Cox deletes ‘Active Listening’ ad pitch after boasting that it eavesdrops though our phones::undefined

  • piecat@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1128·
    6 months ago

    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

      • piecat@lemmy.worldEnglish
        73·
        6 months ago

        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?

        • InFerNo@lemmy.mlEnglish
          51·
          6 months ago

          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.

        • willis936@lemmy.worldEnglish
          32·
          6 months ago

          The economics aren’t there. A cellular chip and a subscription will not pay for the private conversations of a random house.

          • piecat@lemmy.worldEnglish
            1·
            6 months ago

            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.

    • Boy of Soy@lemmy.worldEnglish
      82·
      6 months ago

      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.

      • piecat@lemmy.worldEnglish
        6·
        6 months ago

        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.