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I still don’t think companies serve you ads based on spying through your microphone (simonwillison.net)

submitted 5 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Not my title! I do think we are being listened to. And location tracked. And it's being passed on to advertisers. Is it apple though? Probably not is my take away from this article, but I don't trust plenty of others, and apple still does

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

Your age group, sex, location, profession/industry, income estimation - you can assume they have this data.

That + a few data points that could be tracked by apps or websites:

Searched online for symptoms
Searched for doctors
Called the clinic to schedule an appointment
GPS to the clinic
Connected to the clinic's WiFi
Doctor is a specialist in X

Cross some of that, personal info, and ads of treatments for conditions of X.

They don't need to listen to your mic.

That said, if it's a fairly common condition, it might be the case you were presented the ad before and never noticed it.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 days ago

None of those data points apply. It was nothing I had searched for or spoken to anyone until I saw the doctor that day and the Instagram ad was present by the time I had driven home, specifically mentioning the clinical term mentioned by the doctor.

It wasn't even the stated reason for my visit, it was an afterthought at the end of the appointment... "Oh yeah, as long as I'm here, what is this...?"