Introduction  

“My wife asked me why I was speaking so softly at home. I told her I was afraid Mark Zuckerberg was listening! She laughed. I laughed. Alexa laughed. Siri Laughed.” 

Most of us have heard this joke tweeted by an X user in 2019. Everybody laughed it off as a harmless dig at the increasingly invasive nature of everyday tech. Fast-forward to 2024 and this tech is called active Listening Software. Some smartphones use active listening software to collect real-time data about user conversations and behaviour. Advertisers then use this data to target consumers with relevant ads, among other data uses.  

Recently, the long-held suspicion that our phones were listening to our conversations became a reality after a marketing firm confirmed that smartphones come with software to listen to their users. The firm, whose clients are Google and Facebook, has admitted using the phone’s microphone to collect information.  

The Recent Developments Surrounding Active Listening Software 

Cox Media Group (CMG), associated with one of the largest cable companies in the U.S., has claimed it can listen to consumer conversations through smartphones, smart speakers, smart TVs, and other devices for targeted advertising. This controversial practice, which CMG terms “Active Listening,” has raised significant concerns about privacy and the extent of eavesdropping by marketing and advertising companies. CMG Local Solutions discussed its Active Listening marketing solution, which can customize a campaign “to listen for any keywords/targets relevant to your business.” The blog post, which was later removed, asked marketers to “Imagine a world where you can read minds. One where you know the second someone in your area is concerned about mould in their closet, where you have access to a list of leads who are unhappy with their current contractor, or know who is struggling to pick the perfect fine dining restaurant to propose to their discerning future fiancé.”  

Implications for Active Listening Software Under the GDPR 

Once we have understood the intensity of the invasion of privacy that active listening software causes, we can ask the next logical question: Is it legal? 

In the simplest terms, it is not. In almost every legislation across the world dealing with privacy laws, consent is always considered one of the foundational principles of any collecting, processing and distributing activity of personal data. A more specific answer would lead us to examine the provisions of GDPR, which this software potentially violates.  

 How Active Listening Breaches Your Privacy  > https://tsaaro.com/blogs/even-the-walls-have-ears-how-active-listening-breaches-your-privacy/