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Walls Have Ears

Originally a gross exaggeration, this idiom has taken on a nearly-literal meaning.

The Parable of a Rude Guest (marginalia.nu)

A fellow Gemini user posted about the absurdity of the Web. They equated the web with a rude guest who eats all the food, replaces your paintings with ads, and wrecks your house.

I did notice almost a decade ago that the ads I saw had to do with my earlier conversations. Mention an author, and Amazon shows you some books later that day. Mention a candy bar, and there it is on youtube.

A scary story from 2015

My partner and I visited the city we lived in when our kids were little. We don't normally use facebook, but made an exception to find some old acquaintances.

One evening my partner went out with one of her 'mom friends'. She did not even bring her phone (her friend did). At one point the conversation turned to the friend's old boyfriend from 10 years earlier (let's call him Joe for convenience).

Later that evening my partner looked on Facebook, and lo and behold, she had a suggestion to friend Joe!

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So, 7 years ago, facebook was capable of:

Listening in on the converation from the friend's phone;
Determining who the friend was talking to (my partner);
Finding her account on facebook;
Figuring out that Joe was known by both;
Finding Joe's account on facebook;
Having the balls to blow their cover and suggest Joe as a potential friend (most people would find it cool, I guess).

Freightening!

And that was 7 years ago. I imagine they only got better at it since.

When there is a cell phone within shouting range, I try not to have a serious conversation. It is nearly impossible (there are more pressing problems to deal with, generally). I also have two Alexa devices (grudgingly obtained in order to better our parents' lives), and a couple of TVs with remotes that are apparently capable of listening in. We are doomed.