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Hundreds of smartphone apps are monitoring users through their microphones
(www.the-independent.com)
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Right around the confinement my sister and I were talking about getting some seeds for my mom. Neither of us searched for seeds. From that point we both started to get ads for seeds, many for the ones we had talked about in particular. This thing was so unequivocal that it proved to me that our phones listen. Maybe they don't analyze, but they definitely listen for words actionable for an advertising purposes.
That's why i always forbid access to my microphones by apps. Many AI apps will also remember what you discussed long ago.
OS doesn't need permissions to access hardware