Hidden Signals in TV Ads Direct Smartphones to Spy on Owners

    • There’s been a huge growth in Android apps using software that’s designed to search for inaudible “ultrasonic” signals, and these signals can contain code which orders apps to begin tracking people’s location, what they’re watching on television and even collect personal information such as political affiliation and pornography habits, the researchers warn.

    • The software, called Silverpush, is designed to listen to “audio beacons” which humans can’t hear, and has allegedly been used by corporations such as McDonald’s and Krispy Kreme.

    • Apps that use this software can “precisely link the watching of even sensitive content such as adult movies or political documentations to a single individual – even at varying locations,” the researchers said. “Advertisers can deduce what and how long an individual is watching and obtain a detailed user profile to deliver highly customized advertisements.”

    • a surge in the number of Android apps which searched for these audio beacons, from 39 in 2015 to 234 presently.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

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