Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

India-Based Zapr Has Developed Tech That Listens To Ambient Sounds Around Users To Build Targeted Ad Profiles, Several Popular Local Services Use Its Tech (factordaily.com)

Posted by msmash on from the what-in-the-world dept.

Bengaluru-based Zapr Media Labs, which counts Rupert Murdoch-led media group Star and several major local companies including Flipkart (which is now owned by Walmart), music streaming service Saavn, handset maker Micromax as its investors, has developed a tech that listens to ambient sounds around users to build targeted advertising profiles of them, reports news outlet FactorDaily. Zapr does this by using the microphone on the smartphone. Several major services in the country including Chota Bheem games to Dainik Bhaskar (a news outlet) to, likely, even Hotstar (a hugely popular streaming service which launched its service in the US and Canada last year, and which as you may recall, set a global record for most simultaneous views earlier this year) have embedded Zapr's technology into their apps. FactorDaily reports that most of these services are not forthcoming to their customers about what kind of monitoring they are doing. An excerpt from the report: One of the apps that inspired Zapr's founding team was the popular music detection and identification app Shazam. But, its three co-founders saw opportunity in going further. "Instead of detecting music, can we detect all kinds of medium? Can we detect television? Can we detect movies in a theatre? Can we detect video on demand? Can we really build a profile for a user about their media consumption habits... and that really became the idea, the vision we wanted to solve for," Sandipan Mondal, CEO of Zapr Media Labs, said in an interview last week on Thursday.

Shorn of jargon, the underlying Zapr tech listens to ambient sounds around you, analyses it, and profiles users based on their media consumption habits. "That data would be very useful in order to recommend the right kind of content and also for brands and advertisers to hopefully reduce the wastage and inefficiencies and make smarter decisions," said Mondal, who co-founded the company in 2012 along with his batchmates from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (batch of 2010) Deepak Baid and Sajo Mathews.

Zapr claims to have the largest media consumption analytics database in India and helps television channels and brands to earn a better bang for their advertising buck. To be sure, advertising -- even with the internet's promise of better targeting -- still is an inaccurate business with proxies, at best, helping measure its return on investment. But, Zapr's tech comes with privacy and data concerns -- lots of it.

51 comments

  1. Poop by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Interesting

    So they detect movies and television sounds by illegally retransmitting to their system? Smells like a lawsuit waiting to happen.

    1. Re:Poop by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Makes sense to me. Users want it to listen to music because they want to know the names of songs. Why wouldn't they want it to listen to more things? It's the "targeted ad" phrase that is the problem. Why, when nobody can think of a revenue model, do they always immediately think "targeted ads"? Identifying music isn't targeted ads. It's a useful service.

    2. Re:Poop by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Smells like a lawsuit

      The subject got me thinking about developing a smart toilet that analyzes fecal material that can literally determine a shitload of consumer information which is used to generate audio ads to a captive audience. Smells like money!

    3. Re:Poop by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Targeted ad business model? How about a phone app that is used as a neutral advisor? All the audio, and optics are there, it is just a case of linear programming applied to ones personal finance model to a possible product for sale.

    4. Re: Poop by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nah it'll end up being coded by morans and turn to shit.

  2. Rabid dogs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They need to be put down.

  3. What could possibly go wrong by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Profiling n'all

    1. Re:What could possibly go wrong by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Have you tried our new 3ply super quilted moist toilet tissue yet? or maybe you should try new extra strength shitzease diarrhoea relief"

  4. only me by AndyKron · · Score: 1

    The only control I have over this is to not have a smartphone. I wish someone who did have control over this would put a stop to it.

    1. Re:only me by olsmeister · · Score: 2

      Pop open the phone and clip the wires going to the microphone. Problem solved!

    2. Re:only me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Smartphones are evil, they are not for our benefit, despite the fact we think that. Social addicts and slaves that is all we have become. sad and it will be worst before gets better.

    3. Re:only me by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 2

      The only control I have over this is to not have a smartphone.

      That is not the only control you have. You also have the ability to not download and install apps that access your microphone.

      If you install an app that uses the microphone, then read the fine print so you understand why it needs that access, and what it is doing with the data.

      I wish someone who did have control over this would put a stop to it.

      Look in the mirror. You will see the person who has control.

    4. Re:only me by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 1

      iOS lets you control access to the microphone, on a per-app basis, at the time the app tries to access the mic. I believe recent versions of Android offer that same level of control.

      It’s annoying that you have to do this, but you can “just say no”.

      --
      #DeleteChrome
    5. Re:only me by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 2
      So get rid of your smartphone. You've been indoctrinated to believe that you cannot live without one, but that's complete and utter bullshit. I do not have a smartphone, never have, never will, and I live life just as fully as anyone else. Cheap clamshell phone for the win!

      Think about it: do you really need to play games, surf the web, watch movies, or any of the other crap you do with your smartphone other than make and receive calls and text messages? No, you do not, you WANT to do those things, but you do not NEED to do those things. It'll just take an adjustment.

      Furthermore: What's the price difference every month between basic cell service with text messaging, and that plus the overpriced, underserving data-plan you have now? How much money would you save every year if you didn't have a smartphone?

      Then there's the phone itself. Your smartphone is a ticking timebomb, waiting to go haywire on you, and you cannot get it repaired when it does. There goes, what, at least $500? I have a $50 cheap-ass plastic clamshell phone. Works great as a phone, that's all it needs to do. It dies? I say "oh well shit" toss it in the bin and get another one. No big deal

      B-b-b-but Rick, what about Facebook, Twitter, and other social media? All my friends will miss me! I'll DIE without social media!

      No, you won't, you'll actually have a better life overall not being distracted by the cancer that is so-called 'social media'. Be more ACTUALLY social with ACTUAL friends, in person, instead. You'll benefit far more from the social contact than you will from shitty Facebook and garbage like it. So will your kids, especially; get riid of their smartphones, too, and save all sorts of money!

      So you see you should just make the leap and get rid of your smartphone. You'll thank me later for this advice.

    6. Re:only me by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 2

      Bill, word has it that you don't even have to download any apps, it's either baked right into the firmware of the phone, or you get surveillance software push-installed silently, with it running silently in the background. Your phone could be listening to you right now and you'd never know it, no way to tell. Don't tell me I'm paranoid, either, it's all been documented, and don't tell me you're not worth surveilling, because that's not the point. The only way to be sure you win this game is to not play.

    7. Re:only me by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

      Unless it's a hardware switch that's literally wired between the microphone and the rest of the phone, you can't count on it doing what it says it does.

    8. Re:only me by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      It is an exceptionally small sacrifice, just carry a dumb phone and some other type of computer assistant, like a wifi tablet. And only install apps that are tools. And don't grant a single excess permission.

    9. Re:only me by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1

      Bill, word has it that you don't even have to download any apps

      That is not what TFA says.

      Do you have evidence whatsoever that this capability is "baked right into the firmware"?

    10. Re: only me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You can count on a giant shitstorm if Apple is ever caught allowing anything like this to run without permission. Good enough for me as an iOS user.

    11. Re:only me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      GOOGLE IT MORON BILL.

    12. Re: only me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't be so gloomy. You have as much control as pretty much anyone else assuming you are willing to do what it takes. The next time someone announces something like this assassinate him in his sleep and leave a not. Do this 3 or 4 times and the world will take note. Some people won't agree with you but some will.

    13. Re:only me by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

      Uh, no, you clearly don't have any idea how electronics works.
      The amplifer between the chipset that generates the audio and the speaker(s) is not bi-directional; it can only amplify an input signal and feed that to the speaker(s), not the other way around. Or are you being sarcastic?

    14. Re:only me by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

      No, you still don't understand, and you clearly don't understand that article either. Go learn some basic electronics then get back to me, stop trying to get your electronics 'education' from shitty articles written by people who don't understand electronics either.

    15. Re: only me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Back in the days of chat rooms instead of buying a mic just for chat I would plug my headphones into the mic Jack and be heard nearly as clear just had to hold it closer. Isn't this the same thing when drivers are full duplex? Try it at least one of the earphones will act like a mic when seen as input

    16. Re: only me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It can be done in dumbphones as well.... And you do not have as much freedom to modify/setup as with a smartphone.

    17. Re:only me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe placing a piece of tape over the microphone when NOT speaking into the phone? But then, would the phone hearing the sounds of silence; tell a friend?

  5. Creeps by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Can advertising get any more creepy?

  6. root your device, remove as many aps as possible by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Im down to the bare necessities now, using lineage and F-droid. These devices we use are tools to make our everyday lives easier not to be used to fund a unsustainable business model.

    I take it these technologies are being used so that they can compete with other streaming services on cost to the consumer. Are the margins that thin? and if so, what happens when a market fluctuation removes those margins.

    I personally believe in a economic model for creators based on patreon, I do realize that this makes more sense for individual performers such as musicians and one man shows as distributing funds to large ensembles is more complicated. The upside is that supporting individuals promotes more people to be unique thus leading to a more diverse offering from the creative industries.

  7. What happens when you f by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So if you have sex near that thing, will it show you ads about condoms? Does it show you those ads again when it reacts to the cries of a baby?

    I guess the possibilities are endless!

    1. Re:What happens when you f by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So if you have sex near that thing, will it show you ads about condoms?

      No. It shows you ads for nappies.

  8. How Does It React To... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How does it react to the farts it's likely to hear while in my pocket?

  9. Clippy: It sounds like you need a Trojan by goombah99 · · Score: 1

    Do you need some help with that?

    --
    Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
  10. Not new news.. by AndrewFlagg · · Score: 1

    this is just snooping and peeping renamed as AI and Deep Machine Learning. sure, any programming can connect the dots and see that I posted on / . and always earn a score:1 -- because it's not news, so says captain obvious. its just crazy how many sales calls I get helped out by a robo calling computer just listening to my background noise without anyone on the other end saying anything.. odd. true.

  11. Assuming your carrier or cell phone vendor by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    hasn't pre installed them and flagged them as system apps you can't uninstall. I guess you can spend days researching, buy the phone, search through all the apps to check if they've got it.

    Oh, and don't forget to check each and every app update on your phone, since apps update automatically. You'll have to disable that and check each app, but you'll want to update them since otherwise you'll get nailed by security issues.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
    1. Re:Assuming your carrier or cell phone vendor by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      Apps do not update automatically. They update at the behest of the Master if the user has entered Slave Mode and checked that box. If you uncheck the box, apps update when the user updates them.

    2. Re:Assuming your carrier or cell phone vendor by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1

      There is no evidence whatsoever that this capability is preinstalled by the vendor.

      If they did that, it would be highly illegal in many jurisdictions, there would be hundreds of people involved in this illegal activity, and it would be a complete disaster for the vendor when (not if) it leaked. So how long would it take to leak? Less than 24 hours, since anyone with a voltmeter could detect the microphone turning on.

    3. Re: Assuming your carrier or cell phone vendor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      This is not true. I've had installing or updating apps set to manual yet have caught "system apps" like play store itself updating without any user action. Other things like Google services network and one other I can't remember cause it's not even got a name on play it was some com.blah sub app attached to services

  12. Fuck off by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You fucking spying cunts, off you fuck fuck off you spying cunts off you fucking fuck you fucking absolute fucking cunts I hope you all fucking die you absolute fucking bastards.

  13. Re: root your device, remove as many aps as possib by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yes. Lineage and Fdroid for the win. Toss in an ad blocker and the entire experience becomes tolerable.

  14. Anti stalking laws. by Fly+Swatter · · Score: 2

    If they follow you everywhere you go and log what you are doing, shouldn't these old laws eventually start to apply? Yea I know; don't buy such a device, because these things are so easy to avoid. That fellow citizen standing next to you probably has one even if you don't, not to forget all the cameras watching you everywhere...

    1. Re:Anti stalking laws. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The first step to laws is being vocal and social shaming. The cool thing is, you don't the permission of laws or fools for that.

      What helped and helps me a lot is to read about people who lived through Stalin and Hitler and what principles and lessons they have to convey... even if the shitty ones among your peers roll your eyes, if you yourself are trying to be upright, you will always be in good company. Take the best from present and past that you can find, try to clean and secure the ground you're standing on, and go from there. It's uncertain whether we can save the world, but one always can save oneself, and that's not nothing.

      Hobbes was the true, though never fully recognized, philosopher of the bourgeoisie because he realized that acquisition of wealth conceived as a never-ending process can be guaranteed only by the seizure of political power, for the accumulating process must sooner or later force open all existing territorial limits. He foresaw that a society which had entered the path of never-ending acquisition had to engineer a dynamic political organization capable of a corresponding never-ending process of power generation. He even, through sheer force of imagination, was able to outline the main psychological traits of the new type of man who would fit into such a society and its tyrannical body politic. He foresaw the necessary idolatry of power itself by this new human type, that he would be flattered at being called a power-thirsty animal, although actually society would force him to surrender all his natural forces, his virtues and his vices, and would make him the poor meek little fellow who has not even the right to rise against tyranny, and who, far from striving for power, submits to any existing government and does not stir even when his best friend falls an innocent victim to an incomprehensible raison d'etat.

      -- Hannah Arendt, "The Origins of Totalitarianism"

      The more timid such fellows they are, the more roaring the'll laugh when they get confronted with someone who still has the integrity they gave up. That goes with the territory. People identify with what they submit to, and project their weakness on the victims of what they submitted to, but once you saw they got nothing, you will never unsee it. Turns out you are the one with "nothing to hide", and they are the ones lethally afraid of the corpses in the basement of their masters.

      That is why there's always the litany of how "everybody is doing it" or, or how it's just "how the world is", or what "human nature leads to", and of course, what a hipocrite you are for even posting something like that on the web. "Have YOU built your own router, hmm?".. but that "irony" is just another excuse, another way to lump it all together to not face personal responsibility. Pay it no mind :)

      Let no man imagine that he has no influence. Whoever he may be, and wherever he may be placed, the man who thinks becomes a light and a power.

      -- Henry George

  15. Listening to bkg media and NOT listening to conver by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Or?

  16. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  17. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  18. Turn your phone off... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Or get a white noise box.

  19. First against the wall when the revolution comes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Bill Hicks on advertising

  20. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  21. I would pay for an app... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...that feeds this Zapr the sound of a braying antelope 24/7.

  22. Fuck them all by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is the wrong way to go about it. They spy on us and then try to guess what our interests are. This makes us furious, is illegal in most countries and forces people to go to great lengths to be safe and secure from these assholes and in the end it's only guesses on their part anyway.

    How about letting us make our own fucking profiles centralized in a single place that all advertisers can use, where I am the one who tell them what my interests actually are. Aside from interests, let us put whatever personal information we think they should have.

    I keep removing interests from my Google ads profile because they keep adding shit related to some random videos I've watched once.

    I also don't know what fucking items I've look at on Amazon.ca but these assholes keep showing me ads for baby diapers. I'm fucking single, you imbeciles.

  23. Tech companies doing evil is getting old. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Shouldn't we be voting better?

  24. Not gonna work by mrops · · Score: 1

    I still keep getting these p__is enlargement adverts, and I don't even own a smartphone, only my girlfriend.