My latest in PJ Media:
A woman who uses the apt TikTok handle @my.data.not.yours has posted a video detailing the truly shocking extent of Amazon’s surveillance of her daily life. She requested “all the data Amazon has on me,” explaining, “I have two Dots and one Echo.” Between them, these devices have collected an astonishing amount of data. She goes through the folders Amazon sent her and says of one audio folder,: “There are 3,534 short audio clips in this file alone.” This is, she says, “so scary.” Yeah.
The problem isn’t that any of the audio clips contain some kind of compromising information. What they contain is trivial, as she notes of one of them, “This one is of me turning on a light.” However, she continues, “I then clicked on Contacts and it turns out they have a full list of my contacts from my phone and I never remember syncing that.” Also, “The very last thing that I didn’t know that they had, I could have assumed that they have but I don’t love that they have, is my location.” She adds, “I’m not totally comfortable with everything they have.”
She shouldn’t be. In 1984, the citizens of the totalitarian dystopia Oceania are required to have a telescreen in their homes, and can never shut it off. Not only does it blare the regime’s lies and agitprop at them twenty-four hours a day, but it can and does listen in on them, without anyone ever knowing exactly when they’re being listened to.
The hapless proles of Oceania had no other choice but to allow this surveillance; Orwell would be aghast to see modern-day Americans not only willingly inviting surveillance of their daily activities but happily paying for the devices that enable it.
Many of the viewers of the video, however, found it difficult to see why it would be “so scary” that Amazon would have thousands of recordings of people turning on light bulbs and asking Alexa to play some Tony Bennett. According to the New York Post, one commenter thought the TikToker was making a mountain out of a molehill: “It’s scary that people with Echo Dots and Alexa’s etc [sic] don’t know that Amazon records you and keeps the recordings.” Another added, “Can someone explain to me why this is ‘scary’? I’m not interesting enough to care if they have my contacts or audio.”
Sure. The telescreen operators in 1984 no doubt collected oceans of utterly trivial and uninteresting data as well. Then it was someone else’s job to wade through it all in order to discover anyone who may have dared to utter anti-regime sentiments. Once the mechanism for surveillance is in place, what is there to prevent it from being used by the unscrupulous for nefarious purposes?
There is more. Read the rest here.
mortimer says
This sort of surveillance allows Big Brother to have Big Control of every citizen … or should I say ‘subject’? Once they have everything, resistance is futile. They can get at you from all your contacts or restrict you from buying your favorite products. They can cut off your credit. They can stop you from traveling. They can tell people not to visit you or phone you … or else.
Once Big Tech, Big Money and Big Government combine (as the Biden administration has done), it is only a matter of time before all the people will be unwilling pawns and minions in their game … just as in communist China today.
Turning America into a carbon copy of the People’s Republic of China appears to be the plan of Big Tech.
revereridesagain says
+1
And it’s working. It’s “too convenient” to give up, and the danger is not readily apparent to those who use it.
gravenimage says
The Telescreens in Your Home Are Watching Your Every Move
…………..
Very concerning.
bill says
Gravenimage. If your TV is watching you, just disconnect it, It is not rocket science. Apart from anything else those little red lights use electricity, not much but still a waste of energy
Infidel says
Bill
To this day, I’ve deliberately not bought a TV: I view everything on this Linux laptop on Rumble or YouTube via my browser. Similarly, I don’t have Echo or Dot or anything from Amazon. For books, I use Nook rather than Kindle. I avoid Amazon to the greatest extent that I can
Similarly, see my other post for how I use my new Chromebook and iPhone
gravenimage says
bill, I meant this is concerning if it is happening; not that I am unable to unplug (or throw out) my TV.
Eleanor says
I read somewhere recently about a woman who was discussing the purchase of something for her home – I think it was an automatic garage door, or something quite random like that. She was amazed that in a few minutes up popped an advertisement for automatic garage doors on her mobile phone. She definitely hadn’t done a search. She was stunned, as you would be, and thought it could not possibly be just a coincidence. I’m a luddite when it comes to techy stuff but this is darn scary.
somehistory says
I have had that so many times. Talking to my daughter about something we need…even to detergent or toothpaste and the next ad or the next email will be for the thing we discussed.
I have turned off the mic for my computer because of that happening. It means they can hear everything…not just about us needing some product.
tgusa says
“My computers have tape over the camera lenses.”
You are not alone. That is prevalent in the work place and in the home. It is best to disconnect any cameras and be wary of any device that has one installed unless you can physically disable it… And still…
Infidel says
In India, some years ago, a computer vendor that I was dealing w/ for my employer told me that a lot of companies just take a pair of scissors and snip off the connector b/w the camera and the motherboard. That guarantees it
somehistory says
New appliances….range, refrigerator, etc. …have cameras and mics. we are surrounded unless we are only able to use/buy older models of these things…before they were loaded by snoops.
gravenimage says
Infidel, my husband and I both use Zoom in our work–so not an option for us.
tgusa says
Infidel,
If you absolutely have to have a camera for your pc or laptop get an external usb connected one that you can just unplug when you don’t need it. If you have an onboard camera you can uninstall the camera driver but still I wouldn’t put it past these spy monsters to have a secondary backup that is hidden from the user. I’m sure I am just stating stuff that you are already aware of.
I deliberately bought a tv that has no camera or microphone. I have a pc connected to the tv though hdmi with an unplugable camera attached to the pc.
tgusa says
I worked for a pharma company that had many secrets they wanted to protect. I told them, you do realize that all your computers are manufactured by the Chinese don’t you? When I first started I realized that anyone could plug in a usb data storage device and copy whatever they want to the device. A little while later they came to me and said they had set up security to detect any external device when it was connected. I checked it out and I told them, so you think you have taken proper security measures. Oh yeah? Watch this, I just disconnected the computer from the network, unplugged any hard wire, and plugged in an external hard drive. They were stunned and stood there with their mouths wide open.
Infidel says
tgusa
I doubt that any laptop is available these days w/o a camera. If one has bought a desktop, however…
tgusa says
Yeah you are right about laptops. I like my desktop because I have four dvd/bdrom drives installed so I don’t have to get up and change discs very often.
gravenimage says
Thanks for that information, tgusa.
An anecdote–I am seeing a doctor who has been working from home for over the past year. When I first started seeing her, I was unused to Zoom (actually a dedicated system with the medical network, but same idea).
So I did a “dry run” with the code number she gave me, so I would know what to do when it was time for our appointment and I realised that the code activated her camera–I was watching her use her laptop for something unrelated to me.
As soon as I realized what was going on I shut down the “session”. But it disturbed me that if I was interested and had no scruples that I could spy on her and she would peobably never know about it.
Hank says
It would have been interesting if she tried to talk about Allah and Mr Mohamed and see if the Quran pops up for sale.
Infidel says
Hank
Sometimes, on YouTube, when I’ve watched a political discussion about islamic threats or violence, like the one in Bangladesh 2 weeks ago, I get an ad for some muslim charity or islamic cause. I’ve tried flagging those ads as inappropriate, but keep getting them
gravenimage says
I’ve had this happen, too, Infidel. Worst of all are ads for looking for Muslim mates. Ick factor and quite chilling.
Westman says
What dictatorial power ever believed it was evil? Before being Aphabet Dupe, Google had the motto, “Don’t be evil.”
With its hands in every pie, scraping off everyone’s information, influencing the winners and losers of elections, peering out through its Android system, and controlling the input and output of YouTube, evil will be committed because it has absolute power. And absolute power corrupts, even nerds, absolutely.
The Tech giants + social media have more power than the government. It is sinister joke, not even in good taste, to think that, Standard Oil, the first monopoly to broken up, ever approached the power of these giants.
Our corrupt Congress, who accept donations from people and corporations outside the state they represent, are in bed with those giants and afraid, in a world without term limits, that their accumulation of fortunes and power will be disrupted if they make any real legislation to reign them in or to collect taxes on offshored profits.
Putin (Russia) is laughing at the US and its excessive liberal rejection of religion, tearing down of historical foundation, and conversion to wokeness. He said Russia has already been there after 1917 and it is a failure. It seems youth only learns by experience, even though the truth is close at hand,
Infidel says
So USA will become USSA, or Union of Socialist States of America? Maybe it’s time for 2 countries – Red America to remain USA, w/ capital maybe in Wichita, KS, while Blue America can become USSA, w/ capital remaining in DC, or maybe even NYC. Merge Blue America w/ Liberal Canada, and Red America w/ Conservative Canada. Trump can be the president of the Red nation, while Trudeau can be the Prime Minister of the Blue one, and Harry & Meghan can be the King and Queen of this nation. They won’t have to belabor Joe or Kamala: they’ll have Trudeau, who can include AOC and Tlaib in his cabinet
Infidel says
There’s this rap hit by Tom McDonald called ‘Brainwashed’, where one of lyrics in that song goes:
I’m not into rap, but after hearing his song on Michael Knowles, I added it to my library
tgusa says
I don’t understand. Before computers, before the internet and all the devices we have today, when there was only Ma Bell, most thinking Americans knew that their conversations could and might be monitored. In the beginning I thought that personal computers would open up a whole new world for the exchange of ideas and information but somewhere along the way they became instruments for spying on anything and everything people do. The future hasn’t turned out like it was described to us way back then. Many older tech people don’t do facebook, twitter, they don’t install these devices in their homes. We actually spend a lot of time configuring the devices we must have to block or remove those intrusive applications but it gets harder and harder every day. It is a never ending process and you have to periodically check to make sure some entity hasn’t changed what you have done.
somehistory says
Yes, when you get close to a tower, the phone settings may be automatically changed in order for the snoopers to snoop and then share…for money…with others who want to know. So many “inquiring minds” and for so many nefarious purposes.
My phone was once turning on wifi, I would turn it off, and then it would be turned back on. Over and over and it really bugged me that I had to keep turning it off. I only turn it on if I need to do a duo call, and then back off.
My computers have tape over the camera lenses. One has to fight for privacy even if nothing exciting is happening.
tgusa says
“My computers have tape over the camera lenses.”
Don’t feel different. You have no idea how many people out there in the work place or at home do the same thing. You are in company, pop culture.
Infidel says
Somehistory
I bought a new Chromebook from Costco a couple of months ago, given how slow my Windows PC has become, and preparing for the day that Microsoft switches to an annual subscription based service, where you have to pay them every year for using Windows. It came w/ a tape already on the camera, which one has to remove to get the camera going, and to this day, I haven’t removed it. Also, on the Chromebook, I use the Brave browser, which I downloaded, and not Chrome, and I use DDG for the search engine instead of Google or Bing
Similarly, my iPhone is an iPhone 8, which was the last iPhone to use fingerprints instead of face recognition. I do use Apple Pay to make payments, as well as to get into my bank account, so that feature is important. But I deliberately decided to get off the iPhone upgrade cycle: w/ 256GB of storage, I pretty much have what I need and don’t need to upgrade
somehistory says
It may take some thinking to keep from being spied on at every turn, because the criminals always stay one step ahead. Keeps one on the toes.
Of course, the average person doesn’t realize how many eyes are **illegally** spying. We are supposed to be “secure” in our papers, etc., but I think they believe that it’s different with electronics that make warrants so unnecessary…illegal, and unnecessary.
I try not to “search” for things that might “incriminate” me, but I do use Brave. Keeps the ads down and snooping too.
somehistory says
There are ways to limit…not totally eliminate the spying… how much they can find out.
There are people who gather information and then sell it to others.
The settings on the so-called smart phones can be set to let those people who spy find you with every use, but it is also possible to turn the settings so your location is not sent with every use.
If one has google on the phone…and who doesn’t?…your phone will warn you that the phone might not work if you disable their spying, but mine works just as well as it did before I turned off all but just a couple of things that show my location.
Furthermore, one can turn things back on briefly if need be and then back off.
The more electronic products a person has, the more they are allowing snoopers to snoop.
Dan says
Unfortunately, Apple – and the rest of the smart phones gotta be doing it too – admitted, “Yeah, lots of times, all “Turning the ap off” does, is shut off its indicator light. But it’s still operating.”
Pick up “Future Crimes” by Marc Goodman, written about 10 years ago.
somehistory says
Jason Hanson advises to turn off the access to location for all of the different apps. I have found out that it works for wifi and other things because if it’s off, that app doesn’t work. So, I allow it for two things I use a lot, keep it off for email and wifi and I know they won’t work with it off. But the phone works to make/receive calls and the texts to send/receive. And that’s all I need it for. A few times, I did have to do a duo call and had to turn wifi on for it to work.
Not perfect, I’m sure, but it does limit their access.
Infidel says
Whenever I download an app, I go to Settings -> Location and then turn it off for the new app that I downloaded. Unless it’s something that has to have it, such as Maps
somehistory says
I got my latest phone with all of the apps loaded….most of which I would never use, fb, games, etc. and I disabled the ones I could and then, as you stated, turned off the location on most of the others. Of course with every disable/turn off, the phone “warned” me that things wouldn’t work if I did that.
Every time I use the camera, it asks if I will “allow” location and I “deny.” I know where I am. Most of the time, anyway. “)
John Lloyd Scharf says
I started getting strange deliveries from Amazon after I gave the Quran a bad review as a bigoted terrorist book, even after I terminated my account. Amazon hired many from the Middle East who fled prosecution for their crimes there. My last name is on Schindler’s List, but not on Amazon’s, now.
bill says
Gravenimage. If your TV is watching you, just disconnect it, It is not rocket science. Apart from anything else those little red lights use electricity, not much but still a waste of energy
gravenimage says
Thanks, bill–I replied to your post above.
Dan says
What too few understand about spying is that it used to take HUNDREDS of man hours, not just to spy on, but to sift through all the collected data.
There are so many laws you don’t know about, it was found each of us averages three felonies – not misdemeanors but FELONIES – a day, and because algorithms watch everything, all some burger flipper has to wait for a BING after typing in, “What laws did ______ break today?
–
OLD GUY says
Whats really scary is that we willingly allow our children to use these devices, and who knows what pervert is following their lives.
gravenimage says
Somewhat related–has anyone here heard the Duck Duck Go ads about how your personal information is none of their business? Refreshing.
Infidel says
DDG however is not a company that has its own search resources. What it does is aggregates the results of Google, Bing and anyone else. So if there are non-Leftist search engines that won’t try and bury non-Leftist results in page 57, then DDG can sure use them as a part of its aggregation. But if there ain’t, then DDG still uses Google, Bing and whatever is available. So it’s not like one will get a neutral result on a search w/ DDG whereas a search w/ Google gives Leftist pablum
I’m trying to recall the name of a search engine company whose CEO once revealed this fact on FNC some years ago in an interview w/ Tucker Carlson or Maria Bartiromo
gravenimage says
I do realize that Duck Duck Go doesn’t have its own search engines–their attitude is rare and important, though. I hope their success leads other companies–including search engines–to follow suit.