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Episode 55: This week we discuss why some people believe that their devices are always watching or listening to them. Oh, and whether or not it's true. Companies are finding more creative ways to target ads and content and consumers are consenting every day. But what are they consenting to?

Virgin media sends Matt Webb a summary of what he's watched. Creepy!

"For Owners of Amazon's Ring Security Cameras, Strangers May Have Been Watching Too"

Your car is watching you - tracking your driving style, your whereabouts and even your favourite songs. Can it be trusted?

"Last week, a gossip blog based in the Dominican Republic called Remolacha published a disturbing video of what it said was a "self-parking car accident." A group of people stand in a garage watching and filming a grey Volvo XC60 that backs up, stops, and then accelerates toward the group. It smashes into two people, and causes the person filming the video with his phone to drop it and run."

Virgin sends subscribers a letter with details of what they watched

"Is it the ultimate surveillance scenario or a step forward in the passenger experience? Or maybe a little bit of both?? Vendors are cooperating today to deliver integrated biometrics in the inflight entertainment system,"

"You are being watched. Private and state-sponsored organizations are monitoring and recording your online activities. privacytools.io provides knowledge and tools to protect your privacy against global mass surveillance."

London's Metropolitan Police have been urged to back down on plans to once again use facial recognition software at next weekend's Notting Hill Carnival. Privacy groups including Big Brother Watch, Liberty and Privacy International have written to police commissioner Cressida Dick (PDF) calling for a U-turn on the use of the tech. Automated facial recognition technology will snap the party-goers' faces, and run them against a database. The aim is to alert cops to people who are banned from the festival or are wanted by the police, presumably so they can take immediate action. The tech was first tested at the festival - where relations between police and revellers are often strained - last year, but it failed to identify anyone.

"This is one of the minor dangers of owning an Amazon Echo. Most anyone can activate the device by just saying the wake word, including Cartman. And in the season opener of South Park, that's exactly what happened. If someone watched that episode of South Park in the same room as an Echo, their Amazon shopping list was filled with random, gross items. This example shows the potential danger of having a voice-activated shopping assistant. It's easy to imagine a potential rogue advertisement, online or elsewhere, that could, in theory, say the right words to order a particular product - like a South Park box set."

"After my phone got stolen, I quickly realized just how much of my personal information and data the thief had instantly obtained. So, I let another phone get stolen. This time my phone was pre-programmed with spyware so I could keep tabs on the thief in order to get to know him. However, to what extent is it possible to truly get to know someone by going through the content of their phone?"

"If you keep your fitness-related New Year's resolutions in 2015, it'll likely be thanks to the new wave of devices and apps that have taken monitoring things like newborn sleep patterns and blood oxygenation from geek hobby to mass-market juggernaut. But what happens when companies have access to the most mundane details about our bodies? "

Users should be aware of why people use Facebook to avoid feelings of envy

Social media apps, designed to be addictive, are playing an increasingly large role in the lives of young people (or 'Gen Z').