Is your cell phone spying on you without your permission? That’s what the FTC is worried about.
Dear APP Developers
It sounds like it’s coming from a “Tin Foil Hat Paranoid”, but in this case it’s not. Concerns about Illegal Cell Phone spying thanks to hidden code in some Apps. It’s a formal warning sent out to 12 app developers by the FTC that their software could potentially eavesdrop on the television shows you’re watching without your permission, EVEN WHEN THE APP IS NOT BEING USED….it collects data on your TV habits.
Silverpush
There’s a signal possibly being embedded in TV audio that “Silverpush” technology can detect through the phone. The Feds fear without your knowledge, it can spy on what TV show you watch and then possibly upload it to 3rd parties WITHOUT YOU KNOWING ABOUT IT.
The Silverpush developers insist it’s not being used in this country. The FTC isn’t so sure.
According to the FTC: “the software is designed to monitor consumers’ television use through the use of “audio beacons” emitted by TVs, which consumers can’t hear but can be detected by the software.
The letters note that the software would be capable of producing a detailed log of the television content viewed while a user’s mobile device was turned on for the purpose of targeted advertising and analytics.
Silverpush has stated publicly that its service is not currently in use in the United States, but it encourages app developers to notify consumers that their app could allow third parties to monitor consumers’ television viewing habits should the software begin to be used in the United States.
“These apps were capable of listening in the background and collecting information about consumers without notifying them,” said Jessica Rich, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “Companies should tell people what information is collected, how it is collected, and who it’s shared with.”
By Al Sunshine, SouthFloridaReporter.com, Consumer Investigator, Mar. 23, 2016
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