Google Android...what do you guys make of this?

I buy it. Said it before, I'll say it again - Google is the devil. My hubby can buy something online with his laptop or phone and related suggestions start popping up in ads on my phone. Different, unrelated accounts. But obviously collated somehow, somewhere deep in the dark belly of the beast.

a reply to: bigfatfurrytexan



It's all conspiring to create a future that's more dystopic than we were ever looking for.

a reply to: kosmicjack

Thats a bit disconcerting.....

a reply to: Kandinsky

I've watched that TED talk video before.... it scared the bejesus out of me.

A definite eye-opening "must watch" for anyone who hasn't seen it yet. The things this woman talks about will have you sit up and pay attention.



This is the stuff of most seasoned ATSers' nightmares !

a reply to: CranialSponge

Hey it's good to know someone else has seen it. It's genuinely scary stuff and especially when it's combined with what else is going on in the world. All this division and separatism. People losing the ability to be independent and kids losing their critical thinking skills. People are googling out of confirmation biases instead of researching.



ETA - I just came back to add how the video has changed the way I use YT and even other websites. I use Google News and now know that the story feed is based on previous clicks. That isn't how I want to see the world...through my own little filter. Her lecture struck a chord and made a difference.

a reply to: bigfatfurrytexan

Not too dissimilar to my experiences between work and home. Those two computers aren't even registered to the same person in any way.

a reply to: Kandinsky

The scariest part is that everything she talks about is happening right here, right now, right under our noses...

These are the sorts of things that need to be brought to the public's attention. These are the sorts of things we should all be rallying together about, picking up our pitchforks and torches, and storming the palaces.

a reply to: CranialSponge

Absolutely. It's a nightmare case of unforeseen consequences. How can it be rolled back? Is there any way of changing the direction? Throttling the momentum? Who would take responsibility?!

It's like a snowball rolling down the mountain and we're all pushing from behind to make it go faster. It's bad for humanity, but it's making people billionaires and we all use social media. No pressure to change.

a reply to: Kandinsky

For me the most angering and frightening aspect of all this algorithm/mind control/dystopian stuff is the fact that it's such a runaway train, there's not a damn thing any of us can do about it to try and stop it.

And even if we could ? TPTB would just find some other way to bend us at their will.

Our modern day lives are completely surrounded with computers and being connected all around us at all times now (literally everything is computerized and interconnected these days).




TED talks like the one you posted definitely helps to make us more aware and therefore allowing us to pay more attention to what we're doing and what we're allowing into our heads, but let's be honest, is there really any escape or way to stop this ?!

I fear the only way to truly escape from becoming a victim (in one way shape or form) would be to sell everything lock stock and barrel, and disappear deep into the woods living like a caveman.

Reminds me of the old "turn on, tune in, drop out" counterculture belief system.

Maybe they were right all along...

a reply to: CranialSponge

Yes the algorithm isn't malignant or hostile, it just is what it is and does its thing blindly. Education and awareness would be a great way of softening the effects, but it's hard to truly teach that kind of awareness. Critical reading isn't a priority in most classrooms or at least not when it comes to political understanding.

TED talks like the one you posted definitely helps to make us more aware and therefore allowing us to pay more attention to what we're doing and what we're allowing into our heads, but let's be honest, is there really any escape or way to stop this ?!

I also suppose we're a self-selecting sample because who else watches TED talks? The message in the lecture won't be seen by anyone who isn't already sympathetic to the message. Ironic.

Is there an escape? I guess culturally we're all like fishes in the same water. You and I could switch off, perhaps, but we'd still be a part of the overall culture being negatively affected by these echo chamber algorithms. Not a happy thought!

a reply to: Kandinsky

I also suppose we're a self-selecting sample because who else watches TED talks? The message in the lecture won't be seen by anyone who isn't already sympathetic to the message. Ironic.

Ha !

Too true.

If you or I were to walk up to one of our neighbours and start talking about this stuff, chances are we'd get back as a response the ol' deer-in-the-headlights glazed over look from them.

They'd think we were nuts, then shrug it off, then start talking about Mrs. Cringlemeyer's unruly flower beds down the street. What's wrong with her ? Why doesn't she pluck her weeds ?


*sigh*

We'll all doomed.

I was just about to open a thread about this, then saw this one.

It was because someone had a similar experience - they were talking to their wife (in the same room as their Alexa) about a conversation they'd just had at work about a specific (unusual) flavour of health bar - something they'd never looked for online.

Next day goes into his Amazon account and that specific thing is in his recommended products.

I've also heard of things appearing as ads after presumably their conversation has been picked up by a phone that was not even in use.

Surely it's a huge invasion of privacy?

New weirdness....

My son and I have been going through and sharpening our knives. A couple of brands of knives (Benchmade and Spyderco) have specific angles to be sharpened at, so we can't do them. For me, i have always been happy to pay for sharpening service on those knives, as they are rather expensive and are fantastic steel. I don't want them ruined.

So while going through the project he was sitting on the couch maybe a week ago and showed me a picture of a sharpening system that he was considering. He flipped his phone over and talked about it for just a moment, while I looked at the image. Then we talked about the product for a couple minutes, mostly positive conversation relating to price and features, and life went on.

Yesterday im sitting there killing time and scroll through my Facebook. Lo and behold...that exact image is served up in an ad for knife sharpening.

I see 4 possibilities:

- my phone picked up the conversation and linked behind the scenes to what was on his phone at that moment, inside the viewport
- his phone has archived my voice and linked it through to my account
- our Wifi IP range is linked (although my wife and mother not gotten a knife sharpening ad)
- my face was picked up when he flipped the phone over, and it linked through behind the scenes to my account

On the one hand, the "intuitive assistant" nature of what is being done is creative use of data. I can see how that would enrich my life when provided by a benevolent source. But we are talking about Google and Facebook...i do not believe them to be benevolent. Even worse, Google is known to be developing AI, and working towards strong AI. The sheer volume of conversations and voices that Google has archived to feed into such a system...along with data relating to who we are....

I predicted to my son that 2020 will see a push for legislators who will support the reclamation of privacy. It may be more wishful thinking....but i see it as a major issue that people will become more aware of.

a reply to: bigfatfurrytexan

It's probably not linking through facial recognition. That would require constant camera use which is quite draining on the battery. For example, I have a feature on my tablet which watches my eye movement and turns my screen off after a couple seconds when I'm not looking at it, but never turns it off when I am. This feature is labeled as saving battery life, but it actually drains my battery much faster (drops the battery life from 12 hours to 9).

Speaking as a software engineer here, if I were trying to build something like this, the way I would do it is to first build a social network of who talks to who, and about what subjects. Then when someone looks at a piece of content, I would alert everyone in that social network who is linked via that interest, and send that advertisement to them.

So if a few people are in a network, and some subset of them share an interest in knives, when one seeks out a knife I would send the product they looked at to everyone they know who shares an interest.

Given where the technology stands today, this is the most likely way they're accomplishing it.

originally posted by: GuidedKill
a reply to: bigfatfurrytexan


What's even more disturbing is that google keeps recordings of everything you ever asked google to search. Or in your case didn't ask it to search. It has been known for a long time google keeps recordings of all of its customers voices.


LINK

How to find and delete your recordings
1.Log into history.google.com
2.Click on the hamburger icon on the top left of the page
3.Go to “Voice & Audio Activity”
4.Scroll through your list to see all the silly things there is audio proof of you asking about
5.Click on one of the squares to select a recording to delete
6.Stop using the voice function if you don’t want to listen to yourself again in the future

I did as the link suggested and luckily my voice and audio settings are "paused". While there is an option to turn it on....no recording activity to click on. Thankfully. The OP should go to that link and shut it off, pronto!

So it happened again. My son is showing me an item he is thinking about buying. Something I would never purchase in a million years. He shows me an image of a less than popular model of said item. The next day (this morning) i have an ad with that exact picture in my FB feed.

I mentioned it to my son, and he sent me this:



Its like they are listening for positive comments about a product, then feeding that through as an ad. My comment to my son was something like, "oh, yea...that's not anywhere near as expensive as the others you were talking about". I really wasn't interested in it, but am polite to my family.

a reply to: bigfatfurrytexan

I have the LG G5. What I tend to get is my camera being turned on when I open the phone. I also find the memos thing open at times. No search results yet. I have been using this phone for around a year now.

Google seem to be trying a lot of apps. One of the recently launched being google allo, seem to yet again, be going into extinction, sadly.

Your phone is a highly connected media marketing spy device by default. You dont set it up, you deactivate those default functions. Then they update and it's like learning a new device. Then they force your phone to bog down. These phones are capable of 24/7 online gaming for a decade, if you keep them disconnected from carriers and Google servers.. You'll be lucky to get 3 years of glove box use from the thing unless you disconnect and never update anything.

Personally, android still stands out. Being able to download from sites like couchtuner is easier compared to using other OS like iOS which generally, is restrictive.