The story you are abut to read is true. If there were any names involved, I would not change them to protect the innocent.
Okay. We live in a time that's marked by two things--a lot less personal privacy (especially in the digital area) and a marked increase in targeted data being thrown our way. What happened this past weekend to me is a perfect example. So to set the stage...
Loraine and I are playing soccer, as is our wont during the summer, at the Kaufman Sports Complex in Marquette. I have my phone with me because, well, I just do. As we're wrapping up for the day one of us--and I don't remember who--cracked a joke about a condom, which led to the other one of us mentioning a TV show we just watched that had a condom as a plot point. We then go home and carry on with our weekend.
Later that night, I'm perusing the New York Times on my phone when, all of a sudden, I noticed that a vast majority of the ads popping up between stories are for condoms. I didn't give it any thought at first, but then my mind drifted back to the conversation we had while playing soccer. Curious, I pulled up my subscription to the New York Times on two different laptops. Neither of those had any condom ads on them. But when I went back to my phone, the same website was filled with condom ads.
The only logical conclusion that a logical person could make? My phone was spying on me, heard me discussing condoms, and figured that ads for them should pop up while I was reading the New York Times. The condom ads did not appear on any device OTHER than the phone, which was lying nearby when we were joking about condoms.
I don't know whether or not I should be impressed or scared. Or both.
I guess I'm not surprised by what happened; after all, we seem to live in a digital surveillance state these days. But to think that a device that I carry around with me all day is listening in and making ad suggestions based on jokes? That's scary, especially because I make jokes about all kinds of things, which leads me to wonder if one day soon the FBI will be tearing down my door and leading me away in handcuffs.
And, by the way, if that DOES happen, you now know why.
I checked my phone and, as I thought, had most of the security settings on the greatest levels. Apparently, that's not quite enough to (if this is indeed the case) stop my phone from listening to me. Just to be safe, Loraine and I keep telling each other--within earshot of my phone--that we don't need condoms, just to see if the ads disappear any time soon.
And if they do, we'll have proof positive that my phone, probably like yours, really DOES listen to everything you say.
No comments:
Post a Comment