What You Say to Google Assistant and Alexa (but Not Siri) Gets Used for Ad Targeting.

[usonian]

Big surprise. NOT


https://www.consumerreports.org/electronics/digital-assistants/voice-assistants-and-ad-targeting-a1098726954/

Voice assistants can profile you based on your interactions, a new study finds

By Kaveh Waddell
September 9, 2023

According to a new study from Northeastern University in Boston, which found evidence that Google and Amazon—but not Apple—use your voice interactions to draw conclusions about you. Based on what you say to the devices, Google infers things like your marital status and homeowner status, while Amazon notes products you may be interested in.

The data gathered from voice assistants are just one more way that Google and Amazon collect information on their users, supplementing the data they glean from what people do on their phones and laptops.

These details are valuable to marketers, who pay for the privilege of using the companies’ wide-reaching ad platforms to target people they think are most likely to buy their products. This means your requests to Alexa or Google Assistant can influence the ads you’ll see online.

Your requests can also change how Google Assistant responds to you later, Northeastern found.

Google usually assigned the tags the researchers expected, but not always.
Amazon only seems to profile users based on shopping actions.
Siri, for its part, didn’t appear to connect any tags directly to users at all.

Of the three assistants in the study, Google was the only one that changed its answers based on a user’s persona.

These are in addition to any other profiles that might be gotten from browsing etc.

The article has instructions on how to opt out of targeted advertising at the three.

[mahina]

1. Yep. This just in.

[Think. Again.]

2. I would assume...

...that it isn't only what you say TO these devices, but everything that is said in the room while the 'listening' mode of the device is activated.

In other words, if you say 'hey google'... to ask the device to play music, but then you argue with your partner about the music (or have any other conversation) the bits of information the device picks up during your argument are included in the data used to target ads to you, and most likely stored with your identifying info and location/date/time/etc stamps.

[usonian]

4. "They" say they don't listen to your conversations until you say the magic words.

But one or more in the past were caught listening to conversations to train the voice assistants.

I forgot which ones, but it was a scandal at the time.

They just do what they like and apologize later if caught.

Grrrrrr.

[Think. Again.]

5. Yes...

...but as soon as you do say the magic words, it listens to everything.

[usonian]

9. I never learned what to say to make it stop listening.

Maybe it never stops? I avoid all this stuff. I get security bulletins in Hacker News ( which is meant to be hacker as in creator, white hat only.) It's moderated. https://news.ycombinator.com/newest

[Think. Again.]

11. That's a great question...

...after turning on the listening program with the magic words, at what point DOES google stop listening and recording all the sounds in your house?

[Earth-shine]

3. Usually, after "Hey Google" it will hear one of these from me.

Hey Google. Google? Why don't you work?

Hey Google. Damn. I need a reboot. Damn. Still doesn't work!

Hey Googe. Oh look. Now, it's working. But, I forgot what I wanted to ask.

Good luck using my vocals for marketing inspiration.

[Think. Again.]

6. Okay...

...but don't be surprised when you start seeing ads for geriatric products!

[Kaleva]

7. Remember the giant purple dildo ads here that some said they saw?

[usonian]

8. I don't remember that but I snap front pages from tabloids.

Discuss among yourselves, and Google. Flying dildos, anyone!

I didn't buy the tabloid ( I never do. ) so it's a mystery.

[brooklynite]

10. I don't use any digital assistants...but neither do I obsess about personal data being collected.

It's been collected for years (and everyone here has agreed to provide it if you're using an Android phone, Google Maps, etc.) and I'm going to get ads pushed to me anyone, so they might be relevant.