aefinity@theculture.social 2 months ago
It’s not the first time CMG has made that claim (arstechnica.com/…/no-a-marketing-firm-isnt-tappin…) and it’s not any more credible this time around, although conspiracy theorists will have another field day.
The company added that it does 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” and “regret[s] any confusion.”
That doesn’t sound like kooky bullshit to me. That sounds exactly like what the OP’s title suggests.
I’m no conspiracy theorist, but if I needed to discuss anything legal, I wouldn’t want to do it near a phone. Or a newish car. Or a smart TV…
The list of things that could be listening to us if there’s a vulnerability for the 3 letter agencies to exploit, is ridiculous. And outside of phone and desktop operating systems, few things get regular secrity updates.
dylanmorgan@slrpnk.net 2 months ago
I know little to nothing about android, but it seems like even if we assume CMG code is in (say) all of Facebook’s iOS apps, each one needs permission to use the camera and microphone so if you deny that permission what CMG claims would be impossible. And while Apple certainly has a spotty record in enforcing App Store rules, I feel like they’ve got a lot riding on being absolutely certain that FB and Google and Amazon apps aren’t violating those rules because those are going to be on every researcher’s list of apps to test for privacy compliance.
Mac@mander.xyz 2 months ago
yes but 99% of users give free access to everything.
Midnitte@beehaw.org 2 months ago
Not sure about iOS, but on Android you’re not able to just give free access any more - it’s either no access or “only while in use”
MachineFab812@discuss.tchncs.de 2 months ago
“Only while in use” counts when an app is allowed to run in the background as “in use”. Allow push notifications? That app is running in the background.