My phone is listening...

[Jakey Neverland]

I 100% agree, I have conversations with my sister over the phone and then my next advert on say FB is that of what we have just talked about.

[Bee happy]

I totally agree with this,noticed on a few occasions. Most recently yesterday when we discovered a family member has cancer and needs Chemotherapy, I was told in a phone call,I didn't put this info in any texts or searches. A few hours later a add for private hospital offering Chemotherapy came up 😯

[mumx3]

Originally Posted by Jakey Neverland

I 100% agree, I have conversations with my sister over the phone and then my next advert on say FB is that of what we have just talked about.

See more...

Yes this happened to my cousin, she was on her landline talking about holidays, her phone was on the table. When she went into her FB she was bombarded with ads on the country she had been talking about.

[Jakey Neverland]

Originally Posted by Loulou127

I’ve had something even stranger that I can’t explain away, a couple of weeks ago I read a newspaper article about equity release, I didn’t google it or mention it to DH, the next day I got an email from an equity release company, now that’s really odd 😏😏

See more...

I have this too, I have my webcam covered over on my laptop now as its just so odd. Just as I am tying this I bet the camera on my phone also has the ability to watch me.

[dreamisawish]

Originally Posted by Sue BL

Interesting thought about YouTube. I didn’t watch it directly on my phone, DH used the YouTube app on the TV and the account is in his name, but obviously at the same IP address.
I avoid using Google to search. I use the DuckDuckGo search engine (which doesn’t track you), on the Brave browser which blocks a lot of stuff.
We’ve thought about a VPN and may yet use one. There are some concerns about the security of those .
Facebook are certainly good at aggregating data even when you don’t click on ads! 😁

See more...

I did a lot of research and ended up going with NordVPN. It has very good reviews and doesn’t keep logs of your browsing data (allegedly, but seeing as its a paid service hopefully they wouldn’t need to be selling on browsing data anyway).

Most people who know a lot more then me about internet security recommend them, one do my friends works for banks setting up firewalls, etc, and he uses them.

I was going to add, even though I’m sceptical about devices listening in on you I totally believe they could be watching you! It’s really easy for hackers to gain access to your phone cameras through apps you’ve allowed to use it, or even through malware.

After I saw that Mark Zuckerberg covers his own phone camera with a sticker I also started doing that, front and back. I just move the sticker when I need to take photos. Maybe this is overcautious but I don’t like the idea of being watched and it just makes me feel safer. Maybe the odds of someone bothering with hacking my camera are less then Zuckerberg, but whatever!

[snowbelle]

Yesterday I used St Tropez bronzing cream in my bathroom, its been in the cupboard for ages...My phone was on the side. of the bath. Today up pops ads for St Tropez tanning gel on My laptop and I definately did not google it...Very very unnerving.

[Cocobean121]

This has happened to me more times than I care to think about! Been sitting talking in the house then up pops an advert on Facebook about it. We even talked about something completely random to see if it popped up, and it did!

[Guest]

I'm experimenting by randomly saying 'Sweden' at various points. Never visited, googled, nobody in the house has, we know nobody from Sweden... I'll report back.

[Mr Tom Morrow]

Originally Posted by iLaura

I'm experimenting by randomly saying 'Sweden' at various points. Never visited, googled, nobody in the house has, we know nobody from Sweden... I'll report back.

See more...

Ahh, it could be very subtle though and send you adverts for Ikea!