On this new episode of Techwise, Brad Huddleston talks about the fact that smartphones are everywhere and listening to us without our knowledge. This issue of digital surveillance has become even more obvious now with voice assistants like Siri and Hey Google. These tools show how powerful artificial intelligence is. It lets us use voice commands to get information instantly from anywhere in the world.
‘It might be time to check your phone settings,’ says Brad. ‘See which apps can access your phone’s microphone and disable all of them. Becasue there’s no doubt other apps are listening too.’
However, privacy concerns go beyond just voice assistants. Many apps now use similar listening technology. A company called Alfonzo uses software that can detect sounds from TV commercials to figure out what you’re watching. They then sell this information to advertisers. Right now, about 1,000 games and 250 apps on Google Play use Alfonzo’s technology.
The Issue of Digital Surveillance
‘You can do an internet search,’ says Brad, ‘that will tell you how to find out which apps are using your camera or microphone.’
For Apple users, it can be harder to find these apps because the App Store limits searches for certain terms related to Alfonzo. This makes it difficult for the average person to know which apps are using their microphone without permission.
‘The only way to be 100% sure your phone isn’t snooping on you is to turn it off and store it in a soundproof box,’ says Brad. And while this may sound extreme, it highlights how serious the issue of digital surveillance has become.
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