Last night I was in the kitchen, my iPad was on the table in sleep mode. Suddenly my computer woke up and started talking - yes talking - to me about, of all things, maple syrup production. Wtf! So my computer was listening to me (though I have no recollection of speaking out loud or wondering at all about maple syrup production, making me wonder who it was listening to if it wasn't me) and responded to what it thought was a question I asked... ???
Today I turned off SIRI. The SIRI app has several functions. It takes dictation so you can text without typing. It (she?) responds to requests for action (eg "SIRI, open FaceBook"), and it answers questions (like "How is maple syrup produced?") - a kinda cool, kinda freaky listening and speaking app.
I also put a wide elastic band on the side of my screen that covers both forward and facing camera lenses. Works great, one band does all! It doesn't get sticky like tape or in my way either. When I want to use the camera for FaceTime or to take pics or videos I can just slip it off.
I don't allow location services on my computer either.
I will continue to keep my iPad in sleep mode during the day because I use it for communication, but overnight I will shut it right down. I don't even want to think about all the search engines happily surfing the net 24 hours a day to profile me, entice me to buy, gather my opinions, toss in a virus, attempt a scam...
We have given up quite a lot for all the convenience we get from our computers! But something has just been made abundantly clear to me - 1984 is truly here! It took maple syrup production for me to accept this reality. I really didn't want to know. Computers are such a fabulous tool and toy! I admit it, I am addicted. I'm probably kidding myself thinking there's any way at all to maintain privacy on a device that sends information into the clouds.
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