Google Now monitoring my phone calls?

[Maria Esponoza]

Google is an ecosystem. Doesn't matter what browser you use, if it's in Google Search, they will know. If it comes in Gmail, they will know. I actually welcome it when it comes to things I'm constantly researching, like the features I'm still finding on this phone after a month.

I agree, I like it a lot!

 

[paeltz]

I just had a phone conversation with my brother yesterday about needing steel plates for a small project he is helping me with. I have not searched for steel before. A few minutes after our conversation I opened the Amazon app and what do you know, my recommended items were for steel. This seems a little over the top IMO.

 

[Dave-in-Decatur]

I would not put anything at all past Google, although two incidents in 3 months could both be bizarre coincidences. It's a little hard to imagine recording every one of millions of phone calls, using speech-to-text to transcribe them into a searchable database, then analyzing the transcriptions and sending you ads based on that. And yet....

WRT Google applying for a patent for software to monitor background noises during calls, see this: Google wants to monitor your phone calls? background noise to better serve you ads | Android and Me. At the time, Google said that not all patents signal a future product or service. But you can't patent a vague idea, and they'd have to have put something definite on paper about how this would work and what it would be for.

BTW, be sure to look at the Onion fake-news video on that page.

 

[unanimous]

Ever since I got my Android (using Good Email client) I've gotten 2 SPAM emails a day. Until recently the adds have been very off base - like the standard "get your car cleaned" or "enhance xyz". But just recently those SPAM emails have targeted me for specific topics completely related to subjects that I had recently (within 72 hours) searched or disucssed (not on phone call). Note - I never respond or click to the emails, I just delete them.

1.) I searched for a computing technology that was very specific (say Terminal Server) and I received an add for a type of terminal server the following day or so.
2.) I talked with a friend about schizophrenia and 3 days later I got a SPAM email about schizophrenia. (I never searched this topic or anything relative to health or disease)
3.) I talked with a friend who went to a resort and 3 days later I got a SPAM email about that specific resort. (I never searched this resort or any other resort in the last 12 months)

 

[Dave-in-Decatur]

Pretty disconcerting, to say the least. Is the email address that gets these spams Gmail?

 

[thatkgb]

Did your friend do any searches on their phone? Given that this is an ecosystem, maybe they did a search, google detected it, saw that they spoke with you, and sent the ads?

 

[Almeuit]

I just had a phone conversation with my brother yesterday about needing steel plates for a small project he is helping me with. I have not searched for steel before. A few minutes after our conversation I opened the Amazon app and what do you know, my recommended items were for steel. This seems a little over the top IMO.

Amazon isn't Google so for one thing... That doesn't apply to this thread.

2nd I highly doubt they have apps monitoring phone calls for that. I'd almost bet somewhere on amazon you looked at steel so the recommendation system is showing it.

Sent from my T-Mobile Note 3 using AC Forums.

 

[Almeuit]

Also.. As shown it doesn't say it can listen to your phone calls.. All it can do is see you on a call and the number you're calling.. That's it lol.

Sent from my T-Mobile Note 3 using AC Forums.

 

[armchairbear]

Yes, this has happened to me too. Just happened yesterday in fact. Google Now listed Travel Time to a certain restaurant that I've never heard of or searched for on my phone or on any web browser on my pc or work computer. It happened I'm guessing a few hours after a phone conversation I had with someone who told me about the restaurant. That was the first time I've heard of the restaurant.

It's definitely creepy. So Google, if you're reading this, stop it. Also, it's a waste of computing power.

 

[Dave-in-Decatur]

Just a thought: Are you and the person who told you about this restaurant both on Google+? Could it be that that person somehow mentioned both you and the restaurant there, without your being aware of it, and The Big G made the connection?

I find that searching in Maps for someplace I'm going to go to in a few days will cause Google Now to start throwing out these "Time to..." cards today. To me this is not only annoying but actually defeats the purpose of Google Now: if I know that it is periodically going to throw out random alerts for things that I don't need alerting about, I'm liable to start ignoring it. Call it the App That Cried "Time To Go."

 

[FatCat0]

Doing a little necromancy, but I had this happen to me today. I called the BMV and got an address from them over the phone. Went to google maps and typed the first two numbers of the address and GMaps' first suggestion was the address. I didn't search it and I wrote it down on paper so the only conclusion I can come to is that android does indeed listen to/transcribe your conversations. What it does with that data I have no idea. I also don't remember explicitly allowing this behavior (just got the phone a week ago, so I haven't done a whole lot with it). In this case it was convenient, but it is pretty disconcerting.

 

[KnoxGuru]

I can confirm something is up. I was on the phone with my wife who gave me a number to call to cancel a subscription. I wrote the number down on a piece of paper. When I launched the phone app the number was there waiting to be dialed. I don't know what to think. We need to know if it is an installed app or are the calls being processed on a server? Either way, I didn't sign up for this type of monitoring. My calls with my wife, lawyers, etc are confidential and google needs to address this.

 

[mrsmumbles]

Go into system settings. Under Security, there will be a number of menus. Tap on each one since there are submenus also. You'll find most of the settings to Uncheck there as to Google to monitoring texts and so forth.

Sent from my LG-LG870 using Tapatalk 2

 

[mrsmumbles]

Also go into Accounts & Sync in system settings, and tap Google. There will be further settings to disallow Google snooping.

Sent from my LG-LG870 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Jennifer Willard]

Yes! Google Now just reminded me of an appointment I made over the phone! No record of that appointment in my calendar or email. SCARY.

 

[mjr4281]

Yes. This just happened to me today. I made a call to CVS to see if my prescription was ready to be picked up. The pharmacist told me that it would "be ready within the hour." About 20 minutes later I check my phone to see what time it was. (I have a Galaxy S2). I swipe down the notifications panel (I forget what for) and boom - there's a Google Now card that says "Call CVS in 38 minutes" along with a Google Map with directions to CVS. This creeped me out. I never set a reminder or performed any searches relating to CVS, let alone the time that my prescription would be ready. How the fu** did Google know that my prescription would be ready in an hour?