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How to stop your android phone spying on you

Dan Dubeau said:
Don't use maps? Waze is almost a necessity for navigating the GTA.

I envy your level of disconnect. I have a friend like that. Barely even uses email or text. I'll text him a simple yes or no question, and he calls me back with the answer. The only technological thing he uses is a GPS golf app lol. No social media presence and next to no internet usage aside from sports following. Solid guy though. We've been friends since we were four, and if I texted him at 3am and said come over and bring a shovel, he'd call back and ask square or round nose.
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man IDK, his response is a little indiscrete. Any sane person knows just to bring both...
 
wmetfab said:
A few days ago I was on my wife to clean up a bit in the bedroom. She cleared and dusted off her dresser tossed out trash and put things away. We always have a few spare pillows sitting on a chair.

What turns up? An Ikea ad that says "time to de clutter?" A picture of a tall dresser and 3 pillows sitting on a chair never saw an ad like that before.
This happens every day. Most times not a word is spoken orca web search is done. Only a thought
Its freaky as F***k
Anyone else have examples?
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I have so many examples that I no longer try to remember them all. Hence turning off everything I can.
 
Dan Dubeau said:
Don't use maps? Waze is almost a necessity for navigating the GTA.

I envy your level of disconnect. I have a friend like that. Barely even uses email or text. I'll text him a simple yes or no question, and he calls me back with the answer.
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Your friend is my kind of people.
If someone texts me, I call back too. I tell them if your teeth were on fire and you text me I wouldn't even piss on the flames to put them out. They learn fast to use their voice.
 
Ironman said:
Your friend is my kind of people.
If someone texts me, I call back too. I tell them if your teeth were on fire and you text me I wouldn't even piss on the flames to put them out. They learn fast to use their voice.
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just a gentle reminder, some people prefer text because of hearing impairment and shitty cell reception.
 
I'll call if I need to have a conversation, of if something is too annoying to explain via text. I'll text, if that's more appropriate for the topic. They both work fine as methods of communication for me. As someone that is also hard of hearing, and that lives in a spotty cell dead area, sometimes a call is a pain in the ass. Sometimes texting is.
 
TorontoBuilder said:
got a better camera
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Not sure if this isn't part of the problem. Sure we all want the latest and greatest (well not me) but at what price ? Twenty years ago I had a spot outside I would go and stand on so I could have a conversation. Yesterday I had a conversation with a medical specialist, same carrier, 15 minutes and they had to call me back at least a dozen times. Is my phone camera better today, when it's not spying on me, but not as good as my camera, which doesn't spy.
Wife wanted a land line again so we could yak when the power goes out, but it goes out too now.
Oh for a wireless phone that I can just reliable talk on.
 
Dan Dubeau said:
I'll call if I need to have a conversation, of if something is too annoying to explain via text. I'll text, if that's more appropriate for the topic. They both work fine as methods of communication for me. As someone that is also hard of hearing, and that lives in a spotty cell dead area, sometimes a call is a pain in the ass. Sometimes texting is.
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when text is too hard get smarter friends and associates :pjk

that's usually when I say I'll explain when I see you next.
 
TorontoBuilder said:
How to change your phones privacy settings to limit corporate spying on your every word. It seems to me these settings should be off by default, or not even exist

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Thanks for the heads up. I went and checked my phone and I had already done most of it, except deleting my Ad profile. It's gone now.
 
Ironman said:
Your friend is my kind of people.
If someone texts me, I call back too. I tell them if your teeth were on fire and you text me I wouldn't even piss on the flames to put them out. They learn fast to use their voice.
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You sound a lot like my dad. He wouldn't even use a cell phone let alone a smart phone. I bought him a flip phone just for emergencies. He never used it even once.

When he was dying, one of the nurses suggested that he get a smart phone to exercise his brain. I was sitting next to him and immediately realized I was about to be entertained. She tried several different ways to get him to understand. Finally, he looked at her with the straightest face and told her that I was all the mental exercise he could handle. Then suggested she should try talking to me if she wanted to exercise her brain..... The silence was heavy. I reached over and gave her a piece of empty paper and said call me anytime! Dad actually started laughing. He totally got it. Very wise, very sharp old man.

That said, I personally take an entirely different point of view. I am typing all of this on my smart phone. No matter where I am I can access the www for whatever I need. I even use my phone to steer my tractor.

For me, the lowest priority is a letter in the mail - I might read it at the end of the month. Next is an e-mail - I might read them once a week. Middle of the pack is a txt message - I'll usually answer them within an hour but at worst that day. A phone call is the second highest priority and gets answered right away unless I don't recognize the number or I am physically talking to someone. Someone talking to me in person is the most important of all. Within the family (wife kids, grandkids) we communicate almost entirely by txt message. My wife and I were keeping in touch with each other by txt message while I was working before phones had a keyboard. We used T9 - as slow as molasses but a great way to let her know I was thinking of her or going to be late for dinner. Today, it's how I stay in touch with kids, grandkids, and friends. Even a quick Emojii from someone I love will bring a smile to my face and warm my heart.

Yes, I am concerned about privacy issues, but not to the point where I'm gunna let it run my life. If I were someone who was actually important, I might feel differently. As just an ordinary guy, I'd much rather take advantage of the technology to improve my life.

Just my two cents.
 
I spent a lifetime doing physical labour and my hands are large enough that hitting more than one key is a common error on a full size keyboard. Your hands must be the same way, John. The ball of my thumb is a bit over an inch wide, and my daughter is busy twiddling her thumbs over a little virtual keyboard and says Dad, its real easy, you know.
What amazes me is watching these women with claws extending 3/4 inch past their fingertips typing on these things. Gets me some nasty looks for sure.
Privacy, well I grew up with 6 family party lines and privacy was hard to get, and people were offensive when you asked them to get off so you could call a doctor. The moment the phone rang, you could hear them pick up to listen to you but they didn't push ads at you.
Back then, it was a lack of respect that some people had for others. It's the same with phones today, except it is a corporate and political lack of respect.
 
Ironman said:
I spent a lifetime doing physical labour and my hands are large enough that hitting more than one key is a common error on a full size keyboard. Your hands must be the same way, John. The ball of my thumb is a bit over an inch wide, and my daughter is busy twiddling her thumbs over a little virtual keyboard and says Dad, its real easy, you know.
What amazes me is watching these women with claws extending 3/4 inch past their fingertips typing on these things. Gets me some nasty looks for sure.
Privacy, well I grew up with 6 family party lines and privacy was hard to get, and people were offensive when you asked them to get off so you could call a doctor. The moment the phone rang, you could hear them pick up to listen to you but they didn't push ads at you.
Back then, it was a lack of respect that some people had for others. It's the same with phones today, except it is a corporate and political lack of respect.
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Ain't that the truth! Too funny!

We had no phone when I was born. I think they arrived around the same time that electricity did.

But ya, we had party lines too. And a big crank phone on the wall! I have that phone now. It is mostly a cool memory of the past to show my kids and grandkids. I remember my aunts all crowded around that phone listening to the neighbours for all the latest gossip. Everyone knew everyone else was listening. So they all played head games with each other! Phone operators were like internet routers pulling and plugging wires to get the signal off to where ever it needed to go. It was all amazing to listen to all the operators switching lines all across Saskatchewan and Alberta to get through to my uncle in Edmonton.

Ya, my thumbs are bigger than most. My first tiny keyboards were on a palm Centro and a blackberry. Both used a centering algorithm to figure out which key you intended to push. You just pushed 8 keys at once and it knew which one was in the center. My memory of it is that those old keyboards actually worked better than the new ones! I still have a palm Centro and I still use it. It has faster better data access than my android does! My foolish sense of it is that the big Apple/Google war is all about entertainment - analogous to the way football and socker dominate our world's (but not mine). The access to information and analytical tools that I want are all just secondary add ons to the focus on entertainment. Facebook and Instagram are mostly just a way to listen to a neighbour on a party line all playing the same silly games my aunts and neighbours did just on a way bigger scale.

Ya, the more things change, the more they stay the same!
 
Never saw an ad for pants before this came up this AM.
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So who was the ad from? I've been looking for fleece lined jeans but unable to find reasonable ones. Really!

For everyone who has not said a word or typed it, but "thought it" and then gotten an ad moments later... There is another possibility to consider. Namely, that the thought was in your head because the ad was on the way, or even in your device but not yet presented.

Many times especially when I was younger, I had occasional precognition - had a clear image of an event or of a place before the event happened or before I saw the place for the first time. It's possible that this sort of thing is simply more widespread than is admitted. I am a very skeptical person by nature, and did science related work most of my adult life. I admit that I can't think of a good way to test this experimentally, and that most of the people who even have an interest in such things are, let us say, not terribly well grounded? But my own experience, long before the days even of personal computers or the Internet, keeps me from ruling it out.
 
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