You are watched—your deeds and words. This is no maxim painted on the walls of some home of faith or a poster pasted on shopping malls, but a caution-note to be kept in mind before nose-diving to the ‘second-self’ apps downloaded onto your handy gizmo—the smart phone— by feeding in image, sound, and text. The ‘user is not safe’ reminder had come from none other than the US based independent agency Federal Trade Commission sending chills down the spine of millions of app lovers globally. FTC has slapped warning to 12 app developers for the 'peeping Tom' syndrome, an intrusion into the privacy of the customers by incorporating audio monitoring software into the smart phone products.
Leave alone that hard-to-pronounce jargons, the villain is that tiny built-in mouthpiece jack at the tip of your phone. An Indian company’s software is said to have tapped the voice from the microphone to listen to the television programmes running aside the customer, judge their viewing habit and customise adverts accordingly. The ‘audio-beacons’ as it is termed is secretly tracking the TV watching habit of users. Users are advised to cautiously ‘accept the apps’ demand for microphone access.
