Google & Facebook partner admits it can listen to device microphone to serve ads
A media firm has admitted that it can target adverts based on what you said out loud near device microphones.
Somewhat misleading title. What's actually happening is an ad company that worked with Big Tech had tried to pitch the idea to their Big Tech partners (claiming devices are already listening so why not use it for ads), at which point the Big companies tried to distance themselves from the ads people (in theory). In practice,
Google removed CMG from the Partners Program after a review.
With no mention of whether the removal was related to the evil practices described above.
We all had experience with ads showing up after we talked in person with someone about topic. I don't need some random person ir media telling me something obvious is happening. And for some time already.
I really doubt they’re listening to your microphone. Constantly uploading your audio would be noticeable in bandwidth and constantly analyzing audio on device would kill your battery - at least currently.
What this demonstrates is how good tracking by other methods is getting. You don’t need to listen to someone’s microphone when you know what they and their friends/coworkers are looking up online and likely bringing up in conversation. It’s trivial to fingerprint someone and track near everything they’re looking up online, and even if you’re privacy conscious, many of those you associate with share their contact list with every app that asks for it. This makes suggesting things your friends are looking up pretty easy. Add a bit of confirmation bias to the mix and you’ve got this “listening to the microphone” theory, because you’re not counting the number of times an ad isn’t something you’ve been recently discussing.
