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



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

In separate letters to both leaders, House Energy and Commerce Republicans information on how iPhones and Androids collect data about their users.

For example, they want to know how phones collect audio.

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

As for Android devices, lawmakers ask: "Can they" listen to consumers without a clear and unambiguous audio trigger? "Consumer data collected through cell phones, including location information and user records, can be used unexpectedly by consumers," wrote committee chair Greg Walden, R-Oregon and Others then asked if these reports could apply to Apple products, and asked Google for help in understanding the accuracy of these reports.

For example, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has sworn that the social media giant is not listening to the users' audio phone for advertising purposes.But legislators have cited a June article in which the reporter wrote about how some of the phrases that he said aloud in earshot of his phone seemed to trigger Facebook ads after.

Also, in the case of Google, lawmakers have cited 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, indicating that "this behavior alleged 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. Legislators asked companies to respond no later than 23 July.

"Protecting the privacy of our users and securing their information is of the 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.

© 2018 The Mercury News (San Jose, California)

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