If you have every heard someone say that they’d just had a conversation on their smart phone only to find that an advertisement, you may have thought that that this was simply coincidence. After all, Facebook and social media advertisers couldn’t be listening in on your phone calls. Except, it turns out that maybe they can.
Cox Media Group, a significant player in the digital marketing landscape, has been linked to a controversial campaign known as “Active Listening,” which allegedly leverages voice data from older Android devices for targeted advertising. This tactic suggests that devices might be actively listening to conversations, allowing advertisers to deliver personalized ads based on what they hear. Although the webpage detailing this initiative has been removed, it was accessible via web archives, fueling privacy concerns and adding to the long-standing debate about whether devices are eavesdropping on users without their consent.
Although the webpage detailing this initiative has been removed, it was accessible via web archives, fueling privacy concerns and adding to the long-standing debate about whether devices are eavesdropping on users without their consent.
The “Active Listening” program, described on a now-archived Cox Media Group webpage, boasted its ability to use voice data to precisely target advertisements, which raises ethical questions about user privacy and consent. This strategy feeds into the pervasive fear that smartphones are covertly recording conversations, a suspicion that has been dismissed by many tech experts as a misunderstanding of how data collection typically works. However, the mere existence of such a program could exacerbate public distrust of digital marketing practices, especially among those with older, less secure devices.
According to details in Apple Insider, this “Active Listening” could only be done on older Android devices as any Apple phone would have to have explicit permission to access the microphone – although recently there were reports that hackers in another circumstance had been able to leverage Windows programs running on Apple devices to bypass some of the hardware protections.
But even if this is only on Android devices, it is still a major shock, and a stark reminder of the importance of keeping technology up to date and being aware of the permissions granted to apps and services.
It also serves as a call to action for consumers and regulators alike to demand greater accountability and transparency from tech companies regarding their data usage policies.
Sources include: Apple Insider and Tweaktown
