Many of us cover our laptop’s webcam to avoid being spied on surreptitiously, but your phone’s mic is what you should be more worried about.
How Does It Work?
Zapr’s ACR technology uses the device’s microphone to monitor the audio playing on a device or the ambient surroundings and then creates a profile of the user’s media consumption habits. The data is then shared with the app’s developer to push out personalized content recommendations, ads, or is resold to other advertisers for targeted marketing.
“That is totally a breach of privacy. Unless they give me clear cut indication that it is going to be used only by them (the app that hosts the code) for a specific purpose and not be shared with any other party, that amounts to breach”, retired Supreme Court judge B N Srikrishna said. However, he added that the absence of comprehensive data privacy laws such as GDPR makes it difficult to categorize Zapr’s technology as illegal or legal.
Zapr is currently undergoing an external privacy and security audit that will conclude by the end of 2018. Sandipan Mondal, its CEO, claims that their ACR technology would help brands and advertisers recommend the right kind of content with higher accuracy and efficiency.
