Post AcqDAt2kg1tccR4T32 by acdha@code4lib.social
 (DIR) More posts by acdha@code4lib.social
 (DIR) Post #AcpbHHHNgVT5GTXAx6 by mattblaze@federate.social
       2023-12-15T05:30:20Z
       
       0 likes, 1 repeats
       
       Ad networks are at least flirting with technologies that monitor microphones in devices to target ads, according to this story: https://www.404media.co/cmg-cox-media-actually-listening-to-phones-smartspeakers-for-ads-marketing/It's unclear whether this is currently going on, but it's very clear it *could*.What are the legalities here? In particular, is it wiretapping? Can the government get access to data collected this way? My colleagues @SteveBellovin, Susan Landau, Stephanie Pell, and I explored this and more a few years ago: https://jolt.law.harvard.edu/assets/articlePDFs/v30/30HarvJLTech1.pdf
       
 (DIR) Post #AcpbHI5MgfRzlUv5rU by simon@fedi.simonwillison.net
       2023-12-15T10:48:54Z
       
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       @mattblaze I pitched that story around to a bunch of journalists yesterday as "I'm pretty sure these Cox people are lying about their advertising product in order to take advantage of a common conspiracy theory"
       
 (DIR) Post #AcpbHJ2D9sWQi0S5aK by mattblaze@federate.social
       2023-12-15T05:54:30Z
       
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       I'll note our paper is about this is called "It's too complicated", because, well, it's complicated.If it were simple, we'd have called our paper "Actually, all this stuff is really simple" or something.
       
 (DIR) Post #AcpbHKvY7cNiZvLnTk by mattblaze@federate.social
       2023-12-15T06:07:10Z
       
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       I want to thank the author of that article for blowing up my syllabus for my surveillance tech and law course next semester.
       
 (DIR) Post #AcpvhYezgS1vmbO62S by mattblaze@federate.social
       2023-12-15T14:37:48Z
       
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       @simon sure smells that way. But who knows.
       
 (DIR) Post #Acq016C9crGD6lTI4u by simon@fedi.simonwillison.net
       2023-12-15T15:25:59Z
       
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       @mattblaze the Cox media people have removed the two pages they has that talked about "Active Listening"
       
 (DIR) Post #AcqDAt2kg1tccR4T32 by acdha@code4lib.social
       2023-12-15T17:45:50Z
       
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       @simon @mattblaze I think that’s the most likely answer but the other possibility I was wondering about is that, say, their sister Cox Communications has some data stream from the bundled voice remotes or other devices they offer to customers and the deception was describing it as a general capability (and likely grossly overstating the breadth or quality). It’s definitely a strong enough assertion that someone in government should ask for an explanation.