How to stop your phone from listening

I read Mr. Wolcott’s column with great interest. His frustration with having his phone listen to his conversations, then showing ads on the subjects discussed, is something most of us have experienced.

Most of us also feel, as Wolcott does, that unless we get “smart enough” to learn how to manipulate our phones (a huge task), there’s not much we can do about it. Not so. I wish to share some simple, non-tech-savvy ways to protect your privacy.

• Buy a mic-lock for your devises. (https://mic-lock.com). Just plug it in your phone, PC, or tablet and the devise can’t spy. Only thing to remember is when making/receiving a call, remove the mic lock or you won’t be heard! I’ve had these for years — they work. Cost about 10bucks.

• Never use Google for your search engine. Google does not “listen” like your phone but it keeps a running record of everything you search for, then sells the info to whoever. Use DuckDuckGo (duckduckgo.com) or Startpage (startpage.com). Both are just as good as Google, but there is no collection or selling of your search history.

• Download the Brave browser (https://brave.com). Brave blocks all trackers on the web. Automatically. Google, Facebook, and Amazon use trackers on sites you visit. With this information, they build up a profile of you. Brave blocks this, which makes your computer work quicker (less to download). Also, you get to watch Youtube without any commercials! I’ve used Brave for a little over two years — it has blocked over 737,000 trackers.

— Richard Robinson, Chico