Work while they sleep… or, better yet, work while they talk. Who has never had that surprise of talking about something with friends and, OUT OF NOWHERE, starting to receive profiles and ads related to that subject?
From bizarre situations like these, that question arises: does the cell phone really listen to our conversations?
Dana Rezazagedan, from Swinburne University of Technology in Australia, wrote an article arguing that cell phones are not capable of listening to our conversations.
His thesis is based on the fact that the device itself already has all the data necessary to make these inferences.
But how so? Well, she explains that, when we use our cell phones, we already give advertisers the information they need to find us.
One way this happens is through cookies that track our online activities. You know those little boxes that say “accept,” “restrict,” or “filter”? That’s right.
When you “accept” all cookies, or even just the “essential” ones while using that page, the website records details of what you did there, such as the texts or content you spent the most time reading, places you visited, among others.
All of this is saved, and the partner marketing companies that advertise on that page send content and products to your email or social media. All of this according to the preferences that were registered on that website.
Another way that websites use to store our information is through the details that we provide.
When we enter a platform, we usually need to create a profile with age, gender and email to log in. This information is also collected and used in this process.
So, how do we stop our cell phones from ‘listening’ to our conversations?
Still unsure whether your cell phone is listening to your conversations or not and want to prevent this? Here are some recommendations that can help you ensure a little more privacy when browsing your site.
In the settings section on your phone, you have access to all the apps and what parts of your phone they can access, such as cameras and microphones.
Although not all apps ask for this, one option is to only authorize access to necessary data. Therefore, review the access permissions you grant to platforms and apps regularly and, above all, restrict microphone use in all apps.
Another recommendation is to avoid using other accounts, such as Facebook or Gmail, to log into other websites and services. This also creates a network of contacts with your personal information.
Finally, a resource that can help is to install a private network on your devices, called VPN. The acronym stands for Virtual Private Networkand in plain English, this means “Virtual Private Network”. It helps to “mask” your IP address and encrypt your online activities.
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