We don't forget. We just don't care. I am in no way upset that Google is refining my ad profile and making money. Many billions of other people are also not upset by that.
Of course they were being hyperbolic with the use of the word "billions". The point still stands though. The vast majority of people using Google's services do know about adtech surveillance, and just don't care.
Do you have a source for that claim? I think laypeople know google serves them custom ads, but don’t understand how or the extent to which adtech is tracking and profiling them to select those ads.
In fact, because it’s a common trope to say “they must have been listening to our conversation” when served an eerily specific ad, I’d wager people do not know about adtech at all.
In support of your claim, look at how much effort companies like Google or Facebook have put into avoiding disclosure. If the general public was knowledgeable they wouldn’t have fought things like privacy labels so strenuously.
> In fact, because it’s a common trope to say “they must have been listening to our conversation” when served an eerily specific ad, I’d wager people do not know about adtech at all.
That meme is evidence you are wrong, so not sure why you brought it up. If people didn't believe they were being tracked they wouldn't have thought it listened on them. Listening on them is tracking.
Now of course the device probably wasn't listening and it just suggested the ad for other tracking reasons, so they are wrong about the specifics but they do understand that they are being tracked.
No. The joke’s humor is in the fact that it’s such a strange coincidence that they were served the ad that something totally absurd, like their phone listening to a private conversation, is a possibility.
Someone making a joke says nothing about what they believe to be true. Like the birds not being real.
> The joke’s humor is in the fact that it’s such a strange coincidence
No it isn't a joke, people know their phone is listening to them, smart assistants has made the world perfectly aware of how much they are monitored. So since they know the phone is listening, they think the phone showed them the ad since it listened to them. It isn't a joke, people think this, memes aren't always jokes they are just ideas that spread easily.
Look at this thread for example, does this look like a joke to you? People think it is listening to everything and just give up and go on with their life, that is what typical people believe.
"This has happened to me several times. Sadly, there is not much you can do about it. If your phone has a mic, it is listening to everything you say 24/7."