Was using my SO’s laptop, I had been talking (not searching, or otherwise typing) about some VPN solutions for my homelab, and had the curiosity to use the new big copilot button and ask what it can do. The beginning of this context was actually me asking if it can turn off my computer for me (it cannot) and I ask this.
Very unnerved, I hate to be so paranoid to think that it actually picked up on the context of me talking, but again: SO’s laptop, so none of my technical search history to pull off of.
This may not have been an instance of it spying on you; what can you do may be similar to other searches involving privacy, but one would do well to remember thst companies have been repeatedly caught spying on users.
https://www.tomsguide.com/us/vizio-ftc-smart-tv-spying-privacy,news-24415.html Vizio spying without consent.
https://www.news.com.au/technology/gadgets/how-google-is-secretly-recording-you-through-your-mobile-monitoring-millions-of-conversations/news-story/8089bf3084a430f4c4be46b81710c158 Google storing your conversations.
https://www.techdirt.com/2024/01/02/cox-distances-itself-from-claim-it-spies-on-users-via-phones-cable-box-mics/ Cox cable BRAGGING about spying on users.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2021/08/09/apple-is-not-spying-on-your-imessages-and-this-one-switch-stops-it-scanning-your-photos/?sh=485a1696605f Apple gaslighting users over their on-device photo scanning.
I’m sharing to say that whether this is an instance of spying or weird coincidence, you should absolutely assume that companies will violate your privacy at every opportunity because that’s what they’ve done.
This is exactly what I would hope to show up in conversation, to me it really doesnt matter if you think your privacy may be violated, there are more than enough examples of it actually being violated to warrant taking precautionary and reductive measures in our digital footprints