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Cox deletes ‘Active Listening’ ad pitch after boasting that it eavesdrops though our phones (www.fastcompany.com)

submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Cox deletes ‘Active Listening’ ad pitch after boasting that it eavesdrops though our phones::undefined

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[–] patchexempt 20 points 11 months ago (10 children)

this was such a weird claim, and I never really understood how it could be true specifically for phones, where they aren't in control of system software. there's like a gradient of possibility here:

Android phones from major manufacturers, and Apple phones: doubt it. those things are too heavily scrutinized, someone would've found it, and the companies that make them don't have the impetus.
official "smart" voice devices from Amazon, Google, et al: doubt it, same reasoning as above
Android phones from small players, heavily subsidized models, etc.: sure, could be
smart TVs from major manufacturers: probably not? medium "maybe"? I bought one of these with a hardware mic switch so I guess that shows my paranoia
other smart TVs: I dunno, feels highly likely

so: I'm careful about what I use so my risk felt pretty low, but I also feel like if this were true security researchers would've discovered it. let alone the fact that what they describe is bandwidth and battery intensive (off-device or on-device respectively, I don't remember what they claimed as I read the 404 media report some weeks back) but it still makes me wonder: what led them to make these claims then? fascinating, pretty scary.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago (1 children)

It's especially weird when the existing targeting can be so effective for much cheaper.

For tvs for example, they can see what you watch, when, what ads you mute and which you don't, what you display over HDMI (content ID), the other devices on your network, your location, your accounts for every streaming service, what you search for. Then if you install their companion app they learn the other apps on your phone, your location habits, the media you play on your phone (looking at you Bose connect app...), bluetooth and network devices you are near (connecting you to other profiles they know), and probably a lot more.

[–] patchexempt 1 points 11 months ago

content id is a wild one that I only discovered a year ago: I had always used my own Chromecast when traveling, and I plugged it into a Roku TV which kept saying "did you know you could watch [content that I was currently watching] on Roku" which really freaked me out, so I looked into it. honestly not sure why they tipped their hand like that: I found the setting and turned it off. otherwise I would've been none the wiser.

creepy af though. the amount of tracking you implicitly accept by using random devices out in the world is staggering. even if you read every privacy policy and opt out of everything (I do) you have no chance.

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