Charlie Brooker's BLACK MIRROR

https://www.rewind.ai/pendant

I was chatting on my android smartphone and mentioned in conversation that my lawnmower was knackered and within days I was getting lawnmower ad spam. I'm almost sure I didn't browse any lawnmowers before this occurred, but lol maybe I did and forgot about it. But I still wouldn't be surprised if this is already happening to some extent. Like a corporate AI program snooping through millions of hours of private convos at 1000 times speed, fishing for key words.

People talked about Facebook doing shit like that maybe 10 years and I wouldn’t put ANYTHING past them

even with microphone access denied THEY KNOW

I looked up using an expired passport to get back into the UK, and same day got a text from HM Passport about passport renewal. I have never before had a text from them and haven't since, and generally try to keep cookies etc locked down so I was/am a bit freaked out

a Polish/UK expat currently living in Germany I know who is a friend of my brother was convinced lots of hassle he was getting from HMRC coincided with him opening a FB account with his government name. But this was in the early days of FB and was a big influence on me never getting a FB account.

lol, apart from being an asocial fuckup!

I’m not saying our phones are definitely listening in on us, but I get a lot of ads for ways to stop snoring

My Alexa barely responds even when I say the "Alexa" prompt, so I doubt mine is paying any attention to my every day mutterings.