- You were just talking with your friend
about your upcoming trip to Disney.
- Good morning Disney World.
- Next thing you know,
you see Disney ads
on your social media feed.
Is your Android listening to you
or is it just a coincidence?
- Yes and no, but this feature has been
very concerning for a lot of people
there've have been
news stories about it.
- It's almost like the app
is listening to you conversation.
- Yeah, so it is true that some apps
do have access to your microphone
because you gave them access
to use your microphone.
And it makes sense for apps like Zoom,
where you need to talk to people.
So they need to have
your microphone access.
But for some other apps,
it doesn't make a ton of sense
to have a microphone access.
It's also true
that your virtual assistants
like Google assistant or Alexa
are also listening to you all the time
waiting for those trigger words.
But that doesn't mean they're recording
all of your conversations.
- But are they using it to build
some sort of a marketing profile
about you?
They wouldn't be doing that, right?
- Yes, they absolutely are
Google and Amazon both do.
- So they're listening to what I say
when I ask for something,
and then they're gonna build
a marketing profile based on
the keywords that they hear
in my speech.
- Yes.
- Well, at least they're perfect,
right David?
- They're not.
- They're never make mistakes.
- That's the thing
they're always supposed to listen
for these trigger words
and then activate
when they hear those trigger words.
But sometimes they get set off
accidentally or there's
some sort of software issue
and then it starts actually
recording some of your conversations.
And then sending that off
to Google and Amazon.
- Have you ever been watching a TV show
and all of a sudden somebody says Alexa,
and then all of a sudden
it's recording what the TV show says.
What a brilliant way for them
to know who's watching that TV show.
I'm just saying.
- It's also interesting,
you know, for Alexa,
you can change it to computer or echo.
I wonder if you're watching
"Star Trek," for example,
and they say computer
over and over again, if that might
accidentally trigger your Alexa.
- Okay nerd.
- Yeah.
- I wonder if you're watching "Star Trek."
I fricking love "Star Trek."
Let's just be honest about that.
- But the truth is
that big tech companies don't need
to be tapping your microphone
and listening to you all the time
to start delivering you targeted ads,
because they already have
so many ways to track you.
And they have built this massive
advertising profile about you.
- They aren't all the time truth,
but they don't have to.
And most people aren't aware
of all the ways
that they can track you.
In fact, I wouldn't even say
that we're aware of all the ways
that you can be tracked
because it's a black box.
- Well, we learned about one recently
with accelerometers that was
kind of, you know,
mind blowing to us
because accelerometers are something
that we don't even have control over.
We can't restrict accelerometer access.
- Right, so accelerometers
what's tracking the movements
of your phone, very subtle movements.
So David I've turned off
a bunch of settings on my phone
so I think I'm super safe.
And then I get on a bus
to New York city.
Then what happens?
- Well, if you are sitting
next to someone on a bus...
- David.
- They can see that the accelerometers
are moving in the same direction
at the same speed
and they can connect your phones that way.
It's really cool.
So it's also frightening.
- Yeah so just the little subtle bumps
of the bus ride.
They're gonna be able to match that up
with the bumps of your phone.
The wheels on the bus go round and round
and your marketing profile gets built.
- Yes, so I think
the big misconception here
about, you know, tapping microphones
to deliver targeted ads is just that
they already have enough information
about you and it comes down
to something called frequency illusion.
I'm gonna read what it is instead
of trying to define it.
After noticing something
for the first time,
there's a tendency to notice it
more often, leading someone to believe
that it is has a high frequency
of occurrence.
Put plainly the frequency illusion
is when a concept or thing
you just found out about
suddenly seems to crop up everywhere.
So let's transition to some tips
to cut down on the amount of data
these advertisers can collect about you.
So we're gonna open the settings app,
swipe down upper right-hand corner
of the screen, tap that settings gear.
Let's go down and tap on privacy,
then tap permission manager.
So, let's talk about microphone
right off the bat.
These are the apps
that can access your microphone.
I think the one to be concerned about
is allowed all the time.
- Yeah, that's the one
to be most concerned about anyway,
but all of the apps that you see
in this list allowed well in use
could be recording you
whenever you're using them,
which could be kinda scary.
Google.
- Google, Facebook, Amazon.
I mean Facebook, for example,
if I'm not uploading videos of myself
I don't think I really need Facebook
to access my microphone.
- Right, If only there was a way
that it could just ask every time.
- Oh, well you could tap on Facebook
and then ask every time.
- Boom, much safer setting.
- The one to be more concerned about
is allowed all the time
I actually went through
and I couldn't find any apps that asked
for microphone access all the time.
So that was...
- And if you do like drop a comment below,
let us know which apps.
- Yes, so let's step back
to permission manager one more time
and we are going to tap on location.
So as we mentioned location,
your location can be used to build
these massive advertising
profiles about you.
There was one story where this woman,
she started seeing her boyfriend's ads
because the advertisers were able
to connect to their phones because
they were together so often.
- And it gets really specific.
If a hospital
is trying to recruit nurses,
they might target the parking lot
of another hospital and then target
all those nurses for job ads.
Now, if you're a nurse
you might actually get a better deal.
So maybe, but really it's kinda scary
how much they know about us.
- So right now Amazon Shopping
has access to my location all the time
even when I'm not using it.
- Well, how else are they gonna sell you
things that you wanna buy?
- Yes, so let's tap on Amazon Shopping
and again, maybe ask every time.
- Well I mean, ask every time is like,
I'm gonna put on my detective hat
and see when it's asking my location.
And then you can sort of get an idea
of what it's using it for.
- So let's tap ask every time.
- Or just don't allow it, up to you.
- Or just don't allow it, you know.
Google, do you want Google
to have access to your location
all the time or do you want it to
only while using the app,
If you deny this permission,
basic features of your device
may no longer function as intended.
- Oh it's very scary.
They're trying to scare you
into leaving it on.
- Yeah, so we're gonna leave it on.
Cause we have to talk about
another Google location setting.
Let's tap back to the main privacy page.
Let's scroll down to Google location history.
This saves an account
of everywhere you've been all the time.
Even when you're not using Google apps.
- You're gonna see a lot of features
on your phone, like personalized experiences
and recommendations just for you.
But the way that works is Google
has the biggest ad network in the world.
And they're just gonna sell
advertisers your attention,
which is what ads are.
They're selling your attention
based on where you are.
- So for me personally,
I would turn this off
and it's tapping that turn off button.
If you wanna leave this feature on,
we recommend tapping auto delete
and then auto delete activity
three, 18 or 36 months.
I think the 36 months one
is just kind of ridiculous.
- Ridiculous.
- I would select three months there
if you wanna leave this setting on.
But if you just wanna
turn it off altogether,
tap that turn off button,
scroll, tap pause.
- I like how it pause.
It's not just like,
you know, just disable
They're like, you'll be back.
- You'll be back yeah.
- You'll be back.
- Got it.
Let's tap back again
to the main privacy page in settings.
Next we're gonna tap on ads,
ads personalization.
Turn the switch on to opt
out of ads personalization.
You'll still see ads,
but they may not be based
on your interests.
- You might see ads for Disney.
If you're on a Disney website,
but you won't see ads for Disney
on a car battery website.
- We're gonna tap okay.
It also says you might
not see fewer ads.
That's the claim that Apple makes
you won't see fewer ads,
but that might not necessarily be true.
If you can really restrict all the ways
that advertisers collect information
about you, you might see fewer ads.
- Right, you become less valuable
as a product and companies will not bid
as much to show you an ad.
- Next, we're gonna go back
to the main page of the settings app
and scroll down to apps
and tap that three dots,
upper right-hand corner of the screen.
Then tap special access.
It's really buried down here.
Usage data access, tap on that.
- I mean, how many levels
do they have to hide this in?
- So let's just pick
on Bixby Voice for example,
allow apps to monitor which other apps
you use and how often
and identify our service provider,
language settings and other usage data.
- Apps can monitor every other app
and see everything you're doing.
- I think for pretty much every app
you're gonna wanna just go ahead
and turn that off.
- Yeah, I like how they put other
usage data at the end.
- Yeah.
- It's kinda like, and everything else.
- If you just go back
and then just look through
all this list of apps.
You got a long list here.
Google's already not allowed,
but just go through,
I think 99% of the time
the answer is gonna be, turn it off.
And then if you'd find yourself
in a situation where you actually do
want it on, just come back here.
If you can find it.
- If it's fuzzy to you,
if you don't understand specifically
how Android System Intelligence
needs usage data access maybe try
turn it off for awhile.
- Next we're gonna talk about specific apps,
how they collect information about you.
So let's go to the home screen
and we're gonna start in Chrome.
Tap Chrome, tap those three dots,
upper right-hand corner of the screen.
Then tap settings,
scroll down to privacy and security.
Tap on that and then tap
do not track, turn this on.
- Yeah, this is where people get
a little bit frustrated sometimes
because we now have to go
into specific apps
that you use frequently
and turn more settings off
because there isn't
an enabled privacy feature
on your phone.
And if you wanna stay in touch with us
about these new sort of security holes
that pop up,
consider joining our channel
because we are always making new videos.
And we'd love to hear about the problems
that you have with your phone.
- It can also be frustrating too,
cause sometimes after software updates,
everything gets reset.
- Yeah, exactly.
- Some things get
turned back on somehow.
- And then they move it around.
- Yeah.
- So it's not in the same place.
- Let's go back to the home screen.
I'm gonna swipe left to right,
to get some of my apps here.
Facebook, that's a big one.
Tap on Facebook and then tap
on the hamburger menu.
Three horizontal lines, scroll down,
tap settings and privacy.
Then tap settings, then scroll down.
It's a maze, to permission section
tap on ad preferences okay.
Then tap ad settings,
and then tap data about
your activity from...
(laughs)
Personalized ads based on your activity
and other websites, tap on that.
- I actually haven't seen this before.
David did the research on this.
- Yeah, it's really deep.
So choose where we can use data
from our partners to show you
personalized ads,
Facebook and Instagram.
- So it's just gonna link
all of your accounts together
so that they can track you.
- Yes, I'm gonna turn both
of these switches off.
There we go now next up,
how about Twitter?
Tap on your account icon
upper left-hand corner of the screen.
Then tap settings and privacy.
Scroll down to privacy and safety.
Then scroll down to ad preferences,
personalized ads.
This feature is not available
because you've opted out
of personalized ads.
So you wanna turn this switch off.
So let's go back to the home screen.
How about Snapchat?
Another big one.
- Totally secure.
- Yep, tap on your account icon
upper left-hand corner of the screen.
Tap on the settings gear
upper right-hand corner of the screen.
Scroll down and tap on ads and preferences.
Here we go, ad preferences,
audience-based, activity-based,
third party ad networks.
- Yeah, so third party ad networks
of just whoever the heck they want to,
will be able to target you based
on personal information.
They're still gonna see, yeah.
I mean, it's not like you can turn off ads
but you can turn off some of the tracking.
- Disable, disable, disable.
- I mean, who's gonna read that?
- Nobody, well they're not counting
on you going to this section
of the Snapchat settings
and turning off these switches.
How about another app?
How about Amazon?
- Amazon's totally secure.
They would never do anything
to track us.
- Tap at your account icon
bottom of the screen
and then tap on your account icon,
upper right-hand corner of the screen.
- Just kind of a...
- Tap on, go to your account.
Then scroll down to app preferences
down there you'll see
advertising preferences.
Tap on that.
Show me interest based ads provided
by Amazon do not show me
interest based ads provided by Amazon.
Tap that switch turn it off.
This can also be really good
for your bank account.
- Yes.
- You know, Amazon has a lot
of information about you.
They are very good at targeting
and finding things you want to buy.
One thing that's interesting
about Amazon too,
is that it can learn from your patterns.
So if you buy cat food every two weeks,
don't be surprised that,
you know, 14 days go by
you start seeing those cats food
ads all over the place.
So let's tap submit.
There you go.
One more app we're gonna talk about
is TikTok, but guess what?
You can not turn off personalized ads
on TikTok in the US
in the European Union
where we have GDPR,
you can turn it off but
we're here in New York.
- And isn't it true that you used
to be able to.
- Used to be able to
and they turned this feature off.
- They're were like, you know what?
We don't have to be giving Americans
the right to turn off this feature.
So we're just gonna put it on
for all of them.
- We hope this video helped you learn.
Is your Android listening to you
and really cut down the amount
of data that these advertising companies
can collect about you.
It's a long one, it's a lot of work,
but it's worth it
for your personal privacy.
- And there's really
Ano perfect solution.
- Right.
- But this is a lot better.
- This is about as good as you can do.
Thanks for watching.
Please hit that subscribe button
down low, down below.
- Yeah, the down the DL.
- For more great videos like this.
- Whenever you wi...
We probably did.
I wonder if on "Star Trek,"
they were building marketing profiles
of their crew of the enterprise.
Enabled privacy mode feature
or something on your phone.