I have a cell phone. It mostly lives on whatever desk I'm currently working from, and unlike an Echo, the single mic in it is not optimized to pick up conversations at a distance.
They probably only get muffled garbage from my cell phone. It's always in a closed, leather, case unless I'm actually using it which is rare.
Yeah I thought that same thing but you'd be really surprised what you can get from a cell phone mic... in my mobile platforms class our instructor showed us how easy it is, for example cloning an app like Facebook etc., or whatever really, that you've allowed access already, (which btw would take your audio if not for bandwidth/processing limitations) but with some finagling you can pick up a conversation from the other end of a giant lecture hall, past other people also talking. Its a bit garbled but you can easily pick out numbers & get the general idea. The scary thing about that, this was a 5 years ago Motorola Droid.
Anyways the point being, since learning about that, & how the gov't are actually able to use them I don't care about the little Google speakers. I do have mine behind a VPN & firewall but that's more out of paranoia from ne'erdowell's inside my condo building as opposed to caring about Google listening to my gf nag me for 3 hours about washing machines. If google wants to listen to that, have at it, but tbh in my work i hear people talking about/asking me about it all the time & I find the whole thing sort of narcissistic.
Also, I can't speak for Alexa's but the Google homes are generally in a sleep state 90% of the time & they don't have the hardware or bandwidth required to record & send a constant stream of raw audio data. I've torn them apart & can confirm that for the ones I have. I also remember a murder trial a while back that they had to subpoena information via a warrant from Google, but there ended up being nothing. Now if he had said "hey Google, search top ten ways to murder someone's face off" they might of been in luck.
Tbh the easiest way, if you think someone is really actually listening to you, is to put it behind an encrypted VPN with a server outside the US. It's way easier than some of the crazy things I've seen people do. There's some real tin-foil-hat-wearers out there, a guy I went to HS with built & sells iphone cases that act as a Faraday cage (yes I know, iphone, irony... they don't sell well.), another guy I work with carries around a bag of potato chips to put his in.
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Since we're on the subject:
Homeland Security finds suspected phone surveillance devices in Washington
Homeland Security finds suspected phone surveillance devices in Washington
Hey Willie do you ever get nerve pain coming for me an area in your back where you never had an injury? the last 2weeks or so I have this thing in my upper back that feels like it's coming from outside, like someone poking a hot needle into the area next to my shoulder blade, except my injury is in my lower back. I think it's from when I fell asleep in my recliner a couple times & my neck was cranked over.
It would be hard for me to say if I have that kind of pain, I have pain from the lower back and the neck 24/7. If you've ever seen how nerves come out of the spine and radiate out into the body you can see how a nerve pinched in one area of the spine can cause pain far down a limb or in another area of the body. First the lower back started, pain stayed in that area but as time past and it got worse it traveled down my legs until the outside of my foot would be numb and hurt. Same with my neck, sometimes the sides of my hands and fingers will be numb, totally numb, like if I fall asleep in a chair and my head slumps to one side, not good.
True "nerve pain", pain not from a nerve being pinched/damaged, is something else altogether. I have what they call phantom pains, a kind of nerve pain but it's from my amputation but it's not actually "ouch" pain. Sometimes I can still feel my foot that's not there but it can range from an ankle itch to a tingle or buzzing sensation, that's for "me", some people who had amputations feel actual pain so I feel lucky. For the most part it doesn't bother me much anymore, I don't think about it because I'm up and around walking on it, your mind learns to ignore it. But sometimes it will be worse and when I'm in bed trying to go to sleep that buzzing and tingling will bug me, I have a med called Gabapentin I can take that will stop it but I don't need it often.
I'd see a doctor, nerve pain can be cause by a range of things including diabetes, don't let it go.
I bet you know who Bill (William) Binney is, if you haven't seen this yet I know you would find it interesting, scary too. Every American needs to watch it!
Do you know who he's working for now?
Kiba, I had a tingling that would radiate down my right arm, through the bicep and triceps, forearm, wrist and on into my hand. I had a doctors appointment, anyway, and mentioned it to him. He did some "hand on" and told me it was a pinched nerve in my neck. He said I should go to rehab and take care of it that way. I also had a chiropractor appointment later that week and mentioned it to him. Long and short of it was L3 or L4 was a little out of alignment and two sessions with him eliminated the problem.
Point being, like Willie said, pain/discomfort can appear just about anywhere and actually be from something mis-aligned well away from where you feel it. Ignoring it, or just living with it, can easily get worse and cause more problems. Get it checked out by an MD or a chiropractor. Well worth the time and, hopefully, co-pay.
Point being, like Willie said, pain/discomfort can appear just about anywhere and actually be from something mis-aligned well away from where you feel it. Ignoring it, or just living with it, can easily get worse and cause more problems. Get it checked out by an MD or a chiropractor. Well worth the time and, hopefully, co-pay.
Yeah I know what that feels like, I get that sporadic, sort of shooty/stabby ones, that go down my legs or up my neck/down my arms but they're not constant & this is different bc it doesn't go away & I can't remember one like that before. The lower back area itself where my discs are gone isn't so bad as it's more of a dull/achy thing. I was just wondering if this new thing could be caused by my existing problems or if it's something I did to myself by sleeping with my head all slumped over.
Yeah I should probably go to see my doc or my PT at the very least. I should probably also get back on trying to find a decent chiropractor too... At least for circumstances like this. I've been to a bunch of them in the past but I never did find one that I liked/could trust. I've heard from people who swear by them but I never had that experience with one... my experience with the chiropractors/acupuncture I've been to is either like those snake oil salesman or at best temporary relief.
My gf also used to work for an occupational therapist & knows how to make small adjustments to my back when I really need it, like when I do something bad & throw out my back for example.
I hear ya, but I'm telling they're pretty much benign compared to the miniature computers everyone has in their pockets... the difference being that the Google home type devices literally don't have access to the processing power, bandwidth, & storage required to record raw audio & stream it to an external source like a phone does. Plus, if you have android/iPhone your device is performing the exact same function.
If that concerns you, you should put your phone behind an encrypted VPN with a server that's outside the US bc that pretty much (theoretically) nullifies the ability for it to be used in that way. I do have a VPN on my phone but I don't use it unless im watching kodi or something, bc I don't really care if the government wastes their time listening to my dumb conversations.
My gf I think feels sorry for the google assistant lol, bc it has to take our stupid requests & listen to our nonsense. she apologizes to it, says thank you etc.
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@kiba , I had that same pain for a while and then it went to the front and back. ended up a little rash started and i found out I had shingles. you might want to get it checked,these are not fun to have,makes back pain look like kids play.
Shingles is from chicken pox right? Would I see something on my back, bc it doesn't look like anything is there.
You want to get an idea what data the government has on us, watch that movie I posted above. Bill Binney is a genius, he designed the system and ran the team to capture data for the NSA, all data. He also designed safety measures, a way to mask identities to hold with the constitution, when the data showed a red flag they had to unmask data to find out who was who. But Hayden took over the NSA, they let Binney go, took over the system and took off the safety measures. Hayden also missed the warning flags that led to 911. That's how the movie starts, talking about 911, but then goes into interviews with Binney and walks through the start as an anylist, how he designed the data collection system and how it was taken away from him. Very interesting, a very good documentary that everyone should watch.
And if they could grab the data they use to that Binney talks about, you can only imagine what they can do today. Think you can hide? You can't unless you want to be a mountain man, but that doesn't mean you have to make it easy either.
One thing that jumped out at me, was one fellow who worked with Binney laughed about the internet, he said we don't care what you do on the internet, it's wide open, there's no hiding on the net, what we want is the data that's hidden. (not easy to access, well for you and I)
And if they could grab the data they use to that Binney talks about, you can only imagine what they can do today. Think you can hide? You can't unless you want to be a mountain man, but that doesn't mean you have to make it easy either.
One thing that jumped out at me, was one fellow who worked with Binney laughed about the internet, he said we don't care what you do on the internet, it's wide open, there's no hiding on the net, what we want is the data that's hidden. (not easy to access, well for you and I)
I'll check it out later, but I'm sure I already know some of it... It's scary what they can do, like for example your 128 bit encryption that's supposed to take a billion or w/e years to crack, that's nothing to them, they have the procesing power to take that out before lunch time.
It might be from pinched nerve in the neck from sleeping in a chair, my neck pain also shoots down into my shoulder blade and down the side, around the back and side of the ribs on what ever side is acting up. So it might be from that sleep in the chair, but it might be something else. I'd give it a week, take care of the neck and if it doesn't improve or gets worse I'd see someone.
Once spine problems start, it "can" only get worse, if you don't take care of yourself and just keep on as usual it's going to get worse and maybe fast. It's frustrating not being able to do all the things you use to but you will pay a price if you don't take care of your spine. When it first started in my back the doc told me I shouldn't lift more then 15lbs, I didn't listen, I went to PT, exorcised, wore a back brace, did acupuncture and keep twisting wrenches, a year in and I was in bad shape, I could only work 4-6 hours a day. When I went back to the doc they did another scan and he told me I had to face it, I had to stop working as a mech. I should had faced it a year earlier, now I'm paying the price.
Can't say it's truth but I heard Trump's people now has Binney working with the military intelligence, the military answers to the president. When you have the military intel investigating the investigators, well two things, one it's long overdue, and second, the "drain the swamp" promise wasn't just talk...... There's a lot of people in power who are afraid, and they should be.
I tried to do the same thing & keep working in the dealership, it didn't work out for me either. I had to stay in the hospital for about a month, & when I got out I spoke to the guy who was basically training me, I told him what the doctors told me & he told me that I should at least try, that was a mistake though, bc I should of been letting it heal as much as was possible. After that I knew I had to go back to school, it wasn't even a question of "maybe I can still do this", the doctor was literally like wth are you doing, cut that crap out & be glad you're still walking.
I think it happens to a lot of us, I've meet many people like you & me in PT & we all have to come to terms with what we can & can't do anymore. It sucks but it could be a lot worse, at least we're still here.
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