WTF Google Android!!!

[AlfBaz]

A couple of weeks back we were at our local pub when we heard a bit of a raucous comming from the gaming room (pokie room) Some guy had won a substantial amount on one of the linked machines. Having never seen such a large amount of money being won on a poker machine I took a couple of pictures and a very short video with my android phone.

I had completely forgoten about it until today when i was looking through my "gallery". I looked at the pics and played the video with the built-in android video player.

About 10 minutes later i started the youtube app and on the top half of the screen was an add for a slots(poker machine) game.

I understand we're being tracked on line but are u telling me google services is combing through my personal files fishing for advertising insites?

There are no game apps at all on my phone, never typed or had anything to do with gaming machines on my phone so I'm left to believe it hast to do with my personal photos and videos

This has to be a violation of something serious somewhere and if not it should be

[MarkS]

The Android OS has access to all of your files on your device and is controlled by Google. It is more likely than not that your files are being collected and disseminated directly on your device or through Google Drive. Of course, this would be an "automated" system and no human has access to your files or some similar nonsense.

[mikeselectricstuff]

It probably detected the location where you took the photo.

[MarkS]

It probably detected the location where you took the photo.

Except he was at a bar. Wouldn't a beer ad have been more appropriate?

[mikeselectricstuff]

It probably detected the location where you took the photo.

Except he was at a bar. Wouldn't a beer ad have been more appropriate?

There's more money in gaming

[MarkS]

It probably detected the location where you took the photo.

Except he was at a bar. Wouldn't a beer ad have been more appropriate?

There's more money in gaming

True, but not all bars have slot machines. Not all jurisdictions allow gambling. All bars serve beer. This would be akin to me taking a picture of my girlfriend in a fancy restaurant and getting engagement ring ads and having it be right. This is a level of indirect reasoning that is out of the realm of current AI. How is it making the correlation based solely on location, especially considering the content of the ad matched the content of the images?

[AlfBaz]

The Android OS has access to all of your files on your device and is controlled by Google. It is more likely than not that your files are being collected and disseminated directly on your device or through Google Drive. Of course, this would be an "automated" system and no human has access to your files or some similar nonsense.

I don't use any cloud storage. I am aware that google (and not me!) has root access to my device, unless I root it but the implication here is that google is spending advanced image processing time to ascertain the contents of an image/video simply to provide add services. How many trigger happy android users do you think there are taking pics out there? This doesn't make sense

It probably detected the location where you took the photo.

Except he was at a bar. Wouldn't a beer ad have been more appropriate?

There's more money in gaming

The money, for google, is in whoever is paying for the advertisement. At any rate "I" never enable gps. GSM (or whatever it's called these days) triangualtion with precision can be done but as far as I'm aware, only by police in emergencies. Wifi was on but I don't connect to any hotspots ever. Are you identifiable by simply having wifi on?

[Halcyon]

The Android OS has access to all of your files on your device and is controlled by Google. It is more likely than not that your files are being collected and disseminated directly on your device or through Google Drive. Of course, this would be an "automated" system and no human has access to your files or some similar nonsense.

Yes, the OS does by nature of design, but there is no conspiracy. Google doesn't have access to your data (and your phone isn't doing any image processing on behalf of Google) unless you explicitly allow it or fail to opt-out of targeted advertising.

Tighten your security settings, use a browser/plug-in such as Ghostery and be careful what you post online or in the cloud.

I run Android and it can be one of the most secure mobile OS's out there... if you know what you're doing.

[AlfBaz]

True, but not all bars have slot machines.

As far as I can tell, there is not a single pub/club in Australia that doesn't have some sort of gaming area. Russel Crowe's South Sydney leagues Club tried it for a while but that failed

[MarkS]

I don't use any cloud storage. I am aware that google (and not me!) has root access to my device, unless I root it but the implication here is that google is spending advanced image processing time to ascertain the contents of an image/video simply to provide add services.

From my understanding, Google has advanced algorithms that can do this in real time with minimal computational effort. The full resolution of the image is not needed and it could be down sampled to a much lower resolution and still give accurate results. It may be possible to accomplish this on the device itself during periods of inactivity. It would be worth the R&D costs to serve targeted ads to any Android user based on pictures they take. Think of how many times you use your camera. You typically take pictures of things that matter to you. It's a data goldmine.

As far as I can tell, there is not a single pub/club in Australia that doesn't have some sort of gaming area. Russel Crowe's South Sydney leagues Club tried it for a while but that failed

This would be akin to me taking a picture of my girlfriend in a fancy restaurant and getting engagement ring ads and having it be right. This is a level of indirect reasoning that is out of the realm of current AI. How is it making the correlation based solely on location, especially considering the content of the ad matched the content of the images?

[PA0PBZ]

GSM (or whatever it's called these days) triangualtion with precision can be done but as far as I'm aware, only by police in emergencies.

That is only when you are trying to find a phone, the phone itself however can find it's position quite accurate by the relative strength of the various base stations.

[AlfBaz]

It's a data goldmine.

The bank accounts of all google users using google wallet is an actual goldmine. Doesn't mean they can swipe a few cents from each account now does it?
There is a reasonable assumption by a user that personal data such as photos remain personal without express consent from the user

[AlfBaz]

GSM (or whatever it's called these days) triangualtion with precision can be done but as far as I'm aware, only by police in emergencies.

That is only when you are trying to find a phone, the phone itself however can find it's position quite accurate by the relative strength of the various base stations.

I can agree to that but the pub in question is very close to other shops etc and accuracy using relative strength of base stations would be greatly diminished given each station has varying degrees of attenuation when indoors in built up areas

[MarkS]

There is a reasonable assumption by a user that personal data such as photos remain personal without express consent from the user

Unfortunately, the reality is different. Depending on the laws of your country, Google may either require you to opt-in or opt-out. If it can require you to opt-out, then failing to do so is considered consent.

[PA0PBZ]

GSM (or whatever it's called these days) triangualtion with precision can be done but as far as I'm aware, only by police in emergencies.

That is only when you are trying to find a phone, the phone itself however can find it's position quite accurate by the relative strength of the various base stations.

I can agree to that but the pub in question is very close to other shops etc and accuracy using relative strength of base stations would be greatly diminished given each station has varying degrees of attenuation when indoors in built up areas

Sure, until you build a database from the data that was collected by everyone that have their Wi-Fi and GPS on all the time 

[AlfBaz]

There is a reasonable assumption by a user that personal data such as photos remain personal without express consent from the user

Unfortunately, the reality is different. Depending on the laws of your country, Google may either require you to opt-in or opt-out. If it can require you to opt-out, then failing to do so is considered consent.

Consumer protection laws in Australia are quite strong when it comes to retail, however, I agree with your assessment of the situation as I don't think this would strictly come under consumer law and which ever laws govern this sort of thing are probably not on par with the former.

If there is an opt out it's very well hidden and/or obfuscated since I certainly can't find it. If I turn everything off that looks even slightly suspicious I'll have to stop using google play movies, gmail and other "essential" services, some of which I pay for

[eugenenine]

You could always just  not sign in to google.  You can load applications from other sources such as f-droid, set up your own sync/backup server, etc.  Android is at least flexible enough to work that way.

[Kilrah]

True, but not all bars have slot machines. Not all jurisdictions allow gambling. All bars serve beer.

Yeah but that's exactly why Google can distinguish themselves in the advertising world, instead of selling a beer ad like anyone else they're able to charge A LOT more to sell a targeted gambling ad when they can guarantee it'll reach someone who was in a bar that is in a jurisdiction that allows gambling and that is known to have slot machines.