I just asked Siri (my iPhone) "when was Memorial Day in 1996?"
She gave one of these "here are some options, check it out" useless responses so I quickly typed into Google on my PC's browser "Memorial Day" and before I got any farther the first autofill it gave me was "1996."
Is that a coincidence? Of all the years before now it went to 1996? I don't think "Memorial Day 1996" could have been in my browser's history. But I've been writing about some things that went on around then so maybe it was. If not, it seems weird and uncanny and I don't like it, even if I know it was all done without any human intervention and no actual human behind the curtain cares what I was searching for.
1 comment:
I get how creepy this is. Especially if there is coordination between Apple (SIRI) and Google (search) - as in, they're sharing info about you with each other.
But, I think here it is not the case that Apple sent your data to Google. Rather, SIRI uses Google for internet searches. In that case, you had searched for "when was Memorial Day in 1996" only moments earlier. Google got that request and linked it to you. When you initiated the request on your PC, Google was aware that you were interested in Memorial day wrt the year 1996, and completed the search for you.
That may not be too reassuring. Google is still tracking all interactions you make with any of its applications and building a profile about you. It uses this to improve your user experience (which can come across as creepy AF), but it also uses this to sell you to advertisers. You are a more attractive product if you can be targeted based on your demographics and interests.
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