https://yro.slashdot.org/story/17/12...watching-on-tv

Rick Zeman writes:

The New York Times (may be paywalled) has an article describing how some apps track TV and movie viewing even when the loaded app isn't currently active. These seemingly innocuous games, geared towards both adults and children work by "using a smartphone's microphone. For instance, Alphonso's software can detail what people watch by identifying audio signals in TV ads and shows, sometimes even matching that information with the places people visit and the movies they see. The information can then be used to target ads more precisely...." While these apps, mostly available on Google play, with some available on the Apple Store, do offer an opt opt, it's not clear when consumers see "permission for microphone access for ads," it may not be clear to a user that, "Oh, this means it's going to be listening to what I do all the time to see if I'm watching 'Monday Night Football."'

One advertising executive summarizes thusly: "It's not what's legal. It is what's not creepy."
Spying and basically Stalking are no longer things that a company can get sued over. Hell, they could put a camera in your bedroom JUST to see you naked, and everything else you do while naked. And somehow this is NOT creepy? Another excuse to treat human beings as livestock.