Is your smartphone listening in on your private conversations?
Some people are reporting strange coincidences in which what they were just talking about showed up as suggested searches or on their social media.
Nick Lanzana of UBreakIFix in Cape Coral said it's technologically possible, pointing to Apple's Siri as an example.
"She can Google search things for you, she can play a song that you want to hear, open an app, send a text message, things like that, so the technology does exist," Lanzana said.
When Four in Your Corner's Lisa Greenberg asked Siri if she was listening to her conversations, she said, "Yes, I am listening."
"The way the phones are set up now, they're so smart, that it does kind of concern me," Morgan Murphy of Cape Coral said.
A recent report on BBC.com says a woman complained to her boyfriend about her first migraine, and the next day she was followed on Twitter by a migraine support group.
"It's kind of crazy to think that that could actually be a thing, you know? It's so personal," Murphy said.
"It boils down to the tech is there, I just don't think it's implemented in the scary way people are concerned about," Lanzana said.
Lanza said he thinks if the technology is being used, it's for datamining: trying to tailor ads to the user.
He said if your smartphone isn't listening in yet;
"Since the technology exists, realistically it's only a matter of time," Lanzana said.
"That's everyone's right, is to have their own privacy," Murphy said.
Lanzana doesn't think the technology will be used with malicious intentions, but if you are concerned, here's how you disable the microphone in your smartphone:
iPhone:
1. Click on "Settings"
2. Go to "Privacy"
3. Click "Microphone"
4. Scroll through the list of apps that have microphone capabilities and turn off the ones you don't want to have access to your phone's microphone.
Android:
1. Click on "Settings"
2. Click "Apps"
3. Go to each app and choose if you want it to access your phone's microphone
