone."
When you bring these "smart" devices into your private spaces, do you wonder what you're giving up in exchange?
We have seen one electronic device in particular respond to voice conversations we are having when not use. I’m confident a lot of what people say is monitored. It’s easier than ever and getting easier each day.
another excellent video lon, thanks for the consistent transparency and honesty. your channel is irreplaceable
Lon, your daughter is lucky to have parents like yourself and your wife who aren't afraid to say no when they're asked for something like a phone and you think they are too young. The day will come when she has kids of her own & will have to say the same thing but God only knows what she'll have to say no to then!
My daughter does remind me that I have a pile of smartphones in my office :). But we're holding the line on this for a little while longer.
@@LonSeidman stay strong...lol!
You have to parse through their denials thoroughly. They say "we don't collect data or listen in to private conversations" the part they don't mention is they purchase and resell that from a third party provider. If they didn't, how would suggestions of obscure things you discuss but don't query show up in suggestions and ads?
Thanks Lon for sharing this with us. As many have said, this has been going on for years. I guess we all want the newest, greatest thing and we don’t think about the consequences of those desires. We have no become so dependent on these systems that we couldn’t disconnect if we wanted to. Really sucks.
That’s crazy Lon. Thanks for sharing the info about cox media group
It's come up between my wife and I several times over the past year or two that we've talked about something and then we start getting ads for that product on web pages. It's been a "that's a weird coincidence" type of things, but now I'm wondering if it actually wasn't a coincidence.
We have Amazon Alexa (Echo / FireTV) in every room.
Yes its Alexa and Fire TV. I had this issue I was talking to someone on my mobile and the next day the advertisment was on a banner on the Fire TV for sometiing I do not need but a friend does.
There's your problem: it's not a coincidence, they're definitely listening to you.
I bet its the crappy apps your have downloaded instead.
@@herlsone - I only have apps like Peacock, Paramount+, Hulu, Sling, and other stuff from major companies. No side-load stuff and nothing from weird Chinese or other foreign publishers.
You should consider removing those Alexas.
Somewhere in an office near Ft. Meade, people are jumping up on their desks, drinking and partying after they saw your video, and the Stasi were too early to go to the party... 😂
It’s clearly possible but there are some practicalities when talking about smartphones and that is battery life. I’m a light user and my iPhone 15 Max battery tends to last 4 or sometimes 5 days between charges. While the processor is clearly capable of doing real time transcription I find it hard to believe that my phone is capable of transcribing audio for maybe 40 to 60 hours continually - if you add up the time I am having or within earshot of conversations or attempting to work out whether to transcribe it when I have the TV, radio or music on in the background - without killing my battery. That’s why I think your references to “crappy games” might be spot on. Apart from maybe less concern for ethics from some of those developers games can drain battery quite fast anyway so those users probably expect to drain their battery faster and maybe wouldn’t notice extra battery drain so much especially if the spyware only transcribes when the game is still in the foreground. Doing that actually isn’t a bad strategy because if someone is playing a game then stops with it still in the foreground it’s quite likely they were interrupted by someone starting a conversation or needed to initiate a conversation themselves for some reason.
Even if it's feasible it's up to you to decide weather to allow an app, like the casual game you're describing, usage of something like the microphone. Both Android and iOS ask you if you want to give an app permission to access things like you're microphone and allow you to refuse, or allow it only in certain conditions, like every time it want's to use it. If you automatically approve those.
If you're playing a game and it asks for permissions for things like the camera, microphone, location, contacts, phone, SMS and more and you accept it without thinking why it's on you.
Most consumers blow through those permissions unfortunately
I agree with Lon on this one but for me personally if a app like a game asked for mic perms you are being closed and uninstalled as you shouldn't be asking for those perms in the first place (very few exceptions when it comes to games just use common sense and you'll be fine)
Thanks Lon... I keep wondering just how far WE are going to allow this to progress. It's a worry because it's almost impossible to constrain usage of "smart" devices to the point where we can control them.
Thanks for all you do..
Forewarned is forearmed...
Legislative action should be taken in truth in advertising to make people aware of what they are getting themselves in to.
Imagine government having access to this and targeting their political adversaries. That's not a far fetched hypothetical.
If the technology is available to do it, it's a reasonable assumption that intelligence agencies would make use of it, as they are always keen to make use of any technology that allows them to collect information. I don't believe it's paranoia to think so, I believe it would be naive to think otherwise.
It is harder to believe that they would just ignore such a capability rather than avail themselves of it. As a rule of thumb, it is sensible to assume they are typically making use of such technologies well before the general public has even been made aware of the possibility.
LOL!! Far fetched? It's been happening for years. High-tech mics, cameras, and GPS in most smart devices. All privacy is long gone.
To record a virtual multitude of conversations, feed them through translators, sift the good from the bad at commercial volumes just isn't financially lucrative, the ROI is poor to bad. People talk about a lot of things but are not so knee jerk responsive to see some ad for cough syrup and say "Hey, that's it, that's what I needed, just let me click on that ad".
Case in point, what percentage of ads that you have both seen and avoided have you clicked on through to a purchase in hopes it meets a need you've priorly expressed?
There may be usefulness to monitoring but I don't see it to either help you with life's woes nor to find and exterminate you.
Lon! , Thank you for posting.
Hey Lon, great video.
Did you notice any advertising increase on these subjects?
It seems to happen a lot, it could be coincidence, but Im not sure
My NBC Affilate WPXI is owned by Cox Media Group so Im curious if they are doing these targeted ads for the Pittsburgh market. Thanks Lon.
Who is to say that it’s even being transcribed into actual language of text and instead the privacy encryption they tout is their “own” language it is translated into. That could allow it to all be legal eavesdropping and no one would ever be able to know.
Not only is this a huge problem, but the government wants to mandate always listening devices in our cars. You aaaallll know who wants your data, right? Not just car manufacturers for this purpose.
All of this should be illegal.
Lon, so many corps do eavesdrop not only on microphones but camera too.
While I fully trust your videos, when you say that pixel was offline for transcoding, I did notice it was on WiFi. Was it on an ssid with no Internet?
Them Xfinity Att and all ISPs are. If you use their equipment especially. Take it from a previous direct employee and installer for all major ISPs
I thought some tv manufacturers got in trouble for monitoring in home conversations, years ago. I also remember (probably incorrectly) someone was going to be offering a cheaper tv for tor the same “feature”
TCL, the entire selling point of their smart tv is that records you and direct ads
And on that note, I've opened up all my active listening capable devices and ripped the mics out of each, and every one of them! I will not tolerate any spying from my devices. Any future tv or phone purchases will not include active listening. I'll buy old school stuff, if I have to, now.
FYI, everything is VoIP based anymore. Your data packets are bouncing through telecom servers and therefore can be captured really easily. Do this all the time when testing and fixing VoIP servers in businesses. All types of tools around it.
Once I was making a comment about how an excellent movie was like fine caviar. I went to look up some details about the cast and I got an ad for caviar. I have never once looked up caviar and had never mentioned it on any platform.
It bothered me a lot and I don't know how my device picked it up, because I wasn't using it when I was speaking and we don't have other smart devices like the Echo.
Have no doubt they listen. Love how they back tracked. Even if cmg isn't doing it, Google or someone else is
I'm skeptical of these claims but I would like that independent analysts or hackers publish an investigation on this matter.
Something that is missing from the conversation: if this is true, this is a violation of correspondence, something protected by law.
Nice report. I would note however that their claim of minimizing, the data is inaccurate since they are sending the ads back to the device or user that made the comments. This is clearly targeted data and not anonymized, although it may be anonymized separately for more regional or global advertising purposes.
I think this has been going on for a while. I have had conversations about something then it will come up as an add or when I later it type I the first letter of something related, it auto fills with the exact thing I just typed.
The quote from Google is not 100% accurate (they said that when a device is listening an icon is shown). On Pixel devices, if you have background music listening enabled, where it passively identifies songs even with the phone in your pocket, the icon does not show. I'm sure other devices could have native apps that do the same thing.
This video topic is a great idea of why I don't use "smart" gadgets like Alexa products. I find it very invasive and while I don't tell other people what technology they should use, I will *NEVER* use any of it...
Maybe I'll start saying a product out loud in my home, but not type it in. And then? And then we wait.
Big Brother is listening, and we allowed it to happen🤬🤬🤬
If you have any smart device they listen in on anything you say. That's why you see ads after you have talked about something to someone. All major companies do this and no one can tell me different. Google, Amazon, Apple and I'm sure many, many more.
Great video 👍🏾. For me there’s annecdotal evidence it’s happening. Just the other day I spoke to my wife about the country of Mongolia and how nice the food is.
Next day in my UA-cam feed (Google eh?) there’s a video taking about the women of Mongolia 😂. What’s the chance of that.
I use an iPhone though so suspect having a UA-cam and Google account gives them the right to record what you say somewhere in the long small print.
Is this for both Android and IOS ?
How is it possible? I don't understand how technically it's possible.
Is it a built-in feature/app ? Or it's some SDK that apps use somehow with what the phone offers?
Or something else?
Be careful what products you buy. If you buy products from a company that relies on advertising as their business model you are vulnerable to nefarious data gathering practices and selling your targeting info to 3rd parties. I exclusively use only Apple products, there is a vast amount of evidence supporting better security and privacy. The only way this could happen on an Apple product is if a rogue app got past the app store checks, and the user gave permission for the microphone to be active, and the user ignored indicators. If a developer is ever found to have used a permission not required for their app and refuses to submit a fix their developer guid would be revoked instantly killing every app they ever made, and developer fingerprint techniques would be used to disallow that developer creating a new developer account. They would be banned for life from ever developing software for any apple product. The very few non apple products I use, I treat with extreme caution.
"Pre-purchase conversations." Wow. There are some serious a$$holes out there in powerful positions. Do they not understand they're just as vulnerable to this crap as everyone else? Yet they're ok with it evidently.
It would be a shame to restrict this technology to the degree that those who enjoy the benign benefits it affords like increased accessibility and safety, would no longer be able to do so. Example - your transcript could be used to provide closed captions, but, as you demonstrated, could be used for other purposes - even for more deleterious purposes than you described. Thanks for taking the time to research and post this video!
A friend and I regularly talk on the phone, both iOS. WAY too often, UA-cam serve one or two scarily relevant videos in the “for you” tab, at the very top after our chats.
We’ve been to and fro about this for at least a couple of years, but lean towards that there must be a slight chance that our conversation topics indeed are fed through to data brokers. And yes, I have several Google apps installed. Wonder if they should go, like most of the SoMe stuff I’ve trashed a while back…?
Google is the common denominator. I think Apple does this too, but Apple uses the data for itself as it does not want to invite scandal.
💯 the only cloud I trust and use is my cloud computer in the basement, if is in the cloud it's someone's else computer
On Android phone there’s an option to turn off microphone. Years ago i turned off assistants from Google and Siri. It was just too weird to have them join in our conversations.
When the slogan “We listen to our customers” is more of a threat.
Great show and summary - easy to understand.
Lon: Are you planning to come to CES next year?....J
TVs don't need access to the internet and you can't change my mind.
no I 100% agree if you want something that connects to the internet just get a version of say a google chromecast (just stay away from the cheap 3rd party ones as 99% of them have malware built in) just go with a brand you trust and you'll be fine)
while I don't like government intervention, I'll give an exception for this corporate creepiness.
It is interesting what you were able to show just putting together several pieces of tech. I imagine purpose made AI would do an even better (and scarier) job of figuring out new and interesting things to sell you.
That’s what surprised me the most about this project !
I'm sure they have a microphone in the cable modem
Edward Snowden has entered the chat...
Yeah about those TVs especially Samsung that took away the numbers on the remote and now you're supposed to just speak what channel you want to go to which takes longer and doesn't work well, I think that's a little fishy. Is the remote a hot mic
And their data is not anonym since you get ads about the things you talk about.... so the ip is used.
HomeKit - Problem solved.
Im shocked and appalled.... that you enjoy shopping on Christmas Eve!
Gt Media usb next gen tv stick connects to phone or tv or laptop Google info when i put info on here UA-cam takes it down.
Are you taking lisinopril? Could cause cough.
"Smart devices" sounds like Google Home and Alexa.
I find it the law needs to change example the police has to get a warrant to listen to criminals talking but media companies don't, what is wrong with this picture?
Once Again.......the Conspiracy Theorists were right.
Where can I find gay frogs 🐸
@@enterprisedavidcain Research Atrazine.
I don't buy things I see in ads.
If anything, ads make me buy other brands.
They say the little icons on when it's listening I say it doesn't matter if it's on or not they listen when they want to
They have been doing this for many years now, this isn't new, Comcast does it too!
Well if they are on device and not being transfered to their cloud. I am okay with that but realistically I think we have reach to a point where even the best ads won't make us buy stuff. So what's next? Showing ads on our dreams?
And yet no app understands when I type in the 4 digits of my address I am looking for my address.
That’s creepy & is innovation of privacy
The ad based economy has become cancerous. I do everything I can to avoid ads.
Android has Glass wire and Netgard firewall. Those may be able to stop this stuff.
My tv is blocked from the internet, for exactly this type of thing.
Do you have an android stick or box? They'll do the same thing
@@Kirby5588 I am sure they do. Most every smart device in my house is blocked from the internet, local only and open source
@@Kirby5588 I recently unplugged my Google TV device from my television when I was trying to change some settings and I kept getting a message saying that I couldn’t change certain settings unless I installed their Google Home app! I figured it was just another way to invade my privacy so I opted instead to do away with the device altogether!
Lonathan: how do YOUS think Instagram knows everyting you like? They do this.
I wouldn't be surprised if google is constantly listening on their phones. if you've ever disabled google play services from an android phone you can get 120-150% of your battery life easily.
Quite disturbing. My TV is DUMB and you can keep any TV DUMB by not giving it the wifi password
COX: spelled differently, but we're just the same.
Cox Communications sells its own home security and home phone / internet devices so maybe they have some special information from their own products?
On my router I set to encrypt all dns requests.
Keep up the great work.
its panopticon, there will be no escape!
i made my "smart tv" dumb by disconnecting it to the internet. though, i bet they are listening through your phone, computer and other gadgets that you have around.
oh and with gigabit speeds they are watching what you are watching and listening and doing in real time. enjoy!
In my opinion if this is actually a thing and listening to me at home, that is definitely invasion of privacy. Out in public may not be since it is after all in public.
I was taking to my partner not long ago on the phone about foot infection that a freind has and the next day it was showing on a banner on my TV advertising fungle foot creams! I do not watch TV much so it could have been advertising from the momnet I said it and not noticed. Of all the things it to advertise to me it was that. Clearly something has been listening.
The Android app you're running on the phone to transcribe... what is it? And are there any cheap or free apps for this purpose?
Linux + firefox + ublock + pihole + not allowing "smart" crap into the home. No worries here.
yep same here just minus the pihole (want to get a cheap 3rd party raspberry pie and make one but just can't afford it right now)
Seems like everyday life is just an ad. Kinda reminds me of the South Park episodes about if something is an ad or real.
I have cox and no other options for an ISP in this area this is insane
that does seriously suck
You, and everyone else. Most counties have active monopolies.
@@Code7Unltdyup, I had no choice for decades, (Comcast)
as soon as Verizon FiOS became an option, not only did I switch, but the prices in my market came down to Earth.
competition and having a free market should be everywhere
lon i had a feeling that this crap would happen suner or later i gess if you cover the mic or a sound proof pants pocket thay would get nothing maybe ?
Lon this stuff has been going on for years not a big thing it's only going to get bigger our privacy being slipping away
New thing? 🤔
My question, is how can Cox get access to data from apps they don’t own? Is it just strictly the phone is on their WiFi, so therefore they can get it? That’s pretty invasive and wrong.
If they are doing this it's likely through third parties that are buying the data from the app makers. Those crappy free games generate revenue this way.
That happends to be an resaon why I hate the fact that my land lord makes me use COX Cable as my ISP. Some of the biggsest resoans I what to get an new ISP; is faster internet and more reabull at an lower cost, Cox's consmer sricve, Can't get 4K video, Can't use thing's like Palystation Now and can't download thing's like 50GB to over 200GB games form places like Steam. The number 1 resaon why I wish the PC version of Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart was on Blu-ray.