
Beware of ads that use inaudible sound to link your phone, TV, tablet, and PC - FollowSteph3
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/11/beware-of-ads-that-use-inaudible-sound-to-link-your-phone-tv-tablet-and-pc/
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TheAdamist
2015 article. Something more relevant might be facebook getting a patent to
control your phone via tv audio.

[https://metro.co.uk/2018/06/22/facebook-wants-hide-
inaudible...](https://metro.co.uk/2018/06/22/facebook-wants-hide-inaudible-
messages-tv-ads-force-phone-record-audio-7652112/)

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dj-wonk
What counter-measures exist? (e.g. an audio detector listening above 20 kHz?)

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shakna
Permissions is the simple, albeit flawed, answer.

It doesn't matter if your TV makes a noise if nothing is listening for it.

Deny access to your microphone. There are very few good reasons for an app to
access it.

Use your firewall. Your data belongs to you, there are few good reasons that
an app should be connecting out to services like SilverPush.

Unfortunately, this usually requires domain knowledge ("who is trustworthy?"),
which is why the answer is flawed.

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9363518nn
Would using something like pi hole at home help in that regard?

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shakna
Yes and no.

Your pi-hole can block things, but if you leave home and the app framework has
cached communications, what happens then? Can it now push the data?

