Would take a whistleblower to expose these things, and usually its done many years after.

So no, and also no, I disagree. If phones did this, especially to custom-tailor ads, like I’ve seen claimed countless times, then security researchers would be perfectly capable of uncovering this behavior without someone on the inside.

Its that they’re storing and probably transcribing all communications for all time, so that at any moment in the future, they can target a person and look up that history.

Is this just more speculation? EDIT: I’m bringing this up because it weakens the argument for privacy. This is a huge claim and if it can be dismissed like this then people might dismiss everything else with it.

Unless you are into women that are into prepubescent boys

That’s fucked up.

Is there any hard evidence that supports the claim that an Android/Apple phone listens in on conversations?