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Comment by renaudg | Hacker News Reader

>If the Tor user has his phone somewhere nearby and if certain types of apps are on his phone, then his mobile device will ping back...

Surely the user would have had to approve microphone access for the app first, and it'd better have a good excuse.

Even then, does e.g. iOS allow backgrounded apps to listen in on the microphone ? Pretty sure only Siri has that level of privilege.

Has this whole ultrasound beacon thing taken off in the ad world ? Seems to (thankfully) require quite active user involvement to be able to work.

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> Surely the user would have had to approve microphone access for the app first, and it'd better have a good excuse.

Does it? Aren't people generally in the habit of signing off on any access if they want what an app offers?

Amazon echo just earned it's name.

And I'm not sure there is anything stopping a Tap from listening without you knowing.

Any device that is listening all the time can be storing and sending anything you said. How would you know if it's encrypted?

There has GOT TO BE a better way. Such as a filter made by independent manufacturers that opens the sound channel only when you say a specific phrase such as "OK Google" and closes it when you press a button or stop speaking. And an indicator would be visible when it's actually listening.

The question is, how to prevent collusion with the independent filter companies? There has to be SOME WAY to open source hardware and prevent companies from essentially performing their own interdiction on it:

https://www.google.com/amp/www.theverge.com/platform/amp/201...

How would you know if it's encrypted?

If outbound traffic levels are the same when you're using it as when you're not, it's probably bugging you? Of course a smarter arrangement would reschedule traffic to coincide with use...

Yes it's possible, but it leaves a red band on top (like the blue band of hotspot active. You can see it with Shazam (or equivalent) after you quit it for a few moment (just before the system kills it).

Does Android have a similar indicator for background apps recording audio?

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