Privacy experts are sounding alarms warning of censorship after Google announced this week that it will install software on Android phones to scan what is being said on calls in real time as a means of trying to protect consumers from being scammed. Tech companies are being pressured to improve their methods of detecting illegal activity that may be taking place, but this step could pave the road for scanning content for any kind of commercial activity. And, as any company in the accounts receivable management that is dealing with its text messages being blocked will tell you, sometimes collection calls are identified as content that should be blocked.
Google said the technology will be included in a future version of its Android operating system, which powers three-quarters of the world’s smartphones. It will listen for “conversation patterns commonly associated with scams” Google said, such as someone claiming to be a bank representative or other common tactics from scammers like asking for gift cards or passwords. Once something is detected by the system, it will display a pop-up notification on the user’s phone, alerting the individual to the possible scam.
The technology is being likened to client-side scanning, which are systems that scan message contents — text, images, videos, and files — for matches or similarities to a database of objectionable content before the message is sent to the intended recipient.
Apple had previously announced plans to deploy client-side scanning to detect child sexual abuse material, but abandoned those plans after a privacy backlash, according to a published report.
Detecting scams may be a noble endeavor, but it’s small steps from detecting scams to detecting content related to reproductive care, whistleblowing, or any other type of content that Google or someone else could deem to be objectionable.
