Google Looks to Patent Technology that Can Listen to Your Phone Calls and Base Advertisements Upon Them

We may earn a commission when you click links to retailers and purchase goods. More info.

In a recent move by Google, a patent filing was submitted for a new technology that can listen to the background noises of your phone calls and then base advertisements targeted to you according to what their services heard. Umm, what? Who would opt-in for something like that? For example, if you are chatting on the phone with a friend and your dog happens to bark, Google will then serve you an ad having to do with dog training or dog food.

It seems like a stretch that people would openly adopt an idea like this, but it exists and Google is looking to make it a reality. We are a long ways away from seeing it implemented most likely, but can anyone give us some ideas on why this would be a bad idea? Go!

Update:  A reader of ours pointed out that this patent was applied for some 4 years ago. Will we ever see it used? Tough to tell. Not exactly sure why it was brought up all of sudden. Maybe because of the privacy concerns that everyone has with Google and their new privacy policy?

Via: BGR

Category

Tag

Collapse Show Comments
103  Comments