cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/25882429

scarily… They don’t need to to be this creepy, but even I’m a tad baffled by this.

Yesterday me and a few friends were at a pub quiz, of course no phones allowed, so none were used.

It came down to a tie break question of my team and another. “What is the run time of the Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the ring” according to IMDb.

We answered and went about our day. Today my friend from my team messaged me - top post on his “today feed” is an article published 23 hours ago…

Forgive the pointless red circle… I didnt take the screenshot.

My friend isn’t a privacy conscience person by any means, but he didnt open IMDb or google anything to do with the franchise and hasn’t for many months prior. I’m aware its most likely an incredible coincidence, but when stuff like this happens I can easily understand why many people are convinced everyone’s doom brick is listening to them…

    • MajorHavoc@programming.dev
      4·
      3 months ago

      The average phone is listening all the time. If someone is particularly careful what apps they install, and gets a bit lucky, then their phone isn’t listening. That person is only being listened to by the phones of everyone else around them.

        • GiveOver@feddit.uk
          3·
          3 months ago

          Not a single one of those links is useful. They’re either talking about Alexa/Siri listening out for wake words, CIA-compromised/hacked devices, or they’re just reporting on the vibes of the public.

          I’m still waiting for anybody to show evidence that my phone is listening to conversations.

        • UlrichEnglish
          21·
          3 months ago

          So these all have to do with voice-activated assistants. If you have these on, you’re explicitly asking your phone to listen to you. There’s nothing nefarious about that.