Just how does that work ??? !!!!!

[gbb]

Just musing really but yesterday we were chatting at work about Eastern Europe (one colleague present is Polish) I was telling them about some youtube videos I'd watched by a guy who calls himself 'bald and bankrupt' I think. He is fluent in Russian and tours a lot of former Soviet states, it's really interesting (if you like that kind of thing)
I havnt watched or searched for anything of his in months, nothing comes up in the random opening page when you open YT....but last night it did ????
I talk about him and a few hours later, his video shows up on the opening randomised page ...bizarre....or is it ?

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

The Russians have bugged your workplace to learn all your secrets.

Or it's just complete coincidence.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

You’ve explained it yourself. It’s random. Except it’s not and occasionally it’ll show stuff related to what you’ve watched before.

 

[CanucksTraveller]

If you have a smartphone or an Echo device (or similar) the microphone can be active, you'll have agreed to it in the Ts and Cs (even if you don't specifically remember it) that Google can collect your preferences and use them to make suggestions. Bit scary isn't it.

To prove it to yourself, say something that you wouldn't normally say out loud a few times, and bingo, you'll be seeing adverts for it on your browser before you know it.

And Bald and Bankrupt is great isn't he, I loved his India journeys!

 

[MontyVeda]

A couple of years ago, a friend's daughter was telling him that she wanted an ornamental rose in a glass sphere... guess what product was being promoted the next time he used his smartphone?

Canucks is right... it's a bit scary!

 

[chriswoody]

I've been suspecting the same thing about the microphone for a while. I've had a couple of occasions when I've been chatting about a shop or business to someone, then upon opening Google maps to check, it's been the first place flagged.

Seriously does anyone know how to change this in the Android phone settings?

 

[dodgy]

If you have a smartphone or an Echo device (or similar) the microphone can be active, you'll have agreed to it in the Ts and Cs (even if you don't specifically remember it) that Google can collect your preferences and use them to make suggestions. Bit scary isn't it.

To prove it to yourself, say something that you wouldn't normally say out loud a few times, and bingo, you'll be seeing adverts for it on your browser before you know it.

Confirmation bias.

 

[CanucksTraveller]

Confirmation bias.

 

[Domus]

Just wait 'till we all get the vaccine, you will just think of a product and boom, it's in your Amazon shopping basket. .
Having my jab on Friday morning, I expect a telepathic message from Bill Gates soon after.

 

[dodgy]

View attachment 571805

You're saying Amazon Alexa listens continuously?

 

[figbat]

You're saying Amazon Alexa listens continuously?

It must, otherwise it would miss the wake word when uttered. Siri the same. I’ve had both of them interrupt conversations without being deliberately addressed.

The question is not whether Alexa, Siri, Cortana or Google just listen, it’s do they process what they hear?

 

[dodgy]

It must, otherwise it would miss the wake word when uttered. Siri the same. I’ve had both of them interrupt conversations without being deliberately addressed.

The question is not whether Alexa, Siri, Cortana or Google just listen, it’s do they process what they hear?

The wake word is effectively a switch. So if you say "I am a terrorist" without adding 'Alexa' or the other wakewords, it won't be heard by Amazon.

 

[figbat]

The wake word is effectively a switch. So if you say "I am a terrorist" without adding 'Alexa' or the other wakewords, it won't be heard by Amazon.

Won’t be heard or won’t be processed? Does it ‘hear’ it but ignore it because it isn’t the wake word? Or, as many would have you believe, does it log it anyway then present you with terrorist-inspired shopping suggestions?

 

[dodgy]

It's a logic process. If wakeword heard, then process following words. If wakeword not heard, do nothing.

Now you might live in a house with 3 children called Alexa, Echo and Computer, in which case it's quite possible you might trigger the wakeword a little too much for your comfort. This subject has been examined by security researchers often, there's no evidence that Amazon (or Apple) are listening to everything and adjusting your advertising to suit. Again, confirmation bias. A bit like you never see that green car you liked, but when you bought one they're everywhere.

 

[dodgy]

Everyone is probably now googling and turning up articles in the MSM, who famously don't understand anything more technical than using a browser.