The Federal Trade Commission announced Thursday that three marketing firms agreed to pay nearly $1 million to settle allegations of deception. Cox Media Group, MindSift LLC and 1010 Digital Works claimed their Active Listening service could target ads using audio from consumers’ smart devices. The FTC said the technology amounted to nothing more than costly email lists.
The settlement resolves charges that the companies misled other businesses about the capabilities of their marketing service. Officials alleged the firms sold access to what they described as phone recordings for ad targeting but provided only standard consumer data instead.
