So - I've got a bit of a cold. My ears are all stuffed up and I was having trouble hearing well out of one of them. I was casually bitching about this to a friend who was at my house. He said he had something that helps clear it up (basically just ear drops and a rinse,) and that he would bring it the next time he came over. Cool.
Fast forward a few hours later - I open YouTube, and there's a huge ad that reads, "Pain or pressure in your ear? You may benefit from Eustachian tube balloon dilatation. Click to request an appointment." Like, what the fuck? I've noticed ads about things that I've talked about, but never searched before*,* but I always thought, "well, maybe I searched something similar and just forgot about it," or "maybe my brain is just finding patterns where there really aren't any." This is the first case where I can be absolutely positive that I've never searched for this product, or even anything in relation to this product. It's so odd.
I was bitching about pressure in my ear to a friend in the morning, and in the afternoon there are ads on my computer about relieving ear pressure. So - naturally I was creeped out. I figured the only way this information could've been collected was through my phone, so I went to the privacy settings in my phone, feeling like I'm being a little paranoid and schizophrenic... And viola - click on microphone settings under privacy on my iPhone and the YouTube app has requested access to the microphone, with the setting labelled "allowed." So Google is listening to people's conversations through the microphone on their cell phone? (Presumably, only if you have the YouTube/Google apps installed...) Then they're tailoring adds on Google sites on your PC based on conversations you had in the real world when you didn't know you were being listened to? By clandestinely eavesdropping through your phone microphone, without your knowledge? I'm sure that you implicitly agree to such invasions of privacy by downloading the app - it's probably in the fine print that no one reads. It makes you wonder what other companies are doing the same thing.
Like, that's spooky as fuck, right? Everyone sort of dismisses it, or says they have enough services that mine data.
I would have probably said something similar. Or I would've said that one is more likely to notice an ad about something that they've talked about recently. But:
I have never searched for a solution to this problem before, as I have never had trouble hearing from pressure in my ear before. I mentioned it in an offhand manner to a friend. A few hours later, there are ads for a product that relieves ear pressure on my PC. I've never searched for a product that relieves ear pressure. I've never searched "ear pressure." I've never searched anything related to this. Then - to find a Google product has requested access to my phone microphone - and is the only app to do so except for an app that I use as a guitar tuner... When there's this much smoke, there's probably fire.
As I said, it's happened before - but this is the only time I can be certain that I've never searched for anything remotely similar to this product. It would be as though you were hanging out with a friend and said, "I wish I knew how to play guitar," without having ever thought that you might like to play guitar before. You've never searched "how to play guitar," or typed "best guitars," or anything of the sort. It just occurred to you, maybe it would be cool to learn how to play guitar. And then, a few hours later, you get an ad that says, "Learn to play guitar!"
And upon looking into it, it's not really a big secret. Companies like Alphonso monitor which TV shows you watch by listening through your phone microphone. Apparently, it's a pretty common thing.
https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/smartphone-apps-listening-privacy-alphonso-shazam-advertising-pool-3d-honey-quest-a8139451.html
https://alphonso.tv/for-app-developers/
Here's the company that does it. Now - why would they limit the data collection to just TV shows? It doesn't make sense from a business prospective. They say that it doesn't recognize human conversations - but I mean, I think you'd have to be fairly naive to believe that. As far as I know, there's no regulation or law against collecting information in this manner, as you consent to it by downloading the app (even if you don't know it.) It's not as though Google doesn't have voice recognition software...
Google may have products, but the users are the main product. They sell user information to advertisers - the better, more accurate the information, the more appealing they are to advertisers. It's the same story with Facebook and other social media companies. Everyone is pretty well aware of this. It's the reason that so much of the internet is free.
Just try it: download the YouTube app on your phone, make sure it has access to your microphone and that your privacy settings allow the collection of data, and talk about one topic (that you wouldn't normally talk about) for a little while. Make sure you're signed in to the YouTube app with your account. Then get on YouTube on your PC, keep an eye out for the next couple of days, and before too long you'll find ads for whatever it was that you were talking about, as long as the subject isn't too esoteric. (But make it reasonably esoteric so as to be sure that is probably isn't coincidence, and be sure to talk about something that you haven't searched, etc.)
It seems a little conspiratorial, and I would've probably dismissed it - but I think the chances that Google is doing this is pretty high. It could be a coincidence - but you have to admit, that's a fairly unlikely coincidence. How many ads for relieving ear pressure have you gotten over the past year?...
I'm not knockin' Google. I've got money invested in Google - I hope they do well. But a little bit more transparency on this issue, and issues like these, would be appreciated...
