Could have been FBI, GCHQ, Russians or Chinese spies or local police. More likely, scammers/hackers trying to pick up more info b4 raiding your bank a/c. Take very great care over your security. Change passwords frequently to break bad effects of organisations leaks, all too common.

There is no privacy on phones or internet either wireless or land network. NSA in the states, and several other agencies, are listening with AI for keywords about crime and terrorism, and have been for years now. 99.5% of the population have absolutely nothing to fear from this, although feelings about privacy may be hurt in the sensitive. Go have some fun in the workshop and stop worrying.

Oh, and good morning to Fred and Bob at the NSA!

Not me, I already get a barrage of marketing ads triggered by my internet browsing, don't need more. The alexa / siri devices are just data collection / marketing tools. The less I have to do with AI the better, but it is becoming unavoidable if you interact with companies or government at all. Just my opinion.

Steve,

Have you had the covid vaccine yet? It could have been the tracker that they inject.

Phil H

Mrs B and I came to the conclusion that we were being "listend to" by mobile phones some time ago – too many occurences of being "served" adverts about things we had been talking about for these to be a random occurence.

The price you pay for using Google, Android phone etc.

Nigel B.

Afraid so folks, if you really are up to 'no good', best keep it to sending letters and even hope they are not being opened !

Hi, I dare say it depends on what permissions you have your microphone set too. I only have mine set to a very few things and have not noticed any such bombardment about anything that I talk about, however one of my sisters told me a couple of years ago that she would get ads on her iPhone shortly after talking to someone about certain things.

Regards Nick.

PGK

Having seeded those phrase in an internet communication, should you be worried ? 😳

Dave W

All phone conversations have the capability to be intercepted whether landline or mobile. 30 years ago I worked at a Sattelite earth station and such capability was built in to the infrastructure. Encrochat was recently disrupted implying mobile network surveillance is actively monitored, and a visit to RAF Cosford Air Museum Nimrod R3 will further provide evidence of decommissioned monitoring capability

I was recently viewing the Ikea website on my iMac, and within a few minutes my wife had ads on her iPhone for Ikea which appeared on her Facebook page. Not the first time this had happened. I suspect it is Google using our IP address and cookies. It doesn't happen if I use Firefox.

I'm sure it is dependant upon whether companies are paying Google to pass on the data, which may be why it doesn't happen in all instances.

I agree with Howi, it doesn't particularly bother me either. If I lived in China or North Korea I would worry.

An intriguing question, closely related to Michael's post on adverts appearing on his TV, and maybe sent to other devices on his network.

In times past, technology was brainless. Telephones, TVs, Radios, Fridges, Machine Tools, Cars, Aircraft and Toasters were isolated, and, when needed, getting machines to communicate required costly special interface technology.

Turns out interconnectivity is a valuable feature, the modern equivalent of Whitworth standardising threads. It's not only anti-aircraft systems that benefit from coupling sensors, computers and servos together, it's systems in general. It allows TV viewers to select the programme they want to watch now rather than wait for it to appear on a schedule. Whilst people of my age tend to watch broadcast TV via an aerial, anyone under 50 is likely to be connected to a narrowcast service, and streaming media on demand.

Under the bonnet there's little difference between a Smart Phone and a Smart TV, and pretty much anything with a display, like a DRO, could join the club. As digital technology is standards based, lego-built, it could be cheaper to program a small Smart TV to be a DRO than to design one: most of the functionality is in software. This is why Digital Toaster are appearing; they don't cost much to make, and might be useful.

Communications and compute power are cheap enough to be universally on. Once a washing machine's capability was limited by it's mechanical controller. Today, microcontrollers come with Bluetooth, Wifi and a shower of other smart features built in. New washing machines can be remote controlled, report faults, and cooperate with energy management regimes. Or anything else the designer wants.

Though it leaves me cold, there's much benefit in this to mankind, and the young don't suffer the same culture shock as me because they are immersed in it I desperately read the manual whilst my children just accept it works and press a few buttons. They wonder why I have to make technology difficult by trying to understand it!

A massive downside to all this sharing is devices that previously didn't have security or privacy implications are now riddled with them. No need to agree Terms and Conditions when installing a basic TV because it's too stupid to do anything unwanted. But there's every need to look at the Ts&Cs and configuration settings of a Smart TV, because the thing will initially obey the sellers instructions, possibly detecting speech like Alexa, rather than enforcing your privacy. Several third parties are involved. And, as a Smart TV is a network connected computer, it might be hacked, for example by an outsider turning on the webcam and watching you.

Living in a democracy I'm not too concerned about the state monitoring what I'm up to. Privacy intrusions are much more worrying, because who collects information and what it's used for is almost completely out of control. Private information is bought and sold internationally and it can be collated, cross-referenced, sorted, associated, and analysed in a multitude of ways. Not difficult to identify individuals from supposedly anonymous data-sets. Most data collection is innocuously used to target advertising, but bear in mind organised crime can buy the same data to meet their needs.

No need for paranoia, but cause for concern. I prefer not to be subjected to 'psychoanalytic profiling' by anyone. So I take care to reduce leakage of private information by not sharing it willy-nilly. My computers run on the principle of least privilege (not doing ordinary work as admin, not running Public services, and restricting accounts to only what they need). Settings are altered to refuse cookies, location information, analytics and anything else than can be turned off. Router settings are clamped. I often browse in Private window mode, and I prefer Linux to Windows because it's a harder target and provides more control. I don't share passwords or usernames between different accounts and the passwords are a near random mix of alpha-numerics and punctuation at least 9 characters long. Software is up-to-date and suspicious activity investigated. Ad blocking, website blacklisting, and anti-tracking software is installed. Unfortunately this level of control may not be possible on a Smart device aimed at folk who just expect stuff to work. My BT Router is a bit like that: fairly good, except it doesn't allow access to some of the deeper controls available, probably because customers would mess them up.

A big problem is strong security is a pain to manage and it's so much easier just to unlock everything so people don't have to worry about admin permissions. Most of us rant at minor inconveniences, never read the instructions, and we don't care one jot about security until we step in it!

I haven't felt it's necessary to set up a Virtual Private Network or any of the other elaborate security precautions available, but I think my next TV will have be crimped by Pi-hole, or similar. Technology is double-edged!

Dave