You just spoke to your family about how you need a new juicer. When you go online, you see ads for juicers everywhere. And you didn\u2019t even search for a juicer online! Somehow, your conversations are being tracked to show you relevant ads.<\/p>\n
This is disturbing. You talk about a lot of things and you don\u2019t want the internet to keep monitoring you all the time.<\/p>\n
Who is tracking you?<\/strong> Most companies will say that they don\u2019t sell your data to third parties but then you see very specific ads everywhere, which means someone is definitely lying.<\/p>\n What information are they collecting?<\/strong> If you mention a particular product in your emails, it can show up in ads as well. Basically, it\u2019s all about giving you targeted ads. And as long as it\u2019s about just the ads, it\u2019s pretty harmless. Things get serious when someone actually spies on you.<\/p>\n How to stop my device from listening to my conversations<\/strong>
\nNearly every free service that you use. This includes search engines, social media websites and email services. Since you\u2019re not paying for the benefits you\u2019re getting, these companies get their revenues from your data.<\/p>\n
\nAnything that you might want to buy. If you have discussed a particular hotel chain, it will start showing up in your Facebook newsfeed. Or the latest gadget you searched online.<\/p>\n
\nVisit the app permission section on your phone and revoke mic permissions. This way, your phone won\u2019t be able to listen to your conversations. However, your searches will still be tracked. To avoid being monitored by Google, you can use alternative search engines such as Duck Duck Go.<\/p>\n