Is your phone listening to everything you say? It’s complicated
Linda recently called my national radio show with a question that flooded my inbox. Clearly, a lot of you have experienced a similarly eerie moment.
"I was shopping yesterday at Walmart, looking at kitchen knives. I called my friend and told her where I was in the store. I didn’t buy the knives. Today, I received an email advertising the very knives I was looking at! How did that happen? I never looked knives up online."
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I hear you: "Kim, her phone was listening!" The answer isn’t that simple, but I can explain what’s really going on.
Your digital trail
Even if Linda never searched online for knives, her smartphone was busy collecting data. Your phone tracks your location, not just through GPS but also Wi-Fi and Bluetooth signals.
If you’ve connected to a store’s Wi-Fi or walked in with Bluetooth on, Walmart and other retailers can track your movements. They know where you’re standing in the store. They also know you didn’t buy the knives.
Retailers sell this data to ad networks that then work with data brokers to get your email address. Bingo. Linda got an email from the knife company. I bet she starts seeing ads for knives and related items online, too.
But wait, there’s more
Facebook, Instagram, Google and weather apps track your location, even when running in the background. If you’ve granted them location access, they know where you are and later use that data to serve you ads.
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Throw AI into the mix
Odds are, Linda is now going to get email pitches and see ads on social media for new cutlery, charcuterie boards and cooking classes. This is how AI-driven advertising works. It takes one interest (kitchen knives) and expands it into related categories.
How to protect your privacy
There’s a lot you can’t control in this whole tracking mess. That makes it even more important to do what you can.
Erase your digital breadcrumbs
Don’t stay logged into Google, Facebook, Amazon, etc., while you’re shopping. The easiest way is to open a new incognito or private window that’s separate from the accounts you’re signed into.
Here’s how to start your browser in Incognito mode by default:
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I recommend you regularly clear cookies on your phone, too. If you’ve never done that, here are the steps.
Manage location tracking
Adjust your ad settings
Review app permissions
It’s a creepy feeling when this sort of thing happens. Remember, this combination of retailers, advertisers and data brokers is trying to get you to spend a buck.
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