Cox Distances Itself From Claim It Spies On Users Via Phones, Cable Box Mics

(Mis)Uses of Technology

from the everybody-is-spying-on-you-and-nobody-cares dept

For years, the cable industry has dreamed of a future where they could use your cable box to actively track your every behavior using cameras and microphones and then monetize the data. At one point way back in 2009, Comcast made it clear they were even interested in using embedded microphones and cameras to monitor the number of people in living rooms and listen in on conversations.

More than a decade later, and the cable industry is openly bragging that they’ve accomplished their vision.

Last month, 404 Media reported that Cox Media Group–an extension of Cox cable–has been happily bragging about its ability to use mics and cameras in smartphones, smart TVs, and other devices to actively monitor users and then use that gathered information for targeted ads.

From the company’s website:

“What would it mean for your business if you could target potential clients who are actively discussing their need for your services in their day-to-day conversations? No, it’s not a Black Mirror episode—it’s Voice Data, and CMG has the capabilities to use it to your business advantage,” CMG’s website reads.”

As for legality, Cox isn’t really worried about it:

“Is this legal? YES- it is totally legal for phones and devices to listen to you. That’s because consumers usually give consent when accepting terms and conditions of software updates or app downloads.”

The company can’t be all that proud of the accomplishment, since it deleted the reference to the claim very shortly after the news report emerged. And after a delay, it finally also issued a statement walking back its previous claims:

“CMG businesses do not listen to any conversations or have access to anything beyond a third-party aggregated, anonymized and fully encrypted data set that can be used for ad placement. We regret any confusion and we are committed to ensuring our marketing is clear and transparent,” the statement added.”

That statement isn’t particularly clarifying, especially given the repeated studies that have shown that the term “anonymization” doesn’t actually meaning anything. It’s a term the marketing industry often trots out as a get out of jail free card any time it’s accused of surreptitious surveillance.

(As an aside, 404 Media was launched only a few months ago by Motherboard editors fleeing the idiotic Vice bankruptcy, highlighting the benefit of having a healthy and functional independent media).

Again, the cable industry has been actively bragging about its interest in using embedded microphones and cameras to listen in and watch living room behaviors in order to sell you things for as long as I’ve been a reporter, so it would be surprising if they hadn’t implemented some flavor of the idea, carefully tailored to tap dance around our flimsy ass existing wiretap and privacy laws.

Security researchers have found it trivial to also hack Comcast cable remotes or smart televisions from different vendors to listen in on users without their consent. And for years, marketing companies have been using phones to listen in on consumer activity for marketing purposes, often using inaudible tones transmitted by TVs and collected by phones.

Why wouldn’t companies pursue such technologies in a country that’s genuinely too corrupt to pass even a baseline privacy law for the Internet era? Our regulators generally lack the staff or resources to even come close to policing the privacy abuses already happening everyday at scale, and cable and wireless companies have long been at the front of the parade of companies eager to exploit it.

Filed Under: cable box, camera, microphone, privacy, security, surveillance
Companies: cox