Ad Technology designed to monitor offline conversations?

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FCC and FTC Quiz Phone Companies Amid Fears on Security Vulnerabilities by Reuters The Federal Communications Commission and Federal Trade Commission have asked mobile phone carriers and manufacturers to explain how they release security updates amid mounting concerns over security vulnerabilities, the agencies said on Monday. The agencies have written to Apple, AT&T and Alphabet, among others, in order "to better understand, and ultimately to improve, the security of mobile devices," the FCC said. Americans Are Getting Freaked Out About Doing Stuff on the Internet by Lucy Bayly If you've started to think twice about what you type into a search engine or whether you should hit that Wi-Fi hotspot, you're not alone. Literally. A new report reveals that almost half of Americans are deliberately curtailing their Internet use due to privacy concerns, identity theft, and fears of hacking. A study conducted by the Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) based on data collected in July 2015 showed that "45 percent of online households reported that these concerns stopped them from conducting financial transactions, buying goods or services, [or] posting on social networks." With one in five Americans the victim of an online breach in the year leading up to the study, the pervasive fear of identity theft even extends to social media and general freedom of speech online. Goldberg revealed that 29 percent of concerned users declined to "express controversial or political opinions online due to privacy or security concerns." http://ift.tt/1XjCDPU http://ift.tt/1XjCps3

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Your Phone Is Listening—Literally Listening—to Your TV The Atlantic Kaveh Waddell Nov 19, 2015 Verizon’s “supercookies”—a snippet of code injected into mobile users’ web requests—silently identify and track its customers, sharing the information with AOL’s wide-reaching ad network. Vizio Smart TVs tie customers’ viewing habits to a home Internet address and sell the information to advertisers. And both programs require customers, who are often unaware of the programs, to opt out of them if they don’t wish to be tracked. But a newer method of cross-device tracking wanders into the realm of science fiction. According to a filing from the Center for Democracy and Technology, a digital human rights and privacy advocacy organization, companies have figured out how to use inaudible sounds to establish links between devices. ... ARTICLE CONTINUES AFTER ADVERTISEMENT ((Ad for Investment Company I've used)) The creativity displayed by SilverPush and its peers has raised privacy concerns. The company’s audio-based tracking method is far more accurate than most ways advertising software quietly follow Internet users, because it takes the guesswork out of the device-matching process, says Joseph Lorenzo Hall, the chief technologist at the Center for Democracy and Technology. The methods marketing companies use to discover links between users’ devices—whether it’s audio beacons or examining Internet traffic for markers that distinguish a certain user’s computer and browser—are often silent and secret by design. ... Cross-device tracking has caught the eye of the Federal Trade Commission, which recently convened a workshop to discuss the technologies and associated risks. Hall said he hopes the FTC will issue guidelines for building transparency and control into cross-device tracking technologies. Next-generation tracking technologies like SilverPush, he says, should be required to meet a “higher bar” of warning users they’re being followed. http://ift.tt/1XjCoV5

Here is another article on the topic:

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Warning: stop turning phones into secret listening devices by Kerry Tomlinson in Privacy App developers get a warning from the Federal Trade Commission over hidden app audio kits. You saw the app on Google Play. You downloaded it. But you never got any sort of notification that you were actually turning your phone into a secret listening device. The Federal Trade Commission sent a warning letter to a dozen app developers, telling them that their secret audio apps might be in violation of the law. “These apps were capable of listening in the background and collecting information about consumers without notifying them,” said Jessica Rich, the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection Director in a press release. No warning But the apps now under scrutiny gave no alert, no notification, no warning, the FTC said. The apps may not be affiliated with the SilverPush company itself, the agency’s warning letter said they appear to be using the SilverPush listening technology code. http://www.archerenergysolutions.com...ening-devices/

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May 22, 2014 Facebook Wants To Listen In On What You're Doing Kashmir Hill , Forbes Technology Forbes Staff Facebook is rolling out a new feature for its smartphone app that can turn on users’ microphones and listen to what’s happening around them to identify songs playing or television being watched. The pay-off for users in allowing Facebook to microphone-lurk is that the social giant will be able to add a little tag to their status update that says they’re watching an episode of Games of Thrones as they sound off on their happiness (or despair) about the rise in background sex on TV these days. Facebook’s animal of choice to represent privacy is an extinct one “The aim was to remove every last bit of friction from the way we reference bits of pop culture on the social network,” writes Ryan Tate of Wired. Depending on how you feel about informational privacy and/or your friends’ taste in pop culture, that statement is either exhilarating or terrifying. When the smartphone’s listening in — something it can only do through the iOS and Android apps, not through Facebook on a browser — tiny blue bars will appear to announce the mic has been activated. Facebook says the microphone will not otherwise be collecting data. ... http://ift.tt/1XjCkom

What do you think?

The Debunking site Snopes discusses one App:

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Facebook Listens Does the Facebook 'Identify TV and Music' app on your phone listen to and record your conversations? Claim: The Facebook 'Identify TV and Music' app listens to and records sounds through your phone. MIXTURE Facebook says the digital fingerprinting feature will be opt-in only, meaning users will have to give the program permission to start. Once activated, an icon on the face of the phone will indicate that the microphone is active and the phone is listening. Users who do opt in may still choose to turn off the feature on a post-by-post basis. (Audio fingerprinting will only be available in the United States and only via iOS and Android mobile apps; it will not function if Facebook is accessed through a browser.) http://ift.tt/1TVWCi4

via International Skeptics Forum http://ift.tt/202lsS3