{"id":75159,"date":"2026-04-12T15:38:38","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T15:38:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/is-your-phone-listening-to-you\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T15:38:38","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T15:38:38","slug":"is-your-phone-listening-to-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/is-your-phone-listening-to-you\/","title":{"rendered":"Is your phone listening to you?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- ItShrt World News -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"1882483372\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p>A lot of people have had a very creepy experience with their phones. One woman told us, &#8220;Sometimes when I talk about something with my friends, then I&#8217;ll, like, look on TikTok 30 minutes later \u2013 and the same thing will show up.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>One visitor to New York told us, &#8220;We were talking about this trip before we came, and then my Instagram reel was just full of New York content for weeks.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Another woman described talking about trying a type of food with her friends. &#8220;And then the second you open the app, it shows you exactly that,&#8221; she said. &#8220;It&#8217;s a bit strange!&#8221;<\/p>\n<div class=\"embed__float-wrap\">\n<figure class=\"embed embed--type-image is-image embed--float-left embed--size-small\" data-ads=\"{\" extrawordcount=\"\">\n<p>      <span class=\"img embed__content\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/assets1.cbsnewsstatic.com\/hub\/i\/r\/2026\/04\/11\/def21756-18be-48c6-bba5-004be8f4ec82\/thumbnail\/620x465\/04b93ebcb343dad4944ee6e6f92669ea\/phone-eavesdropping-1280.jpg#\" alt=\"phone-eavesdropping-1280.jpg \" height=\"465\" width=\"620\" class=\" lazyload\" srcset=\"https:\/\/assets1.cbsnewsstatic.com\/hub\/i\/r\/2026\/04\/11\/def21756-18be-48c6-bba5-004be8f4ec82\/thumbnail\/620x465\/04b93ebcb343dad4944ee6e6f92669ea\/phone-eavesdropping-1280.jpg 1x, https:\/\/assets1.cbsnewsstatic.com\/hub\/i\/r\/2026\/04\/11\/def21756-18be-48c6-bba5-004be8f4ec82\/thumbnail\/1240x930\/a11b8facce718db85787a5d5c9668964\/phone-eavesdropping-1280.jpg 2x\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/span><figcaption class=\"embed__caption-container\">\n<p>                  <span class=\"embed__caption\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                  <span class=\"embed__credit\"><\/p>\n<p>                CBS News<\/p>\n<p>                          <\/span><br \/>\n              <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>So, is your phone listening to you? &#8220;It is not,&#8221; said Ari Paparo, an ad industry veteran, consultant and author. &#8220;I&#8217;ve been asked about this a million times. And I can guarantee you that your phone is not passively listening to you for advertising purposes.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Paparo has been asked this before. &#8220;Oh, my whole family thinks it&#8217;s true!&#8221; he laughed. <\/p>\n<p>Paparo says that there is no way anyone could process audio from billions of phones. &#8220;Listening to every conversation around the world, and interpreting them and looking for certain words, and then matching them to the ads is impossible,&#8221; he said. <\/p>\n<p>So, why does it <em>seem<\/em> like the phone is listening? First, because advertisers <em>do<\/em> target you with ads tailored to your interests. But they don&#8217;t need to listen to what you <em>say<\/em> to do that. Paparo said, &#8220;They can infer or deduce things about you, like where you live, and your age, and probably what you&#8217;re interested in, based on what&#8217;s websites you went to or what apps you&#8217;ve used. And that whole combination can get pretty precise.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Secondly, because you might live with someone who searched for a product online.<\/p>\n<p>Why did Facebook show me an ad for a carrot peeler, after I told my wife we should get a better peeler? &#8220;Your wife could have looked for a peeler, and then the ad company couldn&#8217;t really tell the difference between her and you, because you&#8217;re using the same internet in the same household,&#8221; Paparo said. &#8220;That happens a lot.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>David Choffnes, a professor of Computer Science at Northeastern University, wanted to test whether your smartphone is spying on you. &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/cbw.sh\/static\/pdf\/pan-pets18.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">We did a study<\/a> with thousands of apps on an Android device, and wanted to see, as you interact with these apps, are they recording your audio and sending it off?<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We didn&#8217;t see any surreptitious recording of information,&#8221; he said. &#8220;But these companies are very good at watching everything you&#8217;re doing online.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>And what you&#8217;re doing in your home. Choffnes has set up a fake apartment filled with online devices \u2013 smart appliances, cameras, smart speakers \u2013 to study how much data they send. &#8220;We try to identify, are they sending data to places we&#8217;re not comfortable with?&#8221; he said. <\/p>\n<p>Now, advertisers do not know who you are; they don&#8217;t have your name or address. But they do know what <em>categories<\/em> you fit into.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>And <a href=\"https:\/\/pro.bloomberglaw.com\/insights\/privacy\/state-privacy-legislation-tracker\/#states-with-comprehensive-data-privacy-laws\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">many states require data collection companies<\/a> to give you your advertising on request. Choffnes, for example, got a copy of his data report, which clocks in at more than 300 pages: &#8220;Just filled wall-to-wall with inferences about me,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>Although it&#8217;s not especially accurate. For example, it says he has an Xbox (&#8220;I do not have an Xbox,&#8221; he said), and that he&#8217;s extremely likely to go on a cruise (&#8220;Which is interesting, &#8217;cause I never want to go on a cruise!&#8221; he laughed).<\/p>\n<p>If you&#8217;d like to minimize the data you&#8217;re feeding advertisers, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cisa.gov\/resources-tools\/training\/limit-your-digital-footprint\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">there are a few steps you can take<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Choffnes also said, &#8220;You can push your lawmakers to come up with laws that are favorable for consumers and not just favorable for the businesses that are collecting data from us.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>And Ari Paparo says your choice of web browser matters, too. &#8220;The Safari browser doesn&#8217;t allow a lot of this,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Advertisers are not big fans of Apple and Safari.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>To confirm, he doesn&#8217;t believe smartphones are eavesdropping: &#8220;I&#8217;m sure the phone is not overhearing you,&#8221; he said. <\/p>\n<p>And he&#8217;s equally sure of something else: &#8220;I&#8217;m positive that no one will believe me!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<br \/>For more info:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<br \/>Story produced by Mark Hudspeth. Editor: Karen Brenner. <\/em><\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<p><strong>See more:<\/strong><\/p>\n<section class=\"content__body--footer\">\n<\/section>\n<p>  <!-- data-recirc-source=\"queryly\" --><\/p>\n<aside class=\"component list recirculation component--type-recirculation  \">\n<p><h3 class=\"component__title\">More from CBS News<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<div class=\"component__item-recirc-block\">\n<p><h3 class=\"component__title\">Go deeper with The Free Press<\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<section class=\"content__body--footer\">\n      <!-- tags --><\/p>\n<section class=\"content__tags\">\n<p class=\"content__tags__label\">In:<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/section><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- ItShrt World News -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"1882483372\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/is-your-phone-listening-to-you\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A lot of people have had a very creepy experience with their phones. One woman told us, &#8220;Sometimes when I<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":75160,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[2755],"class_list":["post-75159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology","tag-smartphone"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Is your phone listening to you? - World News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When ads pop up on your phone for products after you&amp;#039;ve happened to mention them, is it an indication that advertisers are eavesdropping on you? 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