So...this Was Weird

[weebeasties]

A little over a month ago I bought a new laptop. It has Windows 10 with Cortana. I have Cortana turned on, but have yet to use it.
Anyway, I do a lot of my schoolwork on my laptop with the tv on, and recently I have been binge watching The Office. Yesterday when I began typing my school address into the web browser, the autofill came up with www.creedthoughts.gov/creedthoughts.etc. If anyone watches The Office, they know that is a joke website from the show. I DEFINITELY have never tried going to that site. Does that mean that Cortana is listening to my tv? It was kind of creepy.

 

[Jem]

Does that mean that Cortana is listening to my tv?

Short answer.....Yes.
Do you have one of those "google home" or "Alexa" things? Or any "voice command" or "smart" device in your home? It could also be that that is listening or "communicating" with each other. There was recently a report (on the actual news, not some "tin foil hat" big brother is watching website) that those things do listen in on conversations "to better help the development" of the devices and what not.

 

[Graceful-Lily]

Something sort of similar happened to me before. Our devices are definitely listening.

A few months ago, me and my mom had been talking about buying a dehumidifier. We talked about it about 3 times in a week but NEVER googled for one on any of our devices. Suddenly, we started getting suggestions for dehumidifiers whenever we went to a webpage. It was the main reoccurring ad.

 

[Talien]

Yes. Your "smart devices" listen to everything, whether it's your family or friends talking or the TV/radio.

And to think people tried to tell me I was paranoid when I would bring up the possibility of cell phones being used as surveillance devices way back in the day.

 

[Jem]

The only "smart" device we have in our home that I think may be "on" is the new smart TV we have in our bedroom. I haven't gone thru the settings and all that yet, and I've never used the voice commands at all either.
But, the bedroom is not exactly the place where you want people or other devices to be listening! I guess we'll see if in the next few weeks I get adds on my laptop for "personal " items, or "stop snoring" products LOL!!!

 

[weebeasties]

We don't have any other "smart devices" in our home, so the only eavesdropper could be Cortana. I was just under the impression that it only listened if you said "hey Cortana" first. Hmm. If they want to listen to my conversations, they are going to hear a lot about frequency, color, and consistency of cat poop. Hope they have fun with that.

 

[susanm9006]

I have Alexa and light switches that she can control at my request. I am not concerned about what she hears. If she wants to listen in she will hear all my conversations with Willow and an occasional conversation with my mom. My other smart home devices are my alarm system, security cams and garage door opener that I can control on my Ipad or phone.

 

[Uncled]

I find smart devices creepy to say the least, I have the voice control turned off on my tablet and refuse to have a smart t.v.

 

[mani]

My Pixel phone has a 'now playing' setting that freaked me out a bit until I turned it off. It started telling me the name and artist of the songs that were playing around me. I'm not very phone literate and others are probably well aware of it, but it was my first instance of 'the device is listening' without me asking a question.

 

[catlover73]

I have an I-phone. I got annoyed and turned Siri off. I was watching SWAT and Siri wanted to call 911. I said no and the call was never made. I was watching an episode of Criminal Minds and Siri wanted to call the FBI for me. I only have Siri turned on when I need to use it. I would prefer not to have my phone making those types of phone calls for me accidentally. My husband was watching the shows with me and his phone did not try to do this.

 

[DreamerRose]

I've had a weird experience, too, with my smart phone. I was texting with my son about my grandson's college fund, and Android kept popping up wanting to put "college" on my calendar. It did it over and over and was most annoying. I could hardly type a response there were so many pop-ups, and there's no easy way to turn lt off.

 

[Antonio65]

I'm sure my smartphone is listening to my conversation constantly.
I wouldn't be able to explain it otherwise why if, say, I'm watching a movie with an actor, and I say to my wife "I wonder how old Harrison Ford is", then I take my phone and start typing "Ha", the first suggestion is Harrison Ford.
I think that if I was talking about "Harrisburg", then the autofill would give me the city name rather than the actor's name.
Creepy!

 

[JamesCalifornia]

~ We all know about 5G eavesdropping concerns - especially in government. This is creepy ...

Huawei Technology Exposes Millions Of People's Calls To Surveillance, U.S. Warns​

 

[Kat0121]

I have Alexa too and it definitely listens to everything. I was watching Frasier on Netflix last night and all of a sudden, she said, "I'm sorry. I didn't get that." I just responded with, "No one was talking to you."

They can listen all they want. They can play the recordings for insomniacs. Nothing exciting goes on. They'd hear the occasional conversation with DD but mostly hear me talking to the girls about how cute they are.

 

[Talien]

~ We all know about 5G eavesdropping concerns - especially in government. This is creepy ...

Huawei Technology Exposes Millions Of People's Calls To Surveillance, U.S. Warns​

Huawei? Because china.

 

[Antonio65]

~ We all know about 5G eavesdropping concerns - especially in government. This is creepy ...

Huawei Technology Exposes Millions Of People's Calls To Surveillance, U.S. Warns​

As far as I know, US Government doesn't allow Huawei to sell their phones on your territory? Is that right?
Are Huawei phones sold in US?

Over here in Europe it is one of the best-selling brand, I think it ranks 2nd after Samsung.

 

[Willowy]

Yes, your phone is listening. It's probably only a computer algorithm, but yep. I've noticed several times when my phone suggested various products right after I've said something about it. It could be confirmation bias, but it seems to happen too often for that.

We need laws to clarify what businesses and the government can do with that information. My life is boring but I wouldn't want to get a ticket because I talked about jaywalking .

 

[Willow's Mom]

You might be interested in this project:

ossguy - Soprani.ca: Embracing Then Extinguishing the (Cell) Phone Network

It works quite well for text and voice calls without the surveillance. Most people can't tell the difference if you are concerned about the "tin foil nutter" stigma associated with openly using "linux"[1] and other alternatives to Microsoft, Apple, Google, Amazon, etc.

If you want to delve a bit deeper under the hood, you might also consider Replicant:

Replicant

[1]GNU/Linux FAQ - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation

Laws would be great, but I don't see that happening in the US right now so there's nothing wrong with using your own brain to protect yourself and your family.

hth someone

 

[JamesCalifornia]

~ Ever wonder why smartphones have a front facing camera ... ?

 

[DreamerRose]

That's for Facetime or Skype.