Telephone Tues & Listening In

It's Telephone Tuesday and Dangerous Dave talks about how it is becoming a thing of the past because it is difficult sometimes to talk to a human and companies lead us to their websites. Plus, a new report about how our smart devices maybe listening in to our conversations.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is uber in the din with Dangerous Day. Well,
happy telephone Tuesday, but if you've been stuck on hold
for an hour, maybe it's not so happy. Tuesday after
Labor Day is supposed to be the day businesses get
the most phone calls of the year, partially because everybody's
opening in after a long weekend, people are starting to
plan for the holidays, schools back in session, and adults

(00:21):
can start tackling their to do lists. Telephone Tuesday is
a loose business observation, kind of like a distant cousin
of Black Friday. But it's fading into the past now
that growing number of businesses are automated and menus that
direct people online where they can use digital assets and chatbots.
It's harder and harder to talk to human, isn't it
even many small businesses, which is an unwelcome change and

(00:43):
a reason polls sixty two percent of customers prefer human
interaction over the automated ones. Seventy seven percent believe a
phone call is best and the most efficient way to
get an answer. Unfortunately, sixty two percent of customers say
they have to contact the company repeatedly to resolve a problem.
I'd tell you more, but you'll have to call the
phone line and talk to the answering machine deeper in

(01:05):
the two Have you ever said something? I wonder if
they make pumpkin spice scented air fresheners and then all
of a sudden, boom, you have an online ad on
your phone. Big companies like Google and Amazon deny that
companies spy on us by listening to conversations, But maybe
we need to keep being paranoid. The site four h
four Media just published a leaked memo from a large
marketing company where they've bragged the clients about active listening

(01:29):
and now this is not the first time they're being
exposed for Cox Media Group actually bragged about it last
year on their own website, but then they took the
page down after people freaked out. It looks like they're
still bragging about it in potential pitches. The leaked pitch
says they use AI to capture quote real time intent
data by listening to people's conversations. Then they use it

(01:49):
to pinpoint potential customers. Not clear how they're listening Google, Facebook,
and Amazon, I'll say they're not involved in the program.
Google even said they dropped the company from their ad
Partners program said quote, when we identify ads or advertisers
that violate our policies, we take appropriate action. The big
question is could it be legal. Some experts say it's not,

(02:11):
but marketing companies think it is as long as the
software companies bury it in the fine print. They told
potential customers it's totally legal for phones and devices to
listen to you because customers and consumers usually give their
consent when accepting the terms and conditions. All right, I
just wish my phone could give me the winning lotter renumbers,

(02:32):
I said, winning lotter renumbers to me. They came for
another episode of Deeper in the Den with Dangerous Dave Plight.
Here