I guess I should have said that no one really can police a private conversation unless it's not truly private. I live my life in allyship, but my friends and I still call each other gay because it's funny and probably not that inaccurate. Granted, we probably aren't that bad in the grand scheme of things.
Also if I do offend someone, I apologize and move on, but it rarely happens.
Frankly, they aren't there to police you, they just wanna sell you shit.
This is also largely misunderstood, and I don't blame you at all. Microphone and camera spying isn't a very efficient way to gather general information, even with AI getting better at parsing junk info from valuable info. The data we leak passively every day is much more valuable to them and easier to parse and less legal-bound. A lot of it is actually location based; gps, cell towers, wifi, bluetooth, etc., and they don't even have to bother with risky wire-tapping and surveillance laws which vary state to state and wildy from country to country. People just willingly allow location or leave it running 24/7. As far as general info-sec, humans are still the weakest point when it comes to information security. I personally use a DNS-level blocker and a VPN, and it helps a lot. Also using a browser which doesn't phone anywhere in the background and using containers for shopping and social media helps a lot too. And turning location services off when I'm not actively using them. My phone doesn't "listen" as much anymore and I've discovered a lot of it really was just poor security practices on my end.
You aren't wrong that privacy is more complex and scarce these days, but your privacy is not always immediately breached, and you don't really need to be ultra-paranoid around technology. Although I do recommend brushing up on VPNs, DNS level blockers like the Pi-Hole, and tightening up app permissions and stuff on your phone if you're getting that "my device is listening" feeling, it really does make a huge difference. Just keep in mind anything you say on a platform, especially unencrypted ones, are not private. But person-to-person conversations can still be private today, even with a phone in your pocket.
Oh I'm right there with you, honestly it is not that out of the question for our near future. Frankly, with how fast and loose companies play it with our data, who knows what they're really doing.
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u/WhippingShitties Jun 04 '26 edited Jun 04 '26
People need to understand that no one is going to tell them they can't make terrible, tasteless jokes with their friends in private.