At least one marketing company is claiming they can spy on users “in real time” via smart devices
A Cox Media Group (CMG) team claims that, yes, your fears are valid: they are listening. From your smart speakers to your smart phones, they’re listening. These devices apparently have “active listening” capabilities. These, according to the marketing group selling their services at CMG, allow hem to tap into conversations for targeted marketing.
When you’re not quite sure if you got an ad out of a coincidence or if your smartphone is spying on you, maybe it came from CMG’s spying. A marketing company making extraordinary claims wouldn’t be anything out of the ordinary. There’s always the chance that this is marketing fluff around a different feature. Still, it’s kind of spooky, isn’t it? A marketing company is claiming they do the very thing we’ve been afraid our smart devices were already doing.
CMG’s Claims
via CMG (Web Archive)
404 Media broke the story of how Cox Media Group (CMG) claims they’re listening in to random people to figure out who to target with particular ads. 404’s reporting says they spoke with a marketing professional who heard CMG’s pitch. They stated they “immediately removed all my Amazon Echo devices and locked down microphone permissions.” The claims are concerning.
CMG, on their website (archive link) claims that “your devices are listening to you.” They call their feature “active listening.” They claim it can use “voice data to target your advertising to the EXACT people you’re looking for.”
CMG claims they listen in on normal conversations, like discussions about necessary home improvements, or car choices. They can then “target potential clients or customers” based on “their day to day conversations.” They claim they can identify keywords, generate personas for buyers, and use AI to listen to conversations “via smartphones, smart tvs and other devices.”
According to CMG, this is all legal, because users have already agreed to give up these permissions in privacy policies and terms of use.
CMG says their targeting will then send ads to particular users over streaming tv and audio, social media, YouTube, Google and Bing search, and less specialized advertising channels, like over the air broadcasting and display ads. They can use data to define territories, 10 to 20 mile radiuses, where customers will be more likely to respond to general advertising.
Both 404 Media and Gizmodo attempted to reach out to Amazon, Google, and Microsoft, who CMG calls out as partners, but they have not yet responded.
Keeping Yourself Safe
Don’t panic! First, we don’t know if CMG’s claims are completely true. Embellishment is common in advertising. However, we can’t be exactly sure how to protect yourselves as we don’t know the exact methods CMG is supposedly using to invade your privacy. A few basic tips will help improve your privacy in general, and could help prevent this kind of spying.
First, you can use a VPN with ad blocking. NordVPN has “Threat Protection Lite” which can filter out “ads and malicious domains.” This can keep bad actors away from your devices entirely.
You can choose to only use smart devices that respect your privacy. Apple’s Siri devices, like the HomePod mini, might be the best choice for privacy. If you are using Amazon, Google, or Facebook’s devices, companies that are data brokers, you may want to either replace them or ensure you’re not using third party integrations from sources you don’t trust.
Don’t download apps you don’t need. Why use the Facebook app when you can visit it in a browser? Use a third party browsing app, like DuckDuckGo, just for Facebook or other social media, limiting what they can track across the web.
Revote microphone, camera, and photo permissions from most of your apps. Also, watch for indicators telling you that an app has accessed your camera or microphone.
We can’t guarantee that anyone is invading our privacy. We don’t know if these methods will make you safe. However, invading our privacy wouldn’t be difficult, and, often, the only person standing up for your privacy is yourself.
Sources:
- Joseph Cox, 404Media
- Ben Lovejoy, 9to5Mac
- Web Archive
- Maxwell Zeff, Gizmodo