Media marketing giant Cox Media Group claims it has the capability to listen to ambient conversations of consumers through embedded microphones in smartphones.  According to a review of Cox Media Group marketing materials by 404 Media, Cox claims the capability can identify potential customers “based on casual conversations in real time.”

Until now, there was no evidence that such a capability actually existed but claims about the tech raise legal concerns.  However, CMG’s website says,”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.” 

CMG responded to the article saying: 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.