Are They Listening?

We are all aware of how insiduous and personally directed advertising has become . One has only to search for an object on Google to find ads for similar things on one's Facebook page or mobile phone.

I was well aware of all this going on and I must say it didn't worry me too much until lately when I had a really uncanny example of being listened to.

My husband daughter and I were having lunch in the garden, no phones, tablets, PCs or any other devices were near us. The only exception was my daughter´s mobile phone which was upstairs in her bedroom on the first floor of the house, her window was open. We were discussing what would happen to the remaining partner if one of us died, how our daughter would help with everything etc. The type of conversation many families could have. Later in the day towards evening, when looking at my FB page I was surprised to see an ad jump up...

"Help with your will? Let us advise you...etc."

I was slightly taken aback but thought it a coincidence until a short while later my daughter came into the room to show me what had appeared on her FB;

"Choice of coffin, best value for money... beech or oak etc etc..."

Certainly not another coincidence! Now I am much more aware of how much we are overheard, the high capacity of the microphones and the AI used to figure out how the overheard information can be used. It is very scary to think where all this will lead. It won't affect me as I only have a few years left, but there could be grim consequences for my granchildren!

if these things are not controlled by stringent laws we could end up as in China, in a totalitarian state and obliged to adhere to a social credit system or be censored as to what we read, hear or look at. As lord Sumption has said:

"The British public has not even begun to understand the seriousness of what is happening in our country, many perhaps most of them don´t care, or won´t care until it is too late. They instinctively feel that the ends justify the means, the moto of every totalitarian regime that has ever existed"

Lord Sumption, former Lord Chief Justice.

Let us all take these words to heart before it is too late!