Ford Patents In-Car System That Eavesdrops So It Can Play You Ads
Yeah, you read the headline right.
Ford has patented a system that, per the filing, would use several different sources of information to customize ad content to play in your car. One such information stream that this hypothetical system would use to determine what sort of ads to serve could be could be the voice commands you’ve given to the car. It could also identify your voice and recognize you and your ad preferences, and those of your passengers. Finally, it could listen to your conversations and determine if it’s better to serve you a visual ad while you’re talking, or an audio ad when there’s a lull in the conversation.
Is this serving ads you normally wouldn’t be getting? If so, ok but if you’re going to be seeing ads anyway might as well have them be somewhat relevant, right? I never understand the problem with this one. Are people upset that it’s serving ads in the first place or that they are customized?
There's no saying. They patented the system that eavesdrops on you in one of your private spaces. They didn't patent how they will use the data.
I mean is that something you're ok with, having corporations eavesdrop on you and record your conversations? Do you trust them?
Are you ok with the government then obtaining any conversation you have in your car via subpoena? If you and your wife are getting a divorce, are you ok with her obtaining a copy of your conversations to look for anything that can be used against you?
These are the complaints I always hear, and if I had to answer I would say no, i'd rather not, but I also feel the issue is very overblown. Where are all these instances of the government using stuff like this? Is it commonplace? If not, there are many, many more things to worry about than this, IMO, and in a lot of cases, there is very useful technology that doesn't get used because of these overblown worries.
Yes, my Alexa is targeting ads to me in hopes of getting me to spend money. That's fine. I like my Alexa and it's many uses.
Yes, this stuff happens already.
Someone died in a house in Arkansas, prosecutors subpoenaed the Alexa data from the night.
FBGs were recommending a specific VPN company to each other because their logs were subpoenaed and that company doesn't keep logs to protect the privacy of their users.
If you're interested in the topic I suggest searching on it, there's plenty of info out there. But the time to handle this stuff is now, with privacy laws, and to not just trust to the beneficence of corporate America.
Oh I’ve researched. I still feel that the outrage over this stuff does not match the risk of something bad happening. I feel like companies collect data like this to sell us stuff, and that’s the most that any of us will likely face from it.
It’s not that I’m in favor of companies doing this. I just think the outrage is not proportional to the risk. Weve been hearing for years if not a decade by now of all the nefarious things that can happen from data collection like this, but there’s still only fringe examples of any of it.
In terms of how much I worry about this, for me it’s somewhere between getting hit by lightning and having a random plane part fall on me.
In terms of a new car purchase, can one tell Ford (or whomever), no I don't want GPS, no telemetrics sent back to the mother ship, no voice control, nothing? I.e. can I buy a car now that isn't connected?
I think the idea being that a car is my personal space and I don't want it tracked at all. I mean, we have enough of that in our lives. On a personal side I own a Bronco Sport. Nice little car. I got a call from Ford about a recall, etc. that I need to get taken care of. The lady on the phone then noted when I brough it in for this I need an oil change anyway, which kind of freaked me out. Turns out my car had been phoning home with this stuff. I found the setting and turned it off, but, seriously, the ****ing gall to reach into my car and then call me about it.
www.theatlantic.com
