Someone here posted a good bit about how their cell phone was listening to their conversations and recommending ads, based on things they said, but never searched for online.

Its a pretty well known fact that this is done all the time. ESPECIALLY all the new Amazon Echos and their alternatives (Google Home, iVee, Cubic, Athom Homey, etc, etc, etc). They listen to EVERYTHING going on within their listening range.

The microphone on your phone or tablet can also listen in to everything being said around it. Facebook is the most notable example. If you have a Facebook App on your phone or tablet.....I recommend getting rid of it immediately.

Can it be used for nefarious purposes? Absolutely! Although, there has been no incident of any government getting caught with Exabytes of surreptitious recordings from private individuals.

Now, before going into hysterics about how creepy and freaky this is.....IT'S NOT. Why the fuck does anybody think Facebook is free? Think Fuckerberg is a huge philanthropist, who just wants everybody to be able to connect with their High School Classmates around the world? HELL NO. Does anybody think Fuckerberg made $52 B-I-L-L-I-O-N DOLLARS just giving everybody a FREE place to hook up? FUCK NO! Governments and businesses pay him fortunes to access data mined from all those FREE ACCOUNTS. Facebook is the NSA/CIA's BEST FRIEND. They don't have to spy on anybody. There are currently about TWO BILLION registered Facebook Users, and all of them post every fucking thing they do, every minute of every damn day. OOOOOh, here is my awesome Tuna Sandwich I had for lunch. Here is my girlfriends fat ass! I went for a ride to the lake! I JUST ROBBED A BANK, AND HERE IS THE LOOT! (actually happened several times) BLAH BLAH BLAH. Almost 2 billion people are spying on themselves, and giving a full report on their every move to ANYBODY that wants to click the correct keys on their computing machines. /rant

Back to phone/tablet spying: Its simple folks. While those really cool "FREE" Apps are installing (Candy Crush, Angry Birds, Calculators, etc etc etc), they have to (by law) ask your permission to access certain of your device's functions to operate correctly. i.e. You download a GPS App (say Google Maps), and it wants to access your phone's GPS and WiFi functions, so it can accurately locate your position. I can see that, and because that is what it needs to work properly, I click OKAY! It downloads, and I now have GPS. I was installing a FREE Function Generator App. It asked permission to access my contacts, pictures, camera, and microphone. WTF?!?! It wouldn't install unless you allowed it access to everything it asked for. When I clicked DENY, it ceased loading.

The moral to the story folks is that "NOTHING IN THIS WORLD IS FREE!" The more advanced functions your devices have, the more they will be used to monitor you. There are only REALLY two rules anybody needs to keep in mind if this worries you:

1. ITS not a conspiracy. Whenever you go to install that new Whizzo600 App, take a careful look at what functions of your device it says it NEEDS to access. If it looks kinky...JUST SAY DENY! If it says you have to give it access to everything it wants, or you can't have it; THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG, and you don't want that shit on your device in the first place.

2. DON'T BE A CHEAP CUNT! If you don't get the PAY FOR PLAY full featured version, the app maker will make even more money by selling your info. Spend the $2 or $3, and get an app that actually does what you need it to. You get full features. You can turn off any features you don't think it should have access to. AND; the app won't work its way up your ass via your cell phone!

EDIT: Almost forgot:

TL;DR: Your app can't spy on you if you deny the app permission to access the features it needs to spy on you!

EDITEDIT: How many of you have IPhones? How many of you IPhone Users know about the "FREQUENT LOCATIONS" Setting? Probably not many. Its not easy to find, and it comes from the factory in the "ON" position. When the GPS in your phone detects a pattern of behavior, it saves the GRID COORDINATES into a little database. If you know how to find it, it will tell you the exact locations where you spend time. A wife can bust a cheating husband (or vice versa) by seeing that every weekday at lunchtime (while he says he is eating in the breakroom at work), the GPS location is at Madame Wu's House of Poon for the hour she/he can't reach you. Cops bust you for possession, and buying dope at Jimmy Johnson's House. You tell them "Who the hell is Jimmy Johnson?" They get your IPhone from the evidence locker, and SHAZAAM! You spend three hours every Friday Evening at GPS Coords that pin to Jimmy Johnson's House. TOAST!