• cmnybo
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    1 month ago

    Recent versions of Android make it much more difficult for a background app to access the microphone. There will be a notification if any background app is using the mic or camera.

    • ChillPill@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      Google’s “Now playing” feature constantly listens to what’s going on in the background to show you what songs are playing. They claim this is done with a local database of song “fingerprints”. The feature does not show the microphone indicator because: “…Now Playing is protected by Android’s Private Compute Core…”

      I’m not saying that other, non-google, app do this to my knowledge; but the fact that this is a thing is honestly a bit scary.

      Edit: screenshot of the “Now Playing” feature

      1000009252

      • Pichu0102@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        For what it’s worth, I did just test it with airplane mode and it still correctly identified the song playing. So at the very least, it’s not lying about using a local database to identify songs, at least when it is offline.

        • Im_Cool_I_Promise@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          It also uses a cloud fingerprint database apparently according to the second paragraph:

          If you turn on “Show search button on lock screen”, each time you tap to search Google receives a short, digital audio fingerprint to identify what’s playing.

          • Pichu0102@lemmy.world
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            1 month ago

            Oh, I didn’t notice this, my apologies. Turning on identify songs nearby reveals two new options, notifications and show search button. That show search button option must be new; I had identify nearby music on already since my last phone. Guess they added something new. My bad.

      • kratoz29@lemm.ee
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        1 month ago

        I have seen said feature being mentioned or brought to other android versions whether with apps or modules, do they work the same way?

        • ChillPill@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          I’m not sure how other apps or android versions work. This is a flaw with the closed source software ecosystem.

      • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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        1 month ago

        The thing is I really can’t see Google allowing anyone else access. They don’t even allow Android OEMs to have access

      • grid11@lemy.nl
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        1 month ago

        if this is used, or there is some whitelist that gives permission for background microphone use in voice interaction services, apps with tracking capabilities probably use some set of predefined keywords (hardcoded inside the app itself) and those can be triggered while being on standby/in background, when there is a match some pinging goes to outside servers…

        • ChillPill@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          What other apps use Google’s “Android Private Compute Core” and therefore don’t show mic or camera usage notifications? Not trying to sound all tinfoil hat here, but seriously: can apps other than those from Google use the “Android Private Compute Core”? Even if only Google’s own apps can use the “Android Private Compute Core”, we can’t see the source code for Google’s apps as (far as I know, anyway) they are not open source. If an app is not open source, we do not really know what the app is doing in the background; we’ll just have to take them at their word.

          • ChapulinColorado@lemmy.world
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            1 month ago

            Not to mention companies and their software (especially older versions) are commonly hacked. If there was a vulnerability, how long did my phone provide the hackers with unlimited access to those features to have them possibly try to extort me in real life.

      • db2@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        Now if there was only an easy way to get to the offending app to identify it

    • Blackmist@feddit.uk
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      1 month ago

      Yeah, this sounds like a shareholder soapy titwank speech to me.

      They’re bullshitting everyone including the people we hate.

    • CaptainSpaceman@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      Supposedly more difficult.

      Android likes selling ads too, why would google want to stop ad blocking microphne access?