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Ilandar ,

As a reminder, this entire story is still only based on the reporting from 404 Media who themselves have been unable to confirm whether any of this technology actually exists or is in use. The journalists investigating this story (not the outlets republishing it with clickbait headlines) are not convinced themselves and have suggested it could also be a case of CMG tech bros trying to hype their company by shipping around proof of concept marketing material to other tech companies. Ford has patented similar technology but again, there is no proof that this is actually being used currently.

I have seen this shit reposted multiple times all over Lemmy as “dEfiNiTiVe pRoOf” but seemingly none of the people who share it or comment have actually read the original articles themselves or listened to anything the 404 Media journalists have said about it. This is not proof, this is a developing story which requires proof for the conspiracy theory to be confirmed as real.

infeeeee ,

Better article about this story:

arstechnica.com/…/no-a-marketing-firm-isnt-tappin…

MajorHavoc , (edited )

In summary: Google, Amazon and Meta all deny that they directly access your microphone, and all three failed to actually deny purchasing voice data from third party apps that definitely do use your microphone and pair that with your ad targeting profile.

This is getting more attention because an internal slide deck from Cox Media Group was leaked. Based on rthe nature of leaks, it’s safe to assume that Cox isn’t the only organization up to this, they were just three least careful

So yeah, they’re listening to anyone who isn’t incredibly careful what apps they install and what permissions they give those apps.

Exactly as we all have suspected for years, while they gaslight us promising that they definitely don’t.

Notice that they’re still denying it, and trust that as you will.

IllNess ,

What makes this worse is Google insists Android phones’ microphone indicator is accurate. Looks like they are lying about that too.

mrvictory1 ,

Google said “Apps using Android Private Core will not show a mic indicator” or something like that

bdonvr , (edited )

Someone back this up with proof. Security researchers would’ve noticed this. They’d’ve had to have hacked their way around the microphone permission systems and microphone use indicator (depending on OS) on your phone and upload that data without being caught by security analysts. That kind of bug would probably be worth a fairly decent bounty too.

The article talks about a slide in a PITCH to advertisers. But not a concrete system. Then it goes on to say advertisers bought a dataset from other sources. What dataset? From where? It doesn’t say. Transcriptions from voice assistants? Maybe. But without hard evidence I don’t believe random apps are just recording clandestinely in the background. But people want to believe this so writing shitty unsourced articles with click bait titles and tenuous-if-I’m-generous linking of weak facts lacking entirely in context generates lots of clicks.

infeeeee ,

This is nearly a year old news, and noone ever could prove it.

arstechnica.com/…/no-a-marketing-firm-isnt-tappin…

CMG is simply lying. Also it was not “leaked” it was published on their website.

catloaf ,

tl;dr: no. The article shits all over the question. Newsweek is still trash.

iamroot OP ,

Still it looks like CMG pitched a plan to serve ads by listening to user conversations. Of course CMG and their clients are gonna deny it.

infeeeee ,

It was not a “leak” this was literally on their website a year ago: arstechnica.com/…/no-a-marketing-firm-isnt-tappin…

Marketing people bullshitting to get investor money. Anyone can imagine non existent technology and lie on the internet, you don’t have to believe everything

Shape4985 ,
@Shape4985@lemmy.ml avatar

They have to be listening all the time if you have voice activation. The mic always needs to be open so it knows when you say “hey siri” or “hey google”. How would it know you said that if it didnt already listen to every word. The question is if that stays local on the device.

shoulderoforion ,
@shoulderoforion@fedia.io avatar

yes, they are. it's been reported so many time, it's like continuing to ask if narwhals are real.

possiblylinux127 ,

I like how that is the privacy take or break. Apparently Google collecting everything else was fine.

Just for the record, the only companies that can arbitrarily record audio is Apple and Google and maybe the phone manufacturer. Anything else would need the Microphone permission

Sterile_Technique ,
@Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world avatar

I’ve heard and experienced WAY too much supporting anecdote to just wave it off as confirmation bias. Official statements by telecoms and such be damned, this shit is 100% happening.

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