The marketers at media giant Cox Media Group (CMG) pitched this idea to potential advertising partners, according to a report from 404 Media. The tech news outlet recently obtained a November 2023 pitch deck from CMG that detailed its “Active Listening” service and how it can target advertising based on smart devices like smartphones, smart speakers, and smart TVs.
“What would it mean for your business if you could target potential clients who are actively discussing their need for your services in their day-to-day conversations?” reads the beginning of the CMG sales pitch. “No, it’s not a Black Mirror episode - it’s Voice Data, and CMG has the capabilities to use it to your business advantage.”
The pitch deck goes on to mention how it’s legal for companies to listen in on users and collect that data.
“Creepy? Sure. Great for marketing? Definitely,” the CMG sales pitch says.
This info and the leaked slide deck was out about 8 months ago. It’s back in the news now because some materials came to light showing they are STILL distributing proposals to potential clients trying to sell the same service.
10min. discussion in recent Security Now podcast
I’m surprised anyone is surprised by this. It feels like years and years since I first noticed recent conversations with friends leading to suspiciously well targeted ads online.
I assume if my phone is nearby and has any battery, it is listening. And that some form of meta data besides just my “hey Google?” are being utilized.
Nope. Shit wasn’t reality until recently with proliferation of embedded smart assistants. Before, it was always people forgetting that they do quick and dirty searches that get cross associated with their profiles. They’re always going to search about it if discussing it. It has always been pure coincidence (think of the battery drain then) and generally impractical until recently.
People are dumb.
Google Assistant was released in 2016.
Note to salespeople: if you ever find yourself saying “No it’s not a Black Mirror episode”, then you are the baddies.
Ok, everyone, start having conversations where you repeatedly talk about wanting affordable health care!
My friends and I did an experiment where we tried to get Instagram to give us ads for Hooters. We put our phones on the table and started talking about beer, wings, sports, and of course boobs.
We didn’t get any hooters ads.
RM Williams are an Australian made boot (an expensive designer brand these days). I don’t own any, never have, have not spoken about or seen them or passed by a shop with them for years - I don’t buy $700 shoes.
Started a new job the other week, walking down the terrace with a co-worker and old colleague. Remarked I needed some new shoes and the topic of his RM Williams came up, which he was wearing at the time.
That evening, RM Williams video in my youtube feed.
You are kidding yourself if you think these devices are not listening. I will wear that tinfoil hat to my grave, or at least until it’s borne out in a future court case.
I’ve just seen it too damn often to doubt that it’s happening. My ads are pretty well targeted – mostly D&D and 3D printer stuff (can you guess what I’ve been doing lately?) – but the number of times I’ve seen an ad pop through over something that was just discussed out loud within the past 24 hours is worth mentioning.
The thing about it, though, for me – I’m going to get ads either way, sadly. I wish that weren’t true, but there’s no doubting it. Having them targeted is, at least, occasionally useful.
Yeah, this has been one of those we-all-knew-it-was-happening-despite-lies-to-the-contrary things for what feels like ages. I’ve always chalked it up as a sacrifice to the capitalist pantheon of gods allowing me to better enjoy the fruits of my labor by then tithing more appropriately according to their wishes /s
Sure, Assistwnt was released in 2016 but I did not have a big enough active user base then to to prostitute for advertising yet.
Siri was built into iPhones starting in 2011.
As others have said, I think you’re deluding yourself in imagining this is only recent. Especially if it’s because of assumed technical limitations earlier, or unwillingness of companies to try (experiment - even with a lower user base - assuming that is even true).
Yeah, I think we’ve all known this has been happening for a long time now. Too many casual conversations that turned into targeted advertising within 24 hours without any search being performed for it to be coincidence.
That said, sometimes I feel almost sorry for my phone as it has to listen to me rant to myself about work, politics and stupid people in general daily on my commute, and let’s not even think about when I try to sing along to a good tune while driving…I’m surprised it hasn’t bricked itself yet.
It’s worth noting that you can be accurately predicted for many advertising purposes simply by the seemingly unrelated activity that they’re already openly tracking. About 15 years ago, as machine learning really came into its own, there was a bit of controversy when Target aimed maternity ads at a teenager. She was in fact pregnant. I’m not sure even she knew before the ads started, but her surrounding trackable behavior was enough to predict it.
That said, I assume my phone listens sometimes as well. I just wish it would listen better when I shout “Hey, Google!” on the highway…
I believe @rei is correct, they don’t listen and sell ads. People just think they do based on confirmation bias. You just spoke about buying a new vacuum and you haven’t searched for it or even typed the word in a decade… They have to be listening right? No, it’s back to school time and there’s a natural uptick and you fit the general profile plus you ignore the hundred other ads you got today.
It’s explicitly prohibited for app developers in Android’s terms of service. Ok, you might argue that you just yesterday gave full microphone permission to the temuchina app, which is not Temu but an even shadier knockoff with 27 total downloads so far. Maybe they are, as Google might have let the app past its screening. But it’s not a widespread issue yet.
This. And also:
I couldn’t tell you how much power your phone uses while transmitting, but if your phone is listening to you, even if it’s not transmitting all the time, I would think that’s gonna take some battery power, probably a significant amount.
Isn’t a phone listening 24/7 for it’s assistant queue “hey Google” or “Siri?”
The argument isn’t that some third party app is listening. It’s that the Android OS is via some built in Google service. Obviously it’s listening always as noted above.
Is it? I thought I needed to have my phone unlocked first, but I could certainly be wrong.
Edit: I am wrong, actually, since the phone also has to be receptive to incoming calls. Doh!
I honestly don’t know much of how any of this works. I’m not much of a phone guy.
But even so, wouldn’t it still need to transmit somewhere? I’d think that would take more power?
I’m reminded that many first-time parents are inundated with all sorts of catalogs for everything baby related, even before they’ve told anyone that they’re expecting. There are certain triggers that marketers look out for, and as soon as they get a hit they’re like Great Whites sniffing blood in the water.