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Cox deletes ‘Active Listening’ ad pitch after boasting that it eavesdrops though our phones
(www.fastcompany.com)
this post was submitted on 27 Dec 2023
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There's a dozen ways they could jump the air gap.
Ultrasonic to a phone or Alexa/Siri/etc, connect to an unsecured network, send data to a neighbor's smart TV which is connected to Internet, Bluetooth or other to a phone
But this would be proven then?
Something that can be done easily and may be done in the future, if it hasn't been discovered yet
Clandestine methods have been known since the 2000s. We know they're scummy and want our data. Why does this seem too crazy?
Because it would result in a scandal and it seems easily discoverable (by professional investigators/engineers). I don't know. It's likely done on a small, targeted, scale, but can't imagine this rolled out on a large scale. Too little gain for the potential lashback, quite some factors need to be right, too.
The economics aren't there. A cellular chip and a subscription will not pay for the private conversations of a random house.
You could be right, but I'm not alleging they would use cell.
Presumably the smart appliance already has wireless capabilities like WiFi/BLE. And then it's just a software exercise on how to code an interface between devices of the same manufacturer.
Benefits: legion
Downsides: few
Consequences of getting caught: diminishing by the month
That would add a ludicrous amount of cost to the device in both material cost and R&D. It's so incredibly unlikely that any company would make that investment just to spy on the conversations of ordinary citizens when there are far cheaper and easier ways for them to build and sell advertising profiles.
Ludicrous R&D?
Ultrasound is used by Microsoft teams, some apps use it to transmit data between phones. Back in the day there was a chrome app to transfer links.
Amazon sidewalk already connects devices together. Samsung Smart things already bridges Samsung devices. Apple Air tags already use "primary" Internet connected devices to transmit data about "secondary" devices.
None of this is new tech, it's all feasible.
its not unlikely, devices were already shown doing shit like this
Low-bandwidth cellular chip...
At that point the customer acquisition cost is t worth it.