{"id":294804,"date":"2024-09-14T05:00:56","date_gmt":"2024-09-14T05:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=294804"},"modified":"2024-09-15T07:44:15","modified_gmt":"2024-09-15T07:44:15","slug":"ford-files-patent-to-eavesdrop-on-drivers-conversations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=294804","title":{"rendered":"Ford files patent to eavesdrop on drivers\u2019 conversations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Matthew Field \u2013 The Telegraph Sept 11, 2024<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Ford<\/a> has filed a patent for technology that can eavesdrop on drivers and passengers to serve them hyper-targeted advertising.<\/p>\n

The technology would allow the car\u2019s infotainment system to listen to \u201cconversations between occupants of the vehicles\u201d, which its software could then filter for \u201ckeywords or phrases\u201d.<\/p>\n

The system would learn what adverts \u201cannoy or irritate\u201d based on remarks \u201cspoken by the user when ads are presented to them\u201d, while it would be able to recognise the vehicle\u2019s occupants based on in-car cameras or microphones and tailor its adverts to each person.<\/p>\n

The innovation is currently only a patent and may never be turned into a product. Companies often file numerous patent applications to block rivals from developing competing technologies.<\/p>\n

While radio stations once provided localised adverts, ever more personalised adverts<\/a> have been creeping into people\u2019s cars.<\/p>\n

Navigation apps like Google Maps and Waze have included sponsored pins for petrol stations or shops that appear during a journey. Music streaming apps connected to the car\u2019s infotainment system may also include tailored adverts.<\/p>\n

However, the filing risks reigniting consumer concerns that technology companies are looking to snoop on their conversations.<\/p>\n

Lukasz Olejnik, a cyber security researcher, said of Ford\u2019s patent filing: \u201cDesigning such a system with privacy in mind would be complex.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that the technology would be difficult to deploy in Europe because laws would require Ford to get consent from \u201coccasional passengers who may be unaware that anything they say is being recorded\u201d.<\/p>\n

Alan Woodward, a computer science expert at the University of Surrey, said on X, formerly known as Twitter, that he hoped Ford would win the patent to \u201cprevent anyone else from using it. Listening in to discussions in a car to personalise adverts is just a step too far.\u201d<\/p>\n

Max Schrems, a privacy campaigner who has sued Facebook and Google over their use of data, said the patent filings likely \u201cjust concern the competition\u201d, with Ford outmanoeuvring rivals on potential future inventions.<\/p>\n

He added such a system would require consent from occupants under UK law. \u201cIn practice, it\u2019s not that easy to get opt-in consent from people beyond the car owners,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

A Ford spokesman told Gizmodo: \u201cSubmitting patent applications is a normal part of any strong business as the process protects new ideas and helps us build a robust portfolio of intellectual property. The ideas described within a patent application should not be viewed as an indication of our business or product plans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Initially the technology would be used to gauge the public\u2019s response to advertising. But how long before it would be used to monitor for \u201cterror\u201d or \u201csecurity concerns\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":234245,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[52,59],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-294804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-Implants_and_surveillance_technology","category-Surveillance"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=294804"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294804\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":294805,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294804\/revisions\/294805"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/234245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=294804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=294804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=294804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}