Wade4Wireless

Is something always listening to you?


If it is, are you worried about your privacy? Do you really want a device always listening in? Apparently, we do, after all, we paid good money and put it in our homes. I am guilty of this like millions of others. 

We all worry about privacy at some point in our lives. When we were kids, well, younger really, we kept secrets, except to those people we gossiped to. We then had to make our kids believe that a fat guy with a beard delivered all the gifts to all the kids in one night. Then we told those same kids a huge fat bunny came around and hid hard boiled eggs and candy in the house and around the yard. 

When you look at it as I described it above, I sound nuts. Yet, we all celebrate Christmas and East as special holy days. How did we twist it around to a commercially viable sales pitch? You know, as Christians, I had a lot of weird beliefs growing up.

As parents we have to gauge what our kids can and should not hear. We can’t control it in today’s world but we still try. We still keep hushing people so others don’t hear us whisper. Am I right?

Yet, we google crazy things about “how not to pay taxes?” or “how would Tony Soprano handle this situation?”. Am I right? We do it willingly and I am pretty sure we all know Google takes that information and sells it to anyone. They sell it to any advertiser, like HBO, so that they know to target us to stream “Sopranos” episodes. 

Now we ask Siri and Alexa for lots of stuff, from directions to sales in the nearest stores. I am not sure about Siri; I have a lot of trust in Apple based on their values. But Alexa, they’re right there with Google for using that information to sell us anything. I get it, that’s their business. Make me spend every last dime I have. I know the game.

My questions lately include:

  • Do they listen even when we don’t want them to? 
  • Do they sell that information?
  • Who do they sell it to? Advertisers, the federal government, or both. 
  • Who else is using this outside the US? What are they learning about us?

OK, now I have your attention. Where in your home do you have an Alexa? Where do you put your smartphone at night? 

Did you ever make a call then later that day see an ad for something you discussed on the phone? Does that bother you? Maybe you sent something in a text. 

Is Alexa always listening? I hope not. If so, what does Amazon do with that information?

Is Google listening to your Droid calls like when you search on Chrome?

For one, we know Alexa and Siri are always on and listening. All we have to do is call their name to see them light up.

Is this getting creepy yet?

The police are already trying to use Alexa to listen, back in 2023 in Bentonville, Arkansas, police filed a warrant with Amazon to turn on listening in an Alexa. Amazon Echo is the new wiretap, much like any smartphone. In that case, it doesn’t bother me. But these things seem to steamroll out of control. 

Back in 2018 there was a report that said Alexa does not send every conversation to the Cloud, so while it is listening, it only goes out to the cloud when the wake-up work is heard.

Back in 2014 the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) looked into this and supposably the government can only listen in if they have a warrant. How can we be sure?

I guess my point is, if someone wants to listen in and they have the know-how, they could do it. We saw this with laptop cameras, didn’t we? Remember when hackers would remotely turn on a camera and record and listen to what’s going on? I do. The best thing you can do is protect yourself.

First, understand what’s going on. A hacker can gain access to almost anything that is turned on and connected in your home. 

Now, follow these tidbits:

  • Close your laptop when you’re finished. This is the most common way hackers listen in. Close the laptop or turn it off, then they can’t access your camera or microphone. If it’s off or asleep, they can’t do much else.
  • Put Alexa in a spot where you have to speak up to wake her up. She can only record clear conversations.
  • When talking on your smartphone, be aware that someone may be listening in at all times. They don’t care about gossip. There are companies that offer privacy packages, like Clario, that you could use. They are not a sponsor and I have no contact with them except that I like their protection.
  • If you’re searching for something that is private, try using Duck Duck Go to do the search. They promise to keep your searches private. This only works if someone doesn’t have spyware on your laptop.
  • Protect yourself against spyware by making sure you don’t open spam emails or click on dangerous links. Most search engines today, like Google, Chrome, Big, and DuckDuckGo, will alert you if something looks suspicious. 
  • Make sure you get fraud alerts when your credit card detects an anomaly. This can be a pain in the ass, but for the most part, they are trying to protect you. I have a Chase Freedom card and they do a good job of texting me when they see something wrong. I like that more often than I am bothered by it.

So just be careful out there, it’s a crazy digital world. Wear protection, oh, I mean, protect yourself!!  

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