Episode 200: Shees Reminded Me of Science

May 31, 2022

Central Thesis

Jim investigates whether his phone is listening to his conversations and generating targeted advertising, arguing that ad-supported media inherently threatens individual privacy and manipulates consumer behavior.

Key Arguments

• Phone Eavesdropping Suspicion: Jim suspects his new phone is eavesdropping, evidenced by a surge in targeted email spam after making his first call on the device. He meticulously documents the timing, sender demographics, and graphic format of the spam.
• Edge Computing Enablement: The argument is made that newer phones with edge computing capabilities can render speech into text and send small data files to advertisers, making constant audio recording feasible and harder to detect.
• Experimental Investigation: Jim attempts a controlled experiment with a listener to test if spoken keywords lead to targeted ads. The experiment involved recording a conversation containing specific product mentions, but no targeted ads resulted.
• Permanent Phone ID: Jim argues that cell phone companies use hidden, undeletable tracking numbers to monitor user behavior across multiple devices, allowing them to build detailed profiles and target advertising effectively, even if users opt out of tracking.
• Search Engine Suppression: He recounts a frustrating experience where a search engine failed to provide a result for an article about a Facebook patent that enables phone eavesdropping, implying a deliberate attempt to conceal the technology's potential for privacy violation.

Notable Passages

• "Surveillance capitalism got started in the world of online advertising. But this has moved way beyond. The way in which it's reaching into these intimate aspects of our lives and our rights and our freedoms is introducing fundamentally new dimensions of social inequality specifically designed to be hidden from us."
• "Sorry kids, in the end, it doesn't really matter how much you try to not be followed in your electronic life. Your behavioral patterns are just too profitable for companies to recognize, let alone to respect, silly notions like, I value my privacy."
• "If you don't want your organization to be thought of as evil fucks, don't patent inventions that would only benefit evil fucks."
• "The company that provides search results for people and that controls the operating system of a majority of the cell phones in the country won't provide the search result for someone looking for an article that discusses how another company has a patent on using cell phones to listen to the cell phone owners with neither their permission nor their knowledge huh"

Rhetorical Approach

Jim employs a conversational and anecdotal style, blending personal experience, scientific analysis, and sardonic humor to engage the listener. He uses detailed descriptions, experimental results, and references to academic works to build his case while interjecting humorous asides and strong opinions. The narrative structure reflects a detective-like investigation, creating suspense and drawing the audience into his pursuit of uncovering the truth.

Connections

• Episode 197: The Rabbits and the Work-Hogs: The rabbits and the work hogs (earlier remarks on phone suspicions)
• Episode 100: My Fruity Toons debut (brother's story of a paranoid man and tech)
• Episode 130: Vermin feed on forgotten trash (email storage and ISPs)
• Episode 133: The end of the myth (cell phone tracking and cookies)
• Reply All Podcast: Is Fuckbook Spying on You?
• Shoshana Zuboff: The Age of Surveillance Capitalism
• Charles Darwin
• John Tyndall