Shocking leaks reveal our mobile phones and home devices are spying on us

Mustafa Al-Zoubi, Gulf Today

Cox Media Group (CMG), an American media company based in Atlanta, Georgia, that provides media broadcasting services, announced that its “Active-Listening” program uses artificial intelligence to collect and analyze “real-time intent data” by listening to what you say through your phone, laptop, or home assistant microphone, according to the British media.

The announcement states that “advertisers can link this audio data with behavioral data to target consumers in the market.”

The presentation continues to promote “Facebook,” “Google,” and “Amazon” as clients of CMG, indicating that they use the active listening service to target users.

A presentation was leaked to journalists at 404 Media showing the capabilities of the active listening program to potential clients.

Google removed the media group from its Partners Program website.

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, admitted that it is reviewing CMG for any violations of its terms of service.

Amazon responded to 404 Media by stating that its advertising arm “has never worked with CMG on this program, and has no plans to do so.”

The company’s explanatory posts detail the six-step process that CMG’s Active-Listening program uses to collect consumer voice data through any device with a microphone, including a smartphone, laptop, or home assistant.

It’s unclear whether the Active-Listening program is listening constantly, or only at specific times when the phone’s microphone is activated, such as during a call.

If your voice or behavioral data suggests that you’re considering buying something, they’ll serve you ads for that item.

For example, talking about or searching for Toyota cars could result in ads for its latest model.

Meta’s online privacy center states: “We understand that sometimes ads can be very specific, and it can feel like we’re listening to your conversations through your microphone, but we’re not.”

But this leak is just the latest development in a wave of reports that suggest your phone is really spying on you, and that sites like Facebook could be making use of what you say.