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Google & Facebook partner admits it can listen to device microphone to serve ads - Dexerto (www.dexerto.com)

submitted 2 months ago by Stopthatgirl7@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

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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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[–] HappyTimeHarry@lemm.ee 4 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

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"