They'll deny it, but your phone is definitely listening in

A media company that used to work with Google has promised its clients that it will eavesdrop on people using their smartphones.

“I talked recently about buying a new car, a specific model. We didn't even look it up. My wife and I both had ads for that car the very next day. The phones are listening in on our conversations,” one Redditor said.

How many times have you heard a similar story? Or even have one to tell yourself?

Take note: your phone can technically eavesdrop on your conversations, and many businesses are interested in this. Of course, they will try to convince you otherwise.

In an email to Cybernews, Google insisted it doesn’t eavesdrop on smartphone users and that its technology is privacy-preserving. The company’s representative also insisted that “a common assumption that devices are listening to people in order to serve them ads has been widely debunked.”

But ample evidence and experiments claim quite the opposite.

For example, a recent report by 404 Media, an independent news and research outlet, paints a different picture.

Not only is it technically possible to use people’s smartphones to spy on them, but some companies actually boast online about doing so.

The reason for eavesdropping is rather simple. Businesses are doing their best to profile you to trick you into buying more. How? By exposing you to more ads that are more personalized. And it’s not only your online behavior that they’re tracking. They also want to listen in to your private conversations to better understand your needs.

Cox Media Group (CMG), a media giant, has apparently publicly boasted about the ability to listen in, as per 404 media.

“We can identify buyers based on casual conversations in real-time. It may seem like black magic, but it's not. It's AI. The growing ability to access microphone data on devices like smartphones and tablets enables our technology partner to aggregate and analyze voice

data during pre-purchase conversations,” CMG pitch deck claims.

It also says it is completely legal to listen in to people’s conversations since they give permissions when setting up their phones and agreeing to terms and services.

In response, Google reportedly kicked them off their partner program.

“The result? Unprecedented understanding of consumer behavior, so we can deliver personalized ads that make your target audience think: wow, they must be a mind reader,” CMG said.

Wow, indeed.

Another CMG document – seemingly a slideshow to prospective clients – simplifies how the technology works.

• Real-time intent data is captured by listening to people’s conversations

• Advertisers pair this data with behavioral data to define ready-to-buy users

• CMG deploys AI to collect data from hundreds of sources for better targeting

• Data is used to build an audience list in a “defined 10-mile radius”

• Information about the audience is uploaded to CMG ad platforms

The potential ready-to-buy audience is targeted via streaming TV and audio, paid social media ads, and Google and Bing engines, among other sources.

Similar reports on CMG actively listening in and using conversations to better serve ads have been popping up for quite a while. And, to be fair, not only on CMG. Techdirt brushed the dust off a story from 2009, when the cable industry, namely, Comcast, made it evident they were interested in monitoring people in their living rooms using embedded cameras and microphones.

We’ve reached out to CMG to confirm the origin of these documents and will update the article if/when we receive a reply.

Meanwhile, you should head to settings and check all the permissions you’ve enabled for different apps.