Do iPhones and Androids listen to us? Legislators want to know

Lawmakers are asking Apple CEO, Tim Cook and Alphabet CEO, Larry Page, how our smartphones can follow us without our knowledge.

In separate letters to both leaders, the Republicans of the Energy and Commerce Commission asked for more information on how iPhones and Androids collect data about their users [19659005].

Can an iPhone listen to its user even if he does not ask Siri for help? And "Do Apple's iPhone devices collect audio recordings from users without consent?"

As for Android devices, lawmakers ask: can they "listen to consumers without a clear and unambiguous audio trigger?"

Consumer data collected via cell phones, including location information and user records, can be used unexpectedly by consumers, "wrote committee chair Greg Walden, R-Ore. They then asked if these reports could apply to Apple products, and asked Google for help to understand the accuracy of these reports.

For example, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg swore that the social networking giant is not listening to the users' phone. audio for advertising purposes. But lawmakers cited a June article in which the reporter wrote about how some of the phrases he said aloud within earshot of his phone seemed to trigger Facebook ads later [19659005]. report that Android devices collect information from nearby cell towers, even when location services are turned off and that there is no SIM card in the phones, saying that "this behavior presumed is troubling. "

the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica privacy scandal, in which he touted Apple as a champion of user privacy. Still, they pointed out that Apple has recently announced changes to its App Store to try to limit the amount of data that third-party application developers collect from users. This raises "questions about how data from Apple device users are protected and when they are shared and compiled," the letter says.

They also asked Google about third-party developer access to Android user data. Lawmakers asked companies to respond no later than July 23, and for them to inform committee staff on the issues raised in the letters, which were also signed by Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., Gregg Harper, R-Miss. , and Robert Latta, R-Ohio.

"Protecting the privacy of our users and securing their information is of utmost importance," Google said in a statement on Tuesday. "We look forward to answering the Committee's questions."

Apple has not returned a comment request.

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