It’s a conspiracy story that has been wreaking havoc on the Internet for a long time: companies would eavesdrop on conversations via the microphones of our smartphones in order to filter out specific preferences or needs and be able to display tailored advertising accordingly. The fact is that there is no evidence to support this urban legend so far – and it only persists so stubbornly because there are sophisticated methods of advertising tracking and, statistically speaking, we are not as individual as we would like to imagine.
“Active listening” fuels rumors that smartphones are eavesdropping for advertising purposes – online politics
