Imagine this: you are talking to your friend and planning a trip to Goa, or you are thinking about buying the latest sneaker for a call and suddenly you are inundated with advertisements about Goa holiday packages, or the different discounts that different shopping platforms offer. in those exact shoes. Sounds familiar? Well, you are not the only one.
If you’ve seen an ad in your email or SMS box based on your smartphone conversation with your spouse or a colleague, don’t be surprised, as a survey on Wednesday revealed that nearly half of all smartphone users Smart Indians have confirmed seeing ads based on their private voice conversations. Some 53 percent of citizens said they have had one or more instances in the last 12 months in which they saw ads on the web or some social media app based on their phone conversations, according to a survey by the community platform. of LocalCircles social networks. The results also indicated that most of the Indian smartphone users have given access to their phone’s microphone for audio/video calls to various social media apps and third-party audio recording apps. “Many people have raised the issue of seeing contextual ads served in their private phone conversations and this is very concerning,” said Sachin Taparia, founder of LocalCircles. “Such practices should be investigated and any application that requires microphone access must be required to give clear statements of where a user’s information will be used and seek explicit consent,” he added. The Indian government has not yet approved the Draft Law on the Protection of Personal Data 2019, whose objective is to provide legislative and statutory protection to the personal information of users or citizens and recognize the protection of personal data as their right. LocalCircles said it will share the survey results with the IT Ministry, the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) and the RBI to take any necessary action. “If this is not done as soon as possible, such access could easily lead to financial fraud and people’s personal information being compromised without accounting for how it happened,” said Taparia. Among those who had such an experience, 28 percent said it happens all the time, 19 percent said it happened several times, and 6 percent said it happened a few times. Only 24 percent of citizens said it had never happened, while 23 percent had no opinion. Some 84 percent of smartphone users admitted giving WhatsApp access to their contact list, 51 percent giving access to Facebook Messenger, Instagram, or both, and 41 percent giving access to information apps. of calls like Truecaller.Via: FirstPost
