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Your phone isn't secretly listening to you, but the truth is more disturbing

(newatlas.com)
369 points zeech | 2 comments | 26 Apr 25 00:26 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source
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kevinsync ◴[26 Apr 25 16:04 UTC] No.43804799[source]▶
I get all the proximity-based aggregation, and creating graphs of relationships to leak content between personal "algorithms" (dislike that wording but that's the colloquial usage), and tracking between sites + social networks, and all the basic stuff ... but can somebody explain how I immediately get served ads relevant to text typed into (presumably-encrypted) iMessage conversations?

I also have a couple distinct memories of getting served ads for products I've never searched for or never bought before, after I either bought it in a store or, even weirder, literally just picked it up, looked at it, and put it back on the shelf in a store?

I can craft some kind of super-surveillance-state theory as to how you could achieve that, but it feels very unlikely to be deployed at a small CVS lol

Anyways, these might just be coincidences but still perplexing to understand how it's done.

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viraptor ◴[26 Apr 25 16:07 UTC] No.43804826[source]▶
> how I immediately get served ads relevant to text typed into (presumably-encrypted) iMessage conversations?

Are you using a third party keyboard? Or any apps you don't 100% trust if you sent the message from a Mac?

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1. kevinsync ◴[26 Apr 25 16:12 UTC] No.43804878[source]▶
Nope, regular iOS/macOS on all ends. Literally just stock Apple Messages on devices. I just notice sometimes topics will come up (what appears to me to be randomly) and then relevant ads and/or content will appear on Instagram or web.

I guess it's possible that, to me, it appears "organic" (ex. somebody just mentions Taco Bell or whatever) but they had actually been searching on their device, and since our digital proximities are known, the next thing you know I'm Living Más lol

replies(1): >>43804911 #
2. viraptor ◴[26 Apr 25 16:16 UTC] No.43804911[source]▶
If you have specific situations where it's reproducible, you can record your DNS and connections on local network and try again. You can only prove/disprove that with enough experiments.