Cox Media Group has been promoting a new targeted advertising tool to tech companies that uses audio recordings from smart home devices. This program was first revealed by Gizmodo late last year. Recently, 404 Media obtained more details about it through a leaked pitch deck, and the contents are unsettling.
The tool, called "Active Listening," is designed to leverage smart devices that “capture real-time intent data by listening to conversations.” Advertisers can then pair this data with behavioral information to target consumers. The deck also mentions using artificial intelligence to analyze both behavioral and voice data from over 470 sources, raising further privacy concerns.
The legality of this practice is questionable. Many states have wiretapping laws prohibiting recording without explicit consent. If smart devices are always recording and funneling data into targeted ads, this could violate laws like California’s two-party consent requirement.
Cox claims partnerships with major platforms like Google, Amazon, and Facebook, but it’s unclear if any are involved with this tool. After being contacted, Google dropped Cox Media Group from its advertising partners program, and Amazon stated it has never worked with CMG on this program.
You can view the full pitch deck here.
