Your phones are listening to you. But they’re not the only ones. So are companies, and they’re using your conversations to target you with ads, according to an investigation.
Is it true that your phone listens to you?
We’ve all been there. You mention something one day – a new jacket, a holiday, double glazing – and sure enough the next day ads for it are all over your social media.
In the past this has always been waved off by big tech as evidence of its superior ad tracking and our own paranoia.
You might not think you’ve searched for something, but actually you lingered on an Instagram post about a similar product and bam! It knows you’re in the market.
What are the voice-activated assistants on phones?
And in another sense, your devices are always listening to us. If you use Siri, Alexa, Cortana or other voice-activated assistants, they have to be listening out for the keyword to jump into action.
An investigation by 404 Media found Cox Media Group subsidiary CMG Local Solutions offers a product known as Active Listening, which it says can identify customers ‘based on casual conversations in real time’.
‘It may seem like black magic, but it’s not-it’s AI,’ it writes in a blog post, now redirected to the CMG Local Solutions homepage.
‘The growing ability to access microphone data on devices like smartphones and tablets enables our technology partner to aggregate and analyse voice data during pre-purchase conversations.
‘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?
‘No, it’s not a Black Mirror episode – it’s Voice Data, and CMG has the capabilities to use it to your business advantage.’
Previous studies by software and security companies such as NordVPN have tried to prove whether or not advertisers are listening in, but have never found concrete evidence.
Nevertheless, it doesn’t seem beyond the realm of possibility that Active Listening is a real thing, and could become more common – especially given how many ridiculously long and complicated terms and conditions we’re faced with almost daily, and rarely (or never) read before tapping accept.
How to stop your phone listening in
There are a number of ways your phone can legitimately listen in if given the right permissions.
On iOS, the first steps to protecting your privacy are:
- Turn off Siri. In settings, go to Accessibility > Siri and toggle off ‘Always Listen for ‘Hey Siri’.
- Secondly, check which apps have access to your microphone. Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Microphone and toggle off any that you don’t want to have access. Some will require it to function, such as Zoom or Duolingo if you’re practising speech, so you may want to leave them on or toggle on and off as you use the app.
On Android:
- Go to Settings > Privacy > App Permissions > Microphone, and toggle off the apps you do not want to have access.
- Disable Google listening by going to Settings > Google > Account Services > Search > Voice > Voice Match.
