If you suddenly start seeing ads about a particular product or service that you have never searched for but were having conversations about with your friends or family, it isn’t a mere coincidence. Chances are high that your phone was listening to offline conversations to direct hyper-personalized ads to your social media feeds.
As voice assistant technology reaches more people, the instances of phones listening to users will become increasingly common. If certain events made you question whether your phone was secretly listening to you, the answer may be ‘yes.’ This article covers more about this topic so you can become more cautious and take steps to block access to your offline communications.
Does Your Phone Really Listen to Your Private Conversations?
Yes, phones really listen to private conversations. In most cases, users don’t know that their private conversations are being heard, recorded, and shared with third parties to serve targeted ads. To test whether phones really listen to private conversations, NordVPN conducted an experiment involving their three employees. Each was tasked to pick topics none had previously shown any interest in.
After finishing the topic selection, they talked about it for a few minutes. It continued for three days, and they placed their phones on the table within close range. After a few days, they started monitoring their phone ad results to check if ads around their topics were displayed. The experiment results were mixed.
While two employees didn’t see an increase in ads around their chosen topics, one employee was bombarded with personalized ads. His feeds were flooded with Volvo ads, even when he never searched for it before, expressed any interest in this topic, or owned this car. It proved that phones do listen to private conversations.
Data Collected by Your Phone
Google revealed the list of data Google Assistant collects. It includes numerous data points, such as your device location, device name, list of all the installed apps, phone contacts, playlists, events, alarms, tasks, etc. It’s a lot of data that can help any company build a hyper-realistic digital persona.
Google also accepted that its voice assistants collected and shared voice recordings with its contractors. The event came to light after VRT, a Belgian public broadcaster, obtained 1000+ audio clips, of which Google Assistant accidentally captured 153. It raised serious privacy concerns and attracted a severe backlash.
Should You Be Concerned About it?
Most voice assistants collect data to improve user experience and follow the voice-enabled commands to perform a given task, such as playing a song, finding a particular recipe, messaging an individual, etc. You shouldn’t be concerned as long as you’re allowing trusted voice assistants to listen to your voice commands.
However, you can become more cautious if the digital environments show you frequent information about topics you were discussing privately and never wanted anyone else to hear. Always turn off voice assistants like Alexa and Siri to safeguard your privacy when they’re not needed. Alternatively, you can place them in a different room while discussing important topics with your loved ones.
Is it Legal for Phones to Listen to Users’ Private Conversations?
Phones can legally listen to users’ private conversations if they’ve agreed to the app’s terms and conditions. Unfortunately, most people don’t read the terms and conditions before installing any app or using any service because of its complexity and excessive jargon usage.
Voice assistants obtain permission to listen to users’ private conversations as part of their usage terms so their activity cannot be labeled illegal.
Major Cases That Sparked Outrage
There are numerous instances where tech giants attracted severe backlash from users over recording their private conversations. Amazon was accused of violating children’s privacy law after Alexa deceived users and refused to delete the child’s recorded data despite parent’s requests. It led to a hefty penalty of $25 million.
Apple also lost a lawsuit and agreed to pay $95 million in cash after it’s voice assistant Siri was found guilty of violating user’s privacy. It routinely recorded users’ private conversations after they unintentionally activated Siri. These recorded conversations were shared with third parties, breaching user’s privacy rights.
Find Out Whether Your Phone is Secretly Listening to You
You can follow the same experiment NordVPN conducted to test whether their employees’ phones were listening to their conversations. Pick any random topic that isn’t related to your real personality and that you have never searched for. Discuss this topic for the next few days while keeping your phone nearby.
Ensure you don’t search it manually on your device. Keep talking about it with your family or friends, and notice any difference in the type of ads displayed on your feed. If you start seeing ads, videos, or posts related to the topic, then it is a sign that your phone is listening to you.
Disable Microphone Access for Security
One of the easiest ways to prevent your phone from passively listening to your conversations is by disabling your phone’s microphone access for apps. Android users can limit their microphone access by navigating to their phone’s settings. Then select the app > Permissions > Microphone > Select ‘Don’t allow.’ iPhone users can head to their phone’s settings, choose a particular app, and then toggle off ‘Microphone.’
Additional Tips to Prevent Such Privacy Breaches
Besides restricting microphone access from apps like Google Assistant, Siri, Alexa, etc., you can follow additional preventive tips for your safety. Ensure you only install voice assistant apps from official stores, such as the Google Play Store for all Android users and the official Apple App Store for iPhone users. You can also make it a routine to check app permissions frequently.
It will help you identify which apps can hear your conversations via microphone access. Remove microphone access for apps that you think aren’t required. Deleting your Google Voice and Alexa history can also help. Lastly, install reliable VPNs to mask your IP address and encrypt your traffic to enhance privacy.
