10mo ago

Google & Facebook partner admits it can listen to device microphone to serve ads - Dexerto

www.dexerto.com

A media firm that has worked with the likes of Google and Meta has admitted that it can target adverts based on what you said out loud near device microphones.

Media conglomerate Cox Media Group (CMG) has been pitching tech companies on a new targeted advertising tool that uses audio recordings collected from smart home devices, according to a 404 Media investigation. The company is partners with Facebook, Google, Amazon, and Bing.

In a pitch deck presented to Google, Facebook, and others in November 2023, CMG referred to the technology used for monitoring and active listening as “Voice Data.” The firm also mentioned using artificial intelligence to collect data about consumers’ online behavior.

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10mo ago

Google & Facebook partner admits it can listen to device microphone to serve ads

www.dexerto.com /tech/google-facebook-partner-admits-it-can-listen-to-device-microphone-to-serve-ads-2888041/

80 comments

they've claimed the same last year in December, and it turned out they were overselling their capabilities
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/12/no-a-marketing-firm-isnt-tapping-your-device-to-hear-private-conversations/
- Some people really will believe anything, as long as you're trash talking big tech. And this platform is particularly bad.
  Like hell are they able to just tap into your microphone like that, both Android and I OS have that locked down.
  
  Some people really will believe anything, as long as you're trash talking big tech. And this platform is particularly bad.
  Just say something like you should be paying for YouTube (via ads or premium) and brace for the swarm.
You should read the 404 piece, it's considerably less sensational and doesn't flat lie in the headline. I hate Big Tech too, but this is very bad framing.
- Can you pass a link?
  
  it's the link above: https://www.404media.co/heres-the-pitch-deck-for-active-listening-ad-targeting/
  A bundle of people say they have a paywall but they don't, they have an AI-bot-wall which can be got around with a free account. I'd recommend it tbh because they are doing very good work.
  I pay the yearly subscription to support them as they are very much a rare entity in tech media: independent, reader-supported, and willing to ask difficult questions of tech companies, not fawn over their newest doodads.
Voice data doesn't have to mean live microphone. Voice data could be when you use Siri or Google and talk to your phone to search things.
It is worth noting that most phones, whether Android or iOS, now notify users when a service accesses the microphone. On Android, a green light appears in the upper right, while on iPhone, it’s an orange light.
- I don't know about Apple but Google used to make a little tone that let you know that it was listening to you. It doesn't do that anymore. Now it just shows a little green light which, if you're not looking directly at the phone you won't see.
  And it was pretty frequent when Google's voice Assistant would randomly activate and I'd hear that little tone and I would have to turn it off so it wouldn't sit there listening to my conversation. But now you don't have that option, now if you miss that little light everything you say is recorded.
  Fuck these services. I have permanently disabled both my phones 's Google Assistant and the Nest speaker I bought. Yes, it's less convenient. But the fact of the matter is that these companies aren't interested in making a service that is useful to you they just want to collect data on everything you do so they can sell it. And to be clear, I was fine with them collecting data on stuff that I actively participated in, it's the price I was willing to pay. But for them to pull this shady ass shit of removing the audible notification is just garbage.
  
  For Google's devices, the sound is still available as an accessibility feature. It's now off by default, which I agree it should not be. But you can turn it back on, I have it on all my devices, they all still make that sound after recognizing "hey Google " either as a true or false positive.
It baffles me that people actually take these assertions seriously, especially after having used different software that uses voice input, like Siri, Google Assistant, Alexa or whatever. Those things make some serious mistakes even under ideal circumstances, and you want me to believe that they can accurately overhear things in non-ideal circumstances? I highly doubt it.
Regardless, you can use an ad blocker to make this a moot point - I've never experienced anything even close to this, because I never get ads.
- No bro one time I was talking about buying protein shakes with my bro and then THE VERY NEXT DAY I saw an ad for protein shakes after watching Joe Rogan on the weightlifting subreddit.
  You expect me to believe this is coincidence?!?!?!?!?!
- This is a false anecdote and outdated too.
  How so?
Critically, "Meta, Amazon, and Microsoft told 404 Media they have no involvement with CMG’s Voice Data tool."
But more importantly, they can't listen on your microphone unless you give them permission. It's not a thing that is technically possible. And like the article says, these days phones even show an indicator to alert you when the microphone is on.
- That indicator and the permission system are provided by the OS on your phone. If you trust your OEM not to abuse it, then it works. If the company that made your device is facebook, neither of those features prevent facebook from listening in 24/7.
  
  Facebook doesn't make phones.
  
  I also think people discount the power of advertising when they think Facebook or Amazon is listening to them. They don't think that maybe why they were talking about xyz was because they saw an ad for it. Then they saw another ad for it after they talked about it and got confused on cause and effect.
- Yeah, no need for voice data, they just use search patterns. It’s easy to feel like they’re listening to you and serving you an ad for something you said or talked about, but most likely it’s just something the user searched for.
  
  Search patterns yes, but also location data, and it's aggregated over all your friends. So if you go to a restaurant together with a friend who recently searched for some clothes brand, the algorithm will know that and show you ads for that brand. Chances are you talked about his interests when you met, so you incorrectly infer that it was listening to the conversation.
Confirming what we already know. After the 100th time you get a recommendation for a product you mentioned in a conversation the day before you start to get a little suspicious.
- Yeah, when I read this I was like 'is anyone still denying ads use of microphone?' Eight years ago I would be called paranoid, but now everybody experienced smartphone at it's best.
When it comes to Android, this should be standard. You can block all the bullshit with a few clicks, some apps don't need internet access at all (such as the fucking keyboard, Google).
- Obligatory FUTO keyboard recommendation. I liked Swiftkey - but not enough to defend the idea of an online keyboard.
  
  Oh wow. This seems to do exactly what I've been looking for. Works with nordic languages, and with a longtap layer for numbers and symbols, so for my purposes seems perfect at a glance.
  
  Whoa this is cool, but I'm finding the voice to text to be quite buggy. Sometimes it works and other times all I get a bunch of emojis and weird symbols??
  
  The only problem I have with it is that it doesn't have support for 12-key Japanese input.
  
  The only problem I have with it is that it doesn’t have support for 12-key Japanese input.
  Tried it now, it's really great but doesn't have the full pc layout that includes our accursed Č,Ć,Š.Đ diacritics. I'm actually really satisfied with my jugaad solution - downgraded version of gboard, frozen in time and cut off from the internet by Rethink VPN. There's no reason to update it, really, which is lucky since newer versions start randomly lagging if they can't reach google's fucking servers.
My trust in Google and Facebook after this: 📉📉📉
- Never trust any company all you are is dollar signs to them
  
  Your comment after this: 📈📈📈
admits isnt the right word, they are exaggerating their capabilities for the sake of marketing themselves to other marketing people who have no idea how device permissions or internet packets work.
"We always knew it"... No you just didnt know about your own confirmation basis, you didnt notice all those times when you hadn't talked about whatever you never shop for and it was shown in ads anyway.
If a marketing company had the ability to spy on behalf of advertising whats stopping some random app or the local police dept from doing it? And you can bet if this was at all possible the cops would be all over it to monitor "criminals"
Is anything about american leadership in politics or business ever good for people?
Honestly so disgusted with this country.
- No politics in this post, only business
Read this post. Disable microphone access on the phone.
It aint just google n facebork. They all do it. Even if youre just hanging out not browsing it can hear the environment around you
”In most moments of the day, there’s a smart device in within two-inch radius of us. That means a smart device is likely within earshot when we talk about our plans for the weekend, how badly we need our kitchen remodeled, or which SUV model is best for the family with our spouse, and so much more,” the company wrote.
Facebook and Google swear they cast it into the fire, because they don’t want to take away your privacy to make money. Do you believe them?
- Yes. This is Bigfoot territory dumb and ignorant.
  
  Who could possibly imagine Google and Facebook doing something unethical, then lying about it?
- The bootlickers love this thread
  
  I just think most folks are ignorant to how the tech works and the entirety of the security industry. But I bet that makes me a bootlicker 🙄
We know, you don't need to admit it 10 years after the fact.
- Yes they do. Not enough people know.
  We need everyone to talk about this until it becomes general public knowledge, and then general public outrage.
  
  Have you read the article? They're claiming (!) that they would use ads on websites to use mic data. If you know anything about Android or IOS, you'll know that you have to give mic permission to your browser for it to have access to anything. THEN the browser itself checks if a website needs access to your mic and you have to willingly give it. And lastly: Android indicates when your mic is hot with a green dot. So all of their claims are bs.
  Come back if one of the OS developers admit to always listen on an OS level.
  
  I agree with the premise but I have zero confidence this would cause outrage. Most people are too stupid to understand the implications
- ./r/confidentlyincorrect 🤣
  How do you fall for this shit hook line and sinker?
  
  I'm only human, haha.
  I'm glad to see the discussion going on.
- A lot of seemingly smart people said that it would not make sense to do that.
🙄👌👍 you know something that millions of SecOps teams don't. I thought Lemmy was going to raise the quality of technology conversation. Le sigh.

80 comments