[riscy]

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.

[acdha]

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.

[Jensson]

> 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.

[riscy]

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.

[Jensson]

> 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."

https://old.reddit.com/r/CasualConversation/comments/ldv1ey/...

[riscy]

Since before the age of the smartphone, people have thought their phone conversations are being recorded. And there’s absolutely evidence that it’s true. So too is evidence of UFOs and aliens.

But that’s a tangent. The claim I was seeking evidence for was:

“The vast majority of people using Google's services do know about adtech surveillance, and just don't care.”

People who read HN are not the vast majority (thankfully).

I still don’t think the vast majority of people are aware of the depths of adtech because Google and Meta go to great lengths to control the narrative and keep people in the dark. They make people believe they’re “in-control” of their privacy. If people were made aware of how much tracking still goes on then they would care.

[Jensson]

> People who read HN are not the vast majority (thankfully).

I meant the reddit thread I linked. In all such threads I've seen people think that their phone is recording everything they say to show ads, no jokes about it.

Here on HN people know that the phone doesn't do that, since we have people who looked at what code is activated on the phone and what it sends. But regular people doesn't know that, they think they are constantly being monitored and there is nothing to do about it, so all they can do is either stop caring or fall into despair, and most just choose to stop caring.

Smart assistants were a great trick to get people used to the idea that they are constantly being monitored. Makes them less likely to put up a fight when you start monitoring everything for real.

[riscy]

Hm. Yeah I agree. I guess everyone really has given up and begrudgingly accepts it.