I Know You're Listening

I Know You’re Listening

As technological advances in advertising methods have increased the efficiency in targeting market segments almost down to the cellular level, one has to ask, is this good business or an invasion of privacy? Depending on whom you ask and the day of the week the answer will vary. I have an Alexa Echo and two Alexa Echo Dots. I primarily use them to play music and for mundane morning tasks like checking the weather or traffic. I also have an Amazon Prime membership that is fairly active (we’re always ordering things). There have been times that my wife and I have had discussions about a product or service, with no mention of the activation word, ‘Alexa’, but we would get a notification about a similar product or service without prompting the machine. The light would turn green to alert us to the notification (for all non-Alexa users, the light is normally blue). Other times the conversation would lead to an immersion into the topic of the conversation on our Amazon Prime account when we would open it to shop for something completely different. The thing is, Amazon isn’t the only one that does it; juggernaut companies Google and Apple are guilty of the same thing. As a matter of fact, if you have a ‘smart’ device in your home, it’s probably relaying some sort of information about your living habits. “Many smart-speaker owners don’t realize it, but Amazon keeps a copy of everything Alexa records after it hears its name. Apple’s Siri, and until recently Google’s Assistant, by default also keep recordings to help train their artificial intelligences”. (Fowler, 2019) Forget the National Security Agency listening in through a bugged telephone like in the 1998 Will Smith thriller ‘Enemy of the State’, this is more like Will Smith’s 2004 artificial intelligence gone wrong film, ‘I Robot’. No, your toaster isn’t about to try and kill you but you could be potentially sitting in a home with your thermostat, garage door opener, lights, and other everyday appliances and items recording and reporting your every move for advertisers to bombard you with targeted ads.

                                 

Analytics = Advertising Game Changer

For advertising agencies the need for sound market information can never be understated. Organizations such as Nielsen were used for gathering information about audiences for many years. Traditionally, Nielsen would gather demographic information about the television viewers and/or radio listeners and the appropriate time to target a specific subset of this group. It was innovative and effective for the time and gave advertisers an edge. With the introduction of digital media and the explosion of social media marketing the technology to provide the needed information has also increased. Through data mining, algorithms are created that determine patterns and show probable outcomes for current and potential customers. Social media users’ swipes and keystrokes are recorded. Purchases are logged and stored for future advertising efforts. Every time your card is swiped, either physically or digitally, information is recorded. Every time you click on a YouTube video a memory of that choice is created and your feed is inundated with more videos like that one based on a constantly learning artificial intelligence. The difference between the amounts of information received prior to social media and after is vast. According to the Koeppel Direct article titled, ‘Uses of Data Mining Marketing: Creative or Creepy?’, “Social media, streaming television and, to some extent, even second-screening, are a marketers’ dream. There’s far more data about audiences available through these outlets than there has ever been at any point in the past. This makes it possible to shoot out an ad to single mothers of two, making over $30K living in Louisville, Kentucky at 2 pm if you had a particular reason to do that”. (Koeppel Direct, 2018)

                      

Legality

Any competent person of sound mind has to ask the questions of the legality and ethicality of these advertising practices. It’s essentially spying on Americans. “Last week, the California State Assembly’s privacy committee advanced an Anti-Eavesdropping Act that would require makers of smart speakers to get consent from customers before storing recordings. The Illinois Senate recently passed a bill on the same issue. Neither is much of a stretch: Requiring permission to record someone in private is enshrined in many state laws”. (Fowler, 2019) In the same article Assemblyman Jordan Cunningham (R) referred to this as the age of “surveillance capitalism”. (Fowler, 2019) The ideology behind the concept isn’t unethical in and of itself; however, the unauthorized recording and reporting of information of unsuspecting consumers (citizens) is on par with industrial espionage, which is punishable with massive fines and possible prison time. This comparison along with the fact that states are adopting laws to stop this intrusive form of market intelligence gathering are enough to condemn this act as unethical and now, illegal.

The idea of marketing based upon algorithms and other methods derived from social media are standard practice now and in order to combat this, consumers should be aware of what the practices are where they spend money. Google has since allowed the consumer the option to switch off the recording feature. Apple has always been thought of as a company that operated under the understanding that people value their privacy. “We believe privacy is a basic human right and that users should have transparency and choice about how their data is collected and used”. (Leswing, 2021) However some executives believe that Apple is keeping other companies out in order to capitalize on their own earning potential. Apple receiving an added benefit from safeguarding its customers’ information is something that would be well received by Apple product users worldwide. The security of our information is something that we can protect if we choose to do so. We need to gain a better understanding of the practices that govern our daily functions and ask questions if something is not clear or needs to be changed. If you don’t want Alexa hearing your conversations you should think about unplugging it when you don’t need to use it.

 

References

Fowler, Geoffrey A. (2019). Alexa has Been Eavesdropping on You This Whole Time. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/05/06/alexa-has-been-eavesdropping-you-this-whole-time/?outputType=amp

 

Koeppel Direct. (2018). Uses of Data Mining Marketing: Creative or Creepy?. Koeppel Direct, Global Multi-Channel Direct Marketing. https://www.koeppeldirect.com/drtvblog/uses-of-data-mining-marketing-creative-or-creepy/

 

Leswing, Kif. (2021). Apple’s privacy change is poised to increase the power of its App Store. CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/19/apples-privacy-change-could-increase-the-power-of-its-app-store.html