this post was submitted on 14 Mar 2025
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[–] deranger@sh.itjust.works 3 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago) (1 children)

I’m not saying it’s not possible

There is no argument from ignorance fallacy in what I said. I am not claiming these devices never send audio without you wanting because there’s no evidence to the contrary.

However, the idea that everyone’s microphones are always listening, and that’s why you saw an ad for whatever after talking to your friend, yet not a single person has observed a device uploading this kind of data, nor has anyone ever leaked any kind of information on this supposed system, is extremely unlikely to be true in my opinion.

They don’t need microphones to do this. Regular tracking is plenty to do a good job at suggesting you a highly relevant ad, and frequency illusion does the rest. You’re not noticing the thousand times you see ads that are irrelevant to whatever you were talking about, but the one time you do notice really sticks out.

Frankly there are plenty of more concerning ways of violating our privacy that are out in the open that I believe are a much higher priority than mics always recording, of which there is no evidence for.

[–] b1t@lemm.ee 2 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago) (1 children)

If no proof is offered (in either direction), then the proposition can be called unproven, undecided, inconclusive, an open problem or a conjecture.

Stating that you don't think that it's possible is irrelevant. It's either happening or it isn't. True or false. P or ¬P.

is extremely unlikely to be true in my opinion.

Is an argument from ignorance. Not trying to be rude, but this is basic logic.

[–] deranger@sh.itjust.works -1 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago) (1 children)

Well, offer some proof that it’s happening then. I’ve not seen any proof that people’s mics are always listening and uploading their conversations somewhere to serve them ads, or whatever other conspiracy is commonly claimed.

Why don’t you flex your understanding of logic on the person you initially responded to, who said:

They’ve probably got logs of conversations in every Alexa household.

Where’s the evidence for that claim?

[–] b1t@lemm.ee 2 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

See my previous post...

It’s better to be safe than sorry is all I’m saying.

Also 3 separate cases have been posted above. Just continue ignoring those, I guess.

[–] deranger@sh.itjust.works -2 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago) (1 children)

Yeah I read those, that’s not what I’m talking about. Bye ✌️

[–] b1t@lemm.ee 3 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago)

Mad.

Edit: They've edited both of their previous posts to re-frame the argument after the fact and removed a personal attack. Classy.