Have you ever talked about an activity or an object and less than an hour later you see advertisements on your phone about that very object? Well, you’re not alone, nearly half of all Americans who own a smartphone believe their phone is spying on them, could their suspicions be true?
“One time I was watching “Guardians of the Galaxy” and no less 10 minutes later, my dad got an Amazon recommendation for a Groot T-shirt,” said Aditi Sivakumar, a junior at Skyline High School.
We are just around the corner from the holiday season; advertisements and catalogs will arrive in mailboxes, and online ads about deals will pop up on everyone’s phones. With this, it might feel like online advertising is specifically tailored to your interests.
Turns out there are various parts of your phone that could be “spying on you”. The apps on your phone sometimes require you to give them access to browser history, location, photos and many other things, claiming that these are important for the app’s function, but some apps may use these things for advertising purposes.
“You should check the settings on your phone and, in particular, check the microphone settings and which apps would have access to your microphone,” states Lorrie Cranor, director of Cylab security and privacy at Carnegie Mellon University.
Smartphones also collect data from mobile advertising, browser history, and app usage to create targeted ads. Many people worry that their information might be sold to third party companies, which is a valid concern.
One important thing to protect personal information would be to regulate app permissions on your phone and always remember that most things on the internet are public, so be mindful of what you are posting and doing on the web. Be mindful of what you are doing around your phone, because companies might just be using your information for their financial benefit.
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