Disturbing request on my phone.

[DWSmith 0]

A minute or two after finishing up a phone call yesterday afternoon my phone asked me to approve a request to send to Google data about my phone call, a transcript of my phone call, and an audio recording of my phone call. I cancelled the request.

What bothered me is that it had already collected the data, transcribed the call, and recorded the call before it asked me for approval.  I assume it does these things on all calls and was only asking for permission on this one because it was being sent to Google.  Not sure where this stuff goes for all of my other calls.

Am I being paranoid?  Does anyone else find this disturbing?  Have I watched too many videos of Edward Snowden speaking?

I'm dead serious.  After keeping an eye on this sort of stuff for several years I find this quite disturbing and 'yes' I put blue masking tape over the camera lenses on my cell phone.

[flytire 0]

never had that done to me

maybe you have something turned on in your phones settings

google has more info about me than i care to know about

[DWSmith 0]

And the NSA has that super-sized data storage facility that has tons of information on everybody, the legality of which is highly questionable.

[flytire 0]

go knock on their door and and tell them you want your info back

[DWSmith 0]

👍

[Capt Bob LeMay 0]

Our modern world is changing daily… At the slightest hint of any communications by phone, internet, etc. that are intrusive, suspicious, or questionable - I hang up, dis-connect immediately.  If it was important- they’ll call back.

Another tactic I employ on the phone is to simply not say a single word if I suspect an un-solicited contact, forcing the caller to start the contact.  Many times someone “working the phone” will dis-connect if they don’t think they’ve made a contact… saving me the trouble.

[flytire 0]

hell if its a number not in my contacts i just let it ring. theyll hang up

[Lesg 0]

Shaw Webmail_ Inbox.html

Edited October 7, 2023 by Lesg
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[cphubert 0]

2 hours ago, flytire said:

hell if its a number not in my contacts i just let it ring. theyll hang up

X2 and that's the landline, the cell is a phone only for emergency use.

[Poopdeck 0]

No your not crazy, you just need to change the batteries in your tin foil hat.

We all do what works best for us. I answer my phone every time it rings. I figure if something bad happens to a family member I’m going to get a call from an unknown number. I surely wouldn’t want to miss that because of, what?, I might have to hang up on a telemarketer?  I get so few spam calls that I can’t remember the last one I got.  I don’t give my phone number out just because an entity or website asks for it to open an account. If I am absolutely required to enter a telephone number I give them my old number when I was a kid. Legitimate places that need account info don’t call anymore, they send emails and texts. It’s that simple to protect yourself from telemarketers. Much more effective than not answering your phone when it rings. 
 

i don’t care what google or the NSA know about me. I lead a very boring life. I sleep soundly at night knowing the NSA is up all night potentially violating the rights of non USA citizens who have no USA constitutional protections and want to cause me harm. 

[niveker 0]

I don't recall that ever happening with my phone.  All my voicemails get transcribed by my phone so I can read them, probably has something to do with a setting for that feature. 

[DWSmith 0]

I've had this phone for about 3 years.  It's a Google Pixel 3A.  I know I would never allow something like this in the settings but an update might have initiated it.

[knotjoe 0]

47 minutes ago, DWSmith said:

I've had this phone for about 3 years.  It's a Google Pixel 3A.  I know I would never allow something like this in the settings but an update might have initiated it.

Well, it's a Google phone so that kinda explains it right there.  I've always had iPhones and the updates always require me to reset and shut off a bunch of things they turn on by default while updating.  Not paranoid about any of it, but some of these nifty features devour the battery when left on.  Too much for a little device with a small power source so I just adopted the regular ritual of resetting post-update.

Cell phone companies probably record samples of calls all the time for quality whether you know it or not.   Things have been creepy like that for a long time.

[DWSmith 0]

I've been issued iPhones by my previous employer but they always had Blackberry security software on them too.  I don't know if all iPhones have that or not.

Yeah, I think I'm going back to a dumb phone in the near future.  Lots of them are available due to the digital minimalism movement.  Yesterday a company I've been following (Sunbeam wireless) announce the details of a series of 8 new dumb phones.  They get good reviews on the previous series of 3 phones.  I'll see what people say about the new ones.  They begin shipping around October 16 to 23.

I neither need nor want a 'smart' phone.

Anyone read the book 'Surveillance Capitalism'?

[cphubert 0]

10 minutes ago, DWSmith said:

back to a dumb phone

Never had a smart phone, all I use it for is calls primarily outgoing not one for social media or being connected, my wife makes up for my lacking desire for technology, but she also is retired from an IT department. I freely admit I find most of these apps and tech amazing but fear I would walk out into traffic mesmerized by it all.